dooh nibor goes to Washington

The Senate just extended some tax cuts for another few years (pending agreement by the House and signature from Bush). The result is a reduction of federal revenue by $70 billion. This year's deficit is projected at $300 billion already, and I'm not even sure whether that includes the next $60 billion Bush will request as an "emergency" procurement outside the budget to support the troops slogging it out in Iraq.

The benefits this cut to the AMT and dividend taxes provides? Quoting today's Washington Post article:

Middle-income households would receive an average tax cut of $20 from the agreement, according to the joint Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, while 0.02 percent of households with incomes over $1 million would receive average tax cuts of $42,000.

Whoopie. What's in it for me is about twenty bucks. What's in it for poor people is about... nothing. Oh, that's right, all those rich people getting their $42,000 back will create jobs with that extra cash! So the economy will keep getting stronger!

I am consistently baffled by our government. Why don't they do something about the exorbitant costs of health care and the nation's addiction to oil instead? Weren't those two of Bush's biggest priorities? Instead, we get tax cuts for the rich and amendments to the constitution codifying discrimination against homosexual citizens.

Huh.