This graphic needs to be seen by everyone. From the pages of the Wall Street Journal - read that again... the Rupert Murdoch-owned WALL STREET JOURNAL - comes this graphic showing taxes in 2011 if the Bush "tax cuts" were still in place, versus a 2011 under the Obama plan, with the tax cuts for the wealthy being allowed to expire while middle-class tax cuts (for those making under $250,000) are extended.
Read very carefully. The Bush "tax cuts" are only a tax cut if you make over $300,000. For anyone under that line, these "tax cuts" are actually a tax increase.As the GOP - and it's house organ Fox News and it's lunatic fringe the Tea Party - attempt to flog the Bush "tax cuts" as a tax cut for anyone other than the wealthy, remember this graphic. As Fox trots out commercials for their Sunday programming that suggest that everyone is talking about the Bush "tax cuts" as a way to stimulate the economy, remember this graphic.
Also remember that when it comes to direct injections into the economy in the form of unemployment benefits that are immediately spent, they oppose it. When they scream about fiscally responsible policy that must be paid for before it goes into effect, they don't mean the Bush "tax cuts" for the wealthy. They're perfectly OK with that.
When they yell about deficits, they don't take into account the effect that the Bush "tax cuts" will have (see graphic at right) at ballooning the deficit.This is a microcosm of how Fox and the Tea Party and the GOP work hand-in-hand-in-hand. Fox has spent a decade setting up strawmen to strike fear into the hearts of Great Americans everywhere, so that like Pavlov's dogs, they react whenever Fox tells them to. Then Fox trots out a meme, such as "the Bush Tax Cuts will spur the economy that the Kenyan Messiah has wrecked". And respond they do. Never mind that the economy went under during Bush 43. Never mind that whatever gains we've had have come as a result of Obama and the stimulus. If Fox says Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest are good, the fearful will respond.
How do I know this? It's obvious. Look at Fox's viewership in terms of the commercials they run. Gold. Diabetes supplies. Senior insurance. HoverRounds (go, go, go). Home security. Their viewers are, by-and-large, older white people. Older white people who are scared, of death, illness and Kenyans wrecking the economy, seeking reparations and Islamicizing their grandkids. They're so scared that they'll vote against their own economic self-interest because Fox News tells them that the Black Kid is bad.
Look at the chart again... the majority of Fox's viewers are not making over $300,000 a year. So why would they push for policies that hurt their pocketbook? Because they're scared of what the Tea part and the Tea Party mouthpiece that is Fox News tell them to be scared of.
The politics of killing the tax breaks for the wealthy while maintaining the middle-class breaks is a risky one. It shouldn't be, but given the climate in the country right now where the right wing can make up their own facts while ignoring the real ones (about the impact of the deficit, for example) this threatens to be the key issue of the midterm elections.
And while the Democrats are finally starting to try to tie the GOP in to the more extreme beliefs of the Tea Party candidates they support, they're not doing enough. This is bareknuckle politics and the Democrats have to become far more aggressive in not letting the GOP/Tea Party/Fox News dominate the conversation with half-truths.
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