War and Taxes

There is an urban myth that federal tax cuts lead to major fixes in the economy such that federal income taxes more than pay for the losses in revenue. Recent studies show that since the JFK tax cut that has not been true. Now McCain is proposing a tax cut and spending increases that will be three times those of Hillary and Barack. He seeks to cut the corporate tax rate by $100 billion cut; eliminate the $60 billion alternative minimum cut; double the personal exemption for dependents which is a cost of $65 billion and expand the military. It used to be that the GOP was the party of fiscal sanity.

All of us should hold our breath for the upcoming memoir of Douglas Feith, a neocon architect of the Iraq disaster. General Thomas Franks has called him "the dumbest ....guy on the planet." George Tenet of the CIA called his work:"total crap". Former ambassador to Iraq, Jay Gainer, remarked "He's a smart guy whose electrons aren't connected." In his memoir "War and Decision", Feith argues that it was Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage who failed to challenge the logic of going to war. He blames his old boss Donald Rumsfeld for the post war chaos. He blames Condoleezza Rice for the way she managed the National Security Council and papered over issues. He notes that President Bush allowed insubordinate behavior in the bureaucracy