Not So Lame Ducks

When I was in high school, I turned on the evening news one evening to hear that the new governor was going to be sworn in that evening, weeks ahead of the scheduled inauguration. Word had leaked out that the outgoing governor was about to pardon a bunch of convicts, and to prevent that, the legislature (controlled by Democrats at that point) had acted to install the new (Republican) governor early. Ray Blanton, the outgoing Democratic governor, later was convicted and served time for selling pardons.

The current Congress isn't quite a lame duck yet, because the elections haven't been held, but it's not looking good for the Republicans right now, and there seems to be a good chance that they will lose control of one or both houses of Congress. So watch out for what they try to ram through between now and next January.

One of the first things out of the gate is to extend President Bush's tax cuts. Yes, we're in the middle of a war, of sorts. And it's true, that even with keeping the war expenses off-budget, we're running deficits, and the surplus of the Clinton years is long gone. So, of course, the most important thing to do is to extend tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. President Bush and Congressional Republicans have reached agreement on extending those tax cuts until Jan 1, 2011. I suppose it's better than making them permanent, which is what they really want to do, but it's still incredibly fiscally reckless. Do Republicans really believe, all evidence to the contrary, that tax cuts actually increase tax revenues, and that government spending can be cut enough to offset tax cuts?

The last time we tried this, under Reagan, we amassed huge deficits, and government spending grew faster. We're seeing the same scenario again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice....