Perfect Planning
by digby
Via DKos, here’s some news from Bizarroworld:
Tax revenues are projected to drop to their lowest levels since 1950, when measured against the size of the economy.
Oh, wait. That’s not Bizarroworld. That’s real. I guess the the fetishists who are lying about this and continue to agitate for even lower taxes have a new target: 1850.
You really should read the article, however. It’s not about that. It’s all about the deficit and how spending is just going to have to be slashed or … well, I just don’t know.
They do mention this in passing:
The latest deficit figures are up from previous estimates because of bipartisan legislation passed in December that extended George W. Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and provided a 2 percentage point Social Security payroll tax cut this year.
Who could have predicted?
And then there’s this:
CBO predicts that the deficit will fall to $551 billion by 2015 — a sustainable 3 percent of the economy — but only if the Bush tax cuts are wiped off the books. Under its rules, CBO assumes the recently extended cuts in taxes on income, investment and people inheriting large estates will expire in two years. If those tax cuts, and numerous others, are extended, the deficit for that year would be almost three times as large.
What do you suppose the chances of that happening are with the House in GOP hands in an election year? Yeah, me too.
Someone should give Grover Norquist a prize. “Starve the beast” is working perfectly.
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