BuzzFlash Reader Contribution

Backdoor Taxes by Bush: A Massive Bait and Switch Shell Game

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Michael Reinholz

Here is the way it works:

1. Corporations pay Bush huge amounts in campaign contributions. These include companies like Enron and drug companies. The corporations view this contribution as an "investment."

2. To get elected, Bush promises lower and middle classes a tax cut. He uses massive campaign war chest to sell this deception.

3. Tax cut passes for middle and lower classes, but it is miniscule compared to upper 1% which gets 30% of the tax cut.

4. Bush changes government rules to allow corporations to gouge Americans. This is manifest in the dishonest deregulation stuff Enron was doing before they collapsed. Net result, huge increase in energy costs, oil over $50 per barrel, gas over $2 per gallon. Result is huge profits for energy corporations and your miniscule tax cut is gone. Another manifestation is drug companies. Bush protects them by not allowing Americans to buy cheaper drugs from Canada. Net result, massive profits for drug companies and American consumers get gouged. Another manifestation is companies like Halliburton buy government officials like VP Cheney and in return get sweetheart no-bid contracts. Net result companies gouge Americans while corporations make huge profits.

5. Original campaign contribution from corporations returns so much money on the investment, that corporations plow even more money into the Bush campaign. It is vicious circle of greed with the only loser being the average American.

So the end result is a massive shell game of deception. Bush baits the middle and lower classes with small tax cuts. Then he allows corporations to gouge consumers. Net result is one penny in tax cuts for average Americans, and Bush's corporate buddies get ten pennies in exchange.

Here is one tidbit that President Bush doesn't want to tell you about the so-called economic recovery of his term in office:

Economic Recovery 2001 - 2004

Wages & Salaries -1.7% (that's right, down 1.7%)

Corporate Profits +57.5 (that's right, up 57.5%)

This is George Bush's America. Give all the money to corporations and millionaires and watch them outsource all our jobs.

Michael Reinholz
Seattle

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

Resources:

"Lopsided trends in profits and wages threaten to topple growth," Economic Policy Institute, April 12, 2004