To Cut or Not To Cut

The question of the day is which of the two remaining options for the Bush tax cuts should be chosen by Congressional Democrats.  I’ll start by saying that I haven’t reached a conclusion. Not that there isn’t enough available information. There’s too much and more accumulating daily.

The op-ed page in this week’s N.Y. Times included intelligent articles by Paul Krugman and David Brooks taking diametrically opposed positions on this subject. . Saturday’s Letters to the Editor followed the same pattern. Simple enough! Take one leave one. Then Friday two MSNBC commentators, Keith Olbermann and Eugene Robinson, who almost always agree, went at each other politely, but with strong conviction, on this matter. At this point I realized that this is an issue to which there may really be two sides.

I do have one firm opinion. This is a choice that shouldn’t have had to be made. Any proposed legislative action, at this point reduced to choosing the lesser of two evils, should have been started in the Senate before the elections when there was more time to explore for more options to consider. The House had already passed the bill. As to the approaching ballot box, if there was one issue that can educate voters on the difference between the two parties, to the Democrats’ advantage, this is it.

As I understand it Senate scheduling of its legislative calendar is traditionally left to majority incumbents seeking reelection. While I have yet to fathom their logic I’ll venture a couple of guesses. These Senators may have felt that time spent shaking hands at home was more valuable than time spent on the job at that evil city on the Potomac.  Seats on Colorado Washington and Nevada were retained by narrow margins. But given public opinion, a logical consequence of the disparity between the numbers 98 and 2, I believe they were wrong. Worst of all is the suspicion that the decision may have to do with campaign money from people to whom the entire Bush tax cut is just ducky.

I don’t consider the president exempt from accountability in this matter. If he didn’t exert behind the scenes pressure he was guilty of faulty judgment or inertia. If he did then he doesn’t have the influence one would expect.

To repeat there’s too much information coming out with a proliferation of opinions as well. This leaves me more confused so my only comment is that I don’t know…….On second thought I have just come to a conclusion, two as it turns out. The problem is they’re  incompatible.