News Bulletin for Progressives: George Bush is No Longer President of the United States

And the news for Conservatives: Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton Have Left the Building

Megan McArdle of the Atlantic Magazine discusses this chart

 

what that ever-widening wedge represents is the tax cuts passed in 2010, plus the assumption that the Obama administration makes the tax cuts permanent.  I know that many liberal groups still see the pernicious influence of George Bush everywhere . . . but does the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities really think that we are still in the "Bush Era"?  Is he the puppetmaster who pulled the string and made Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress dance?

She is correct.  History has moved on.

The Bush tax cuts in case anyone was noticing expired on December 31, 2010.  It is now July, 2011.  The current tax cuts are the result of President Obama and the Congress agreeing to extend the tax cuts when they expired.  Mr. Obama did not have to do this, a simple veto of the legislation would have been upheld.  The “Bush Tax Cuts” are gone, they are now the Obama Tax Cuts.  The logic extends to the Great Recession and the war in Afghanistan and the military occupation of Iraq.  They are the responsibility of President Obama.

To be fair, CBPP does call them the "Bush era tax cuts", but that is a little too cute.  So we need a better name for these tax cuts.  Here are some suggestions

1.  The Welfare Plan for Billionaires Tax Cuts- maybe a little too truthful

2.  The Budget Busting Tax Cuts- Good abbreviation, the BBTC

3.  The Helping Campaign Donors Tax Cuts - see point 1 above

4.  The Tax Cuts for People Who Have Everything -Nice marketing ring to it.

5.  The Only Tax Cuts You will Ever Need- Not true, Conservatives have even more tax cuts lined up for billionaires.

6. The Tax Cuts That Keep On Giving- Well they do, don't they

7.  The Permanent Temporary Tax Cuts- Well they will be

8.  The non-Job Creating Tax Cuts- Well, where are the jobs?

The same logic holds true against Republicans and Conservatives who want to blame many of the problems of 2011 on the Clinton Presidency.  Foremost among these are the housing crisis, mortgage securities problem and the failures of Government Sponsored Enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  No Republicans, Democratic President Clinton (and Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter and Woodrow Wilson) did not create these problems, these problems were created in the Bush Administration. Once history can look objectively at those years it will confirm that reality.