In one of the oddities of this credit crisis, the House voted to pass the crazy bailout bill put together by the Senate--the same flawed $700 billion bill the House had nixed a few days before, with the "sweetener" of $100 billion of unneeded tax cuts added on. Here's what Citizens for Tax Justice has to say about that in the leadin to their release on "How to Win Votes for a Bailout" (Oct. 6, 2008):
The financial rescue plan and the tax legislation were both bills that were opposed by the House, largely because of their costs. Counter-intuitively, the compromise was to pass both as one bill. It almost sounded like a joke: What is bipartisanship? It's what happens when some lawmakers want new spending we cannot afford while other lawmakers want new tax cuts we cannot afford, and in the end Congress compromises by doing both and paying for none of it.
Note that these additional tax cuts--mostly to corporations and Americans subject to the AMT (most of the dollars for that not going to the middle and lower classes)--are being approved at a time when a clear majority of Americans think we are headed to recession, according to the latest CNN and Opinion Research poll, CNN Poll: Majority Think Country Headed for Depression (Oct. 6, 2008). According to the CNN polling director: "The question on how things are going in the country is the longest trend on the public's mood in polling history, and in 34 years, Americans have never had such a negative view."... "That 20% mark is an all-time low the makes the mood of the country worse today than it was during Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, or the aftermath of 9/11."
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