海角大神

I was on CNBC Tuesday when Bill Clinton gave an interview saying that, given the deadlock between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, it seemed likely the Bush tax cuts would be extended in 2013 along with all spending. When asked to comment, I said Clinton was probably correct.

But, of course, Republicans have twisted Clinton鈥檚 words into a pretzel. They say the former president came out in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy 鈥� in sharp contrast to President Obama鈥檚 position that they should not be.

It鈥檚 typical election-year politics, except for the fact that the Republican megaphone is larger this time around due to all the Super PAC and secret 鈥渟ocial welfare鈥� organization bribes, er, donations that are filling Republican coffers.

Here鈥檚 the truth. America has a huge budget deficit hanging over our heads. If the rich don鈥檛 pay their fair share, the rest of us have to pay higher taxes 鈥� or do without vital public services like Medicare, Medicaid, Pell grants, food stamps, child nutrition, federal aid to education, and more.

Republicans say we shouldn鈥檛 raise taxes on the rich when the economy is still in the dumps. This is a variation on their old discredited trickle-down economic theories. The fact is, the rich already spend as much as they鈥檙e going to spend. Raising their taxes a bit won鈥檛 deter them from buying, and therefore won鈥檛 hurt the economy.

In reality, Romney and the GOP are pushing an agenda that has nothing whatever to do with reducing the budget deficit. If they were serious about deficit reduction they wouldn鈥檛 demand tax cuts for the very wealthy.

We should have learned by now. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were supposed to be temporary. Even so, they blew a huge hole in the budget deficit.

Millionaires received a tax cut that鈥檚 averaged $123,000 a year, while the median-wage worker鈥檚 tax cut has amounted to no more than a few hundreds dollars a year.

Bush promised the tax cuts would more than pay for themselves in terms of their alleged positive impact on the economy. The record shows they didn鈥檛. Job growth after the Bush tax cuts was a fraction of the growth under Bill Clinton 鈥� even before the economy crashed in late 2008. And the median wage dropped, adjusted for inflation.

Let鈥檚 be clear. Romney and the Republicans聽are pushing a聽reverse-Robin Hood plan that takes from the middle class and the poor while rewarding the rich.

According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Romney鈥檚 tax plan would boost the incomes of people earning more than $1 million a year by an average of $295,874 annually.

Meanwhile, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Romney鈥檚 plan would throw ten million low-income people off the benefits rolls for food stamps or cut benefits by thousands of dollars a year, or both. 鈥淭hese cuts would primarily affect very low-income families with children, seniors and people with disabilities,鈥� the Center concludes.

The rich have to pay their fair share. Period.