pinions of buddy don: cuple stories that make ye go hmmm

furst thays thisn: Tax Deal Sets Day of Reckoning; Tough Choice on Deficit in Store for President, Congress in 2011:

With this week's hard-fought agreement on a $70 billion tax-cut extension, President Bush and congressional Republicans have effectively set a date for a fiscal day of reckoning for the next president and a future Congress: Jan. 1, 2011.

[...]

According to CBO projections, if the Bush tax cuts are extended in 2011, a deficit of $114 billion forecast for the year of their expiration will more than double, to $274 billion. A budget surplus of $67 billion, anticipated for 2016 if all the tax cuts expired, would turn into a $310 billion deficit.

And the red ink would only grow worse from there, as the baby-boom generation swells Medicare and Social Security costs, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Bush White House economist who recently retired as CBO director.

In that sense, Holtz-Eakin said, synchronizing the tax-cut expiration dates will have a positive impact, forcing politicians to confront what they so far have refused to acknowledge: the mathematical disconnect between government spending and a tax system that can no longer finance those programs.

"The next president has to have a plan for this, at a minimum," Holtz-Eakin said. "This is going to have to be elevated to the top end of the political spectrum soon."

Both Bush and the Republican congressional leadership expressed no alarm yesterday. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said sharp reductions in the tax rates on dividends and capital gains have boosted business investment, created jobs and buoyed the economy since their passage in 2003. That outcome, in turn, brought more revenue to the federal government, not less, he said.

Bush said the budget could be balanced by controlling spending while maintaining his tax cuts.

so we gut to cut down on our spendin, accordin to mr bush. how kin that square with this articull, To Earmarking Senators, Veto Seems to Spell Vote:

Senators keep stuffing new provisions into an emergency spending bill for Iraq and hurricane recovery, ignoring President Bush's veto threat to advance their priorities.

[...]

At the bill's core is $72 billion in war-related funding and about $27 billion to aid Hurricane Katrina recovery in Mississippi and Louisiana. But with November midterm elections approaching, senators showed little restraint on items that would prove popular with constituents or important interest groups.

For example, the legislation includes $4 billion in aid to farmers and ranchers to offset rising natural gas costs and provide new relief from drought, floods and wildfires. It contains nearly $800 million in additional highway and transit funding and $2.3 billion to prepare for a possible flu pandemic.

everbidy that bleeves bush is a'gone finely use his veto, clap yer hands till tinkerbell kin fly. everbidy that bleeves palltishuns kin keep frum spendin, clap yer hands till peter pan kin fly with er.

so how bout that tax cut? how will that wurk out fer folks? Big Gain for Rich Seen in Tax Cuts for Investments:

The analysis found the following:

¶Among taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million, the amount by which their investment tax bill was reduced averaged about $500,000 in 2003, and total tax savings, which included the two Bush tax cuts on compensation, nearly doubled, to slightly more than $1 million.

¶These taxpayers, whose average income was $26 million, paid about the same share of their income in income taxes as those making $200,000 to $500,000 because of the lowered rates on investment income.

¶Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more, about one-tenth of 1 percent all taxpayers, reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each. By comparison, these same Americans received less than 10 percent of the savings from the other Bush tax cuts, which applied primarily to wages, though that share is expected to grow in coming years.

¶The savings from the investment tax cuts are expected to be larger in subsequent years because of gains in the stock market.

did ye ever wunder how long twood take to urn $500,000 wurkin minimum wage? i caint hep but wunder now n then. heres my math (subjeck to miss takes, so lemme know ifn i git it rong):

hours in a year = 24 * 365 = 8,760

hours in a year of 40-hour wurk weeks = 40 * 52 = 2,080

hours in a year of 40-hour wurk weeks minus two weeks of unpaid vacayshun = 40 * 50 = 2,000

urnins in a year of 40-hour wurk weeks minus two weeks of unpaid vacayshun = 2,000 * $5.50 = $11,000

hours of wurk at minimum wage to urn $500,000 (avridge tax cut fer them urnin avridge over $10,000,000 frum articull above) = $500,000 / $5.50 = 90,909.09

years of wurk at minimum wage with two weeks of unpaid vacayshun needed to urn $500,000 = $500,000 / ($5.5 * 2,000) = $500,000 / $11,000 = 45.45

corse, life aint fair, is it?

ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click 'link' below, witch as that grate fotogruffer fletch ritely notes, tiz sumwhut nixonian. problem is, i caint make the comments show on the mane page no matter how i trick out my blogger template, witch i orta start all over n keep nuthin but the banner tennessee jed made fer me.