Dude, Where's My Country_ - Michael Moore [68]
Instead, you said to your economic advisers, “You know, we could have pushed through this big tax break last year, but Mike was broke then and he wouldn’t have been eligible for it. Or, we could wait until next year, which will give us enough time to start so many rumors about him on Fox-MSNBC that no one will ever buy a book or movie ticket from him again. But, boys, I think the Christian thing to do is to put our tax break into effect this year, when Mike is making more than me AND Cheney. Let’s just turn our cheek and give that bastard the biggest check he’s ever seen!”
George, I don’t know what to say. You are not the man I thought you were. Instead of punishing me, you have opened your heart—and the government’s checkbook—to me. ME!
The Congressional Budget Office has added it all up and expects that the 2003 federal deficit will exceed $401 billion. Way to go, George—you’re going to break the previous record of $290 billion, set in 1992 by your daddy. USA! USA! And in early 2003, the Treasury Department projected even larger deficits in coming years, totaling more than $44 trillion. But you guys at the White House chose not to release the findings until after the new tax cut was passed. Smooth move!
With the government’s books leaking red ink by the bucketfuls, you could clearly use a few of my dollars now more than ever. But you didn’t want them; you wouldn’t take them. It was as if you said, “No, Mike, you keep your money and spend it whatever way you want. We’ll be fine; don’t worry about us. The next generation will figure out a way to pull themselves out of debt, so don’t you look a gift horse in the mouth.” What a pal!
This latest tax cut—the MIKE MOORE TAX CUT!—was incredible. Not only did you reduce the rate a guy like me pays in federal income tax, from 39 percent to 35 percent, you managed to do absolutely nothing for people in the lower brackets! You weren’t lying when you said: “My jobs and growth plan will reduce tax rates for everyone who pays income tax.” You just weren’t telling the truth. People who used to pay 10 percent to 15 percent still pay 10 percent to 15 percent. Yes, you completely left out 8.1 million people from your “tax relief.” And why not? That’s just more money for guys like you and me! While the poor schmucks in the bottom half of the income bracket will keep about $100 a year, the richest 5 percent will be banking a whopping 50 percent of your tax cut.
Now, sure, I understand that a lot of people are suffering from all this, but, hey, let’s face it, somebody’s gotta suffer and why should it be you or me? So what if the tax cut will cost the individual states an estimated $3 billion over the next two years and $16 billion over the next decade! It’s a big country!
Take the kids in Oregon, whose schools were shut down early this year because they ran out of tax money. I can guarantee you that we just made a lot of youngsters happy to have a longer summer vacation! Or, I’m sure you’ve heard about that new state library in Hawaii that can’t even open because the federal tax funds ran out? Well, what the hell were they doing building a library in Hawaii? You go to Hawaii to be outside in the beautiful weather; you don’t go there to sit inside and read a book! Everyone knows that! And I’m sure you saw the story about how they ordered most government buildings in Missouri to unscrew every third light bulb in order to save money after the tax cuts. Every third light bulb? Whiners! They’ve still got the other two! It’s crybaby stuff like this that makes me sick.
Look, there are lots of sad-sack stories out there. God only knows I had my own share of them not that long ago. Nobody listened much then but—look at