From the New York Times Op-Ed page, January 10, 2003
Run that by me again, please, Tom? The tax cut enacted last year [2001] won't be phased in for several more years, and since the federal surplus has been affected by that already, the tax cut should be shelved?
Are you a moron, or what?
You do know that most changes to our tax laws take 2-3 years to take effect, don't you? Oh, that's right, you don't.
One other point to make... When a Democrat or other Liberal makes a big deal about how big a "Tax Cut" is or how big a Deficit is, make sure you ask them to compare the number to the full Gross National Product of the country. If they make a stink about total "Tax Losses" over some number of years, make sure they compare that total number to the sum of Gross National Products over that same period.
In virtually all cases, the number they were nagging you about will be a tiny fraction of the total GNP, and a lot less significant than they made it out to be.
This kind of perspective is vital in this kind of discussion. They won't like it.
Father O'Malley rose from his bed. It was a fine spring day in his new Washington, DC parish. He walked to the window of his bedroom to get a deep breath of the beautiful day outside.
He then noticed there was a jackass lying dead in the middle of his front lawn. He promptly called the US Senate for assistance.
The conversation went like this: "Good morning. This is Senator Daschle. How might I help you?"
"And the best of the day te yerself. This is Father O'Malley at St.Brigid's. There's a jackass lying dead in me front lawn. Would ye be so kind as to send a couple o' yer lads to take care of the matter?"
Senator Daschle, considering himself to be quite a wit, replied with a smirk, "Well now father, it was always my impression that you people took care of last rites!"
There was dead silence on the line for a long moment. Father O'Malley then replied: "Aye, that's certainly true, but we are also obliged to notify the next of kin."
Who Lost the Surplus?
By BRUCE BARTLETT
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who fired the opening gun
in this debate last Friday, says, in essence, that the change is due
mainly to the $1.35 trillion tax cut enacted last year.
Since much of this tax cut is being phased in over several years,
Mr. Daschle believes that those provisions not yet in effect should be shelved.