Posted on 05/11/2006 5:09:24 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
May 11, 2006
Maybe the ABC show should change its name to 'Demagogue Morning America'. Earlier this week, Charlie Gibson trotted out windfall-profit taxes and limits on executive compensation as 'solutions' to high gas prices.
This morning, Kate Snow took the demagoguery up-close-and-personal, flashing a $20 bill in the faces of modest-income Americans to elict predictable responses about the tax cut they would be receiving under a Republican-backed plan.
Snow set the tone by announcing that the proposed extension of the tax cuts "would cost the federal government $70 billion." Of course tax cuts don't cost the government anything . . . since it's not their money. But that's not the way the MSM or liberals in Congress see it. Everything really does belong to the government, so that when it extends a tax cut, it is "spending" money.
In any case, the current tax proposal would extend a number of tax reductions, including the 15% tax on capital gains and dividends, and provisions helping people avoid the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Relying on data from what, to its credit, was acknowledged to be the "left-leaning" Tax Policy Center, Snow stated that the top 1/10th of 1% got an average tax break of $82,000, while "middle-income" families would get $20.
That's when Snow went into Demagogue-Con 1. She literally trailed a twenty through a New Jersey shopping mall, shoving it in the face of a number of people, informing them that this is what they'd get in a tax cut, and obtaining the predictable responses.
Snow: "If I told you that this would be your tax cut, don't spend it all in one place . . "
Woman: "They could keep it."
Snow to another person: "Could you do anything with this?"
Person: "I can't even fill my tank up with gas!" [Nice two-fer for ABC, getting in a free shot at high gas prices.]
Snow to a third person: "I wanted to give you a check for $82,000, but only if you make $1.8 million a year."
Person [indicating his modest clothing outfit]: "You see what I got on?"
Of course what ABC didn't tell us is that tax cuts would be modest for lower-income Americans because under measures adopted early in the Bush administration, most of them already pay little or no federal income taxes. A family of four with income in the mid-30 thousand dollar range pays virtually no federal income taxes, for example.
Snow also failed to mention that another tax bill that will soon be coming forward will directly benefit the middle class by preserving tax deductions for state and local sales taxes, a tuition tax deduction and a tax break for teachers who buy their own supplies.
Instead, Snow and GMA resorted to the worst kind of demagoguery in aid of Democrat proposals to kill the tax cut extension, thereby effectively raising taxes on the most productive members of society. How that would spur the economy and create more jobs ABC didn't tell us.
GMA/NewsBusters ping to Today show list.
I have more respect for them if they called for a commensurate cut in spending, especially on bridges to nowhere, creepy "art", and useless studies.
Go to NewsBusters link for nice screen capture of Kate Snow literally flashing a twenty in a young man's face.
This is demagogeury (sp) of the worst sort.
Kinda reminds me of Serpenthead and the Paula Jones comment.
Oops! Wrong Snow. I thought Tony was making a comment.
Just $20? That's not enought to get my Lexus muffler from the last tax cut fixed. < /S>
That's billion . . . with a 't' ;-)
Shouldn't you be driving to the dentist by now?
/ nag :D
oops, I meant to put that in a freepmail. :D
I'd rather they kept the tax cuts and paid down the deficit. Since I'm not getting anything anyhow. Well $10 to $20, almost nothing.
In our local liberal socialist rag, the headline read, "Tax Cuts Advance Despite Concern." Who is concerned? I know, the liberal, socialist, share-the-wealth democrats. Bleah!
Gotta love these share-the-wealth types. They want the "rich" to share. They define the "rich," not only as Bill Gates or the CEO of Exxon-Mobil, but you and me -- anyone who works for a living. We are supposed to share our hard earned dollars with the slackers and lazy buttz who sit around watching tv all day, making babies and collecting a welfare check. But do you think for a minute that George Soros, or any of the liberal socialists in government, will be sharing THEIR wealth? Not likely.
Do you have a link?
happy to know why I never every go to the lower end of the dial.
GMA is ratings dead.
Too bad they didn't pull out a couple of dime bags...
My 20 dollar bill says "persons" were plants!
"Gotta love these share-the-wealth types."
They are not about sharing the wealth, there is no tax on wealth. Instead, they are about sharing income. Better stated they are about sharing EARNINGS. I never hear them mention anything about sharing the burden.
Isn't this the show with all the commercials for tampons?
"I'd rather they kept the tax cuts and paid down the deficit. Since I'm not getting anything anyhow."
The tax cuts are having the intended effect.
-Toolbreaker
ECONOMIC REPORT
April surplus rises to $118.9 billion
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:10 PM ET May 10, 2006
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Strong growth in tax receipts pushed the federal government's surplus to $118.9 billion in April, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The surplus was more than double the $57.7 billion surplus recorded in April 2005. It was slightly less than the $120 billion forecast by the Congressional Budget Office last week.
For the fiscal year so far, the deficit is $184.1 billion, down 22% from the $236.9 billion at this time last year.
CBO said the deficit for the fiscal year, which ends in September, would likely be significantly below $350 billion and perhaps as low as $300 billion. The White House had forecast a $423 billion deficit in January.
I am so friggin tired of this guilt trip the media and others lay on us whenever there is even a remote possibility of a tax cut. Am I supposed to be ashamed because I'd like a little bit of relief? All this talk about giving up the tax breaks to reduce the deficit or help "the poor" or whatever the guilt trip du jour is. Sorry...I'm not getting a lot of help, but I'll take whatever I can get. I worked hard for the money...I give to charities whenever I'm able. I pay my taxes. That's enough. I'd like to be able to keep a little more of what I've worked so hard for. I refuse to feel guilty for wanting to do so.
Thanks.
Kate doesn't realize that with no tax cut modest_income Americans will be mailing that $20 bill to Washington. And millions more people will be paying the minimum tax.
Whew! It sounds like GMA is at least as bad as any other daily women's show. I never heard of Kate Snow before - - is she a regular? And isn't what she does known as "yellow journalism"?
As always thanks for the ping! I enjoy your writing.
Do you actually believe that keeping the tax cuts will pay down the deficit? If so, you have missed two important facts: (1) In spite of the tax cuts, they are spending more than ever; and (2) After these tax cuts on the wealthy, taxes paid by the wealthy INCREASED at a higher rate than other taxpayers, and tax revenues from taxes on investments (dividends and capital gains) INCREASED. Therefore, the SHRINKING deficit (it's actually being paid down) would have grown more without the tax cuts.
I would have grabbed it out of her hand and said thanks. Now, I'd probably be up $220 vs being out $200 as the minimum tax the Dems would take.
It's a shame the public isn't more informed on how things work.
Too damn many Snow's, I thought it was Olympia Snow.
I think you missed the point of the article.
Wha? Based on what? 90% of the electorate get their "news" from the likes of GMA, The Today Show etc. Most Americans are headline readers and believe what the talking heads tell them.
Did he also forget to mention that the gas companies are earning .05 a gallon and the government is taxing a gallon of fuel .50. So who is gouging? The tax on gas is actually ten times the profit oil companies are making.
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