Is the Tax Deal the Ultimate Irony or Hypocrisy?

After making the budget deficit not just a campaign issue but the campaign issue of 2010, one of the very first legislative things the Republicans in Congress will do after the election is agree to a tax cut and extension of unemployment benefits (and god knows what else) that will…wait for it…increase the deficit. The two-year increase in the deficit because of the deal will be greater than the stimulus bill the GOP railed against during the election.

This is either one of the most exquisite ironies or extraordinary hypocrisies in the history of American politics. It ranks right up there with Lyndon Johnson campaigning against Barry Goldwater in 1964 by criticizing his plan to increase military activities in Vietnam and then, after the election, having the Pentagon do many of the things he had criticized Goldwater for suggesting.

About Stan Collender 126 Articles

Affiliation: Qorvis Communications

Stan Collender is a former New Yorker who, after getting a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, moved to Washington to get it out of his system. That was more than 30 years ago.

During most of his career, Collender has worked on the federal budget and congressional budget process, including stints on the staff of the House and Senate Budget Committees; founding the Federal Budget Report, a newsletter that was published for almost two decades; and for the past 11 years writing a weekly column for NationalJournal.com and now RollCall.com.

He is currently a managing director for Qorvis Communications, where he spends most of his time working with and for financial services clients.

Visit: Capital Gains and Games

1 Comment on Is the Tax Deal the Ultimate Irony or Hypocrisy?

  1. Just so long as they don’t mess with the home mortgage tax write off. I cannot believe they are even discussing the possibility of doing away with it. Washington is so out of touch with the housing market. I listened to the economic and employemnt blues on the news all weekend and not even a mention of the real estate crisis and the effect it is having on the food chain.

    Russ Fielden
    Broker-In-Charge
    Southern Coast Realty
    Beaufort, SC 29907

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