From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — President Bush called Friday for roughly $145 billion in tax relief for individuals and businesses that he said would “provide a shot in the arm” for the economy, while Congressional Democrats, in a rare show of Washington bipartisanship, pledged to work with him to enact a plan quickly.

At first blush, this sounds like a good idea, and I’m supportive for the moment… I’m a little concerned about the fact the Democrats are agreeing.

My thinking is that we probably need something to help encourage consumers to buy some of the discretionary items that help our well-rounded business economy stay in business. So that businesses don’t fail. So that stock prices don’t do a swan dive. Again, I’m supportive, but we have to remember we are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul… the same people that will get tax relief will have to pay for the relief somehow, either with spending cuts (I favor that in many areas), or added national debt. We better make sure we don’t take the money out of some other unrelated fund, say like Social Security. I vote for cutting spending… we can start with some of the Congressional staff, Congressional Pensions and other benefits.

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