"Class Clash" contrasts the styles and trials of two families. One family is typical low-income, scraping for food and rent, playing the lottery, working hard just to get by. The other family is "privileged", worrying about their tax shelters and where to vacation this year. Let the laughs roll as the families switch places for a month...
Taxcut Reality
In todays paper there was a blurb about the Bush logic behind the taxcuts. Essentially the taxcuts spur people to work harder to get more money, therefore increasing the tax revenues by such an amount to offset the cut and to reduce the deficit. That's the logic and, of course, it's flawed both logically and as proven by reality.
In America we have essentially two types of workers - Exempt whom are salaried and don't get paid overtime for hours beyond 40, and Non-exempt whom are by the hour and get overtime. If you're Exempt a tax cut means - yay! - more money in your pocket without having to work harder, plain and simple. You get paid a certain amount of money and taxes determine how much is left for you so a tax cut is a good thing. For Non-exempt workers a tax cut means you may have to work less hard to bring home the same amount of money, or work the same amount of time and take in more money. A tax cut means, if anything, either the same amount of work or less.
In either case it should be obvious that the tax revenues will decrease, period, and that is what happens in reality. Clinton raised taxes for the rich and revenues increased so much that we ended up with a surplus. Bush cut taxes, revenues plummeted fueling a deficit further into debt.
So for Bush to crow that further tax cuts are necessary to reduce the deficits means (1) that he's living in a fantasy and (2) that many Government programs, like Education, Health, etc. are going to be severely slashed (except for the Military and pet projects). Or for all the talk the deficit will just continue to grow and Bush and cronies watch with wide-eyed wonder.
