Decrease taxes during economic slowdowns, and the economy improves. Reagan proved it in 1982, when he cut taxes and increased tax revenue at the same time. By 1989 when he left office, yearly tax revenues to the Fed. Govt had doubled (in real dollars). At the same time, unemployment decreased, interest rates decreased, and economic growth increased. (He just sucked at deciding how to spend it--Then again, we're still around, and managed to successfully out-spend the USSR into oblivion... I know that's still a tender subject for some at Mudcat who think that Communism is an ideal political system that just hasn't been tried in its pure form yet. Back to the tax cut results: The same thing happened in 1995 when the Republicans took control of both seats of Congress. They lowered capital gains taxes from 28% to 21%, and the stock market (which had hovered around 3000 since Clinton took office) soared to over 10,000 by the end of his second term. It's too simple really. What never seems to be simple is any explanation from a Democrat when you ask them how a tax rebate cuts into Social Security surpluses, but new governemnt spending does not.

By the way, for those who are upset about Bush using some of the SS surplus to pay back some excess taxes to the citizens, keep in mind that SS has always been part of the general budget, and has been raided far more often and severely by Democrats in years past. During the years in which Dick Gephardt was House Majority Leader, Congress spent $326 BILLION in Social Security surpluses on other government projects? And that was when the nation was running a DEFICIT! Kettle, this is the pot... have you two met?

I'll step back now and let the other 99 of you draw straws to see who'll borrow the "How to Be a Liberal and Argue With A Conservative" handbook first, so you can begin the barrage of attacks. Here's a few tips: 1. Question the source of any statistic that doesn't agree with the way you "feel", despite the fact they came from the Congressional Budget Office, the Wall Street Journal, or any of the other reputable sources in which they can be readily found (Ch 1, p. 14). 2. Resort to personal attacks. Be sure to call me cold, heartless, insensitive, ignorant, and anything else you can think of to deflect the argument from the subject at hand (Ch 2, p. 37). 3. Hit me with a lot of #1 and #2 at once, so my defenses will be weakened, and my lack of a response to every question or insult can be deemed as a victory for those arguing against returning money to people who earned it and paid excess taxes with it (Ch. 3, p. 74). 4. Call me a racist. Regardless of whether race has anything to do with the issue being discussed, calling someone a racist seems to be a tried and true tactic used by leftists everywhere when steps 1 thru 3 have failed.

I'm outtahere and off to talk about music, of all things. Hope everyone's having a good one!