Taxes and One Super-Rich Guy

The tax relief I propose will give 23 million small-business owners an average tax cut of $2,042 this year.
— George W. Bush radio address, January 18, 2003

Most small businesses will get a tax break of less than $500; about 5 million of those 23 million small businesses will get no break at all. The average is more than $2,000 only because a small number of very wealthy businessmen will get huge tax cuts.
— Paul Krugman, The New York Times, January 21, 2003, citing the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

A liberal and a conservative were sitting in a bar. Then Bill Gates walked in. "Hey, we're rich!" shouted the conservative. "The average person in this bar is now worth more than a billion!" "That's silly," replied the liberal. "Bill Gates raises the average, but that doesn't make you or me any richer." "Hah!" said the conservative, "I see you're still practicing the discredited politics of class warfare."
— Paul Krugman, The New York Times, January 21, 2003

Ted Rall © 2003

Faith-Based Government

Out of fear, ignorance and occasional bigotry, faith-based groups have been prohibited from competing for federal funding on a level playing field with secular groups.
— Attorney General John Ashcroft, White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference, January 13, 2003. President Bush issued an executive order last month prohibiting federal agencies from discriminating against religious organizations in awarding grants for social work, but religious groups that become federal contractors may still discriminate in hiring on the basis of religious beliefs.

In 1996, then-U.S. Senator John Ashcroft steered through Congress so-called “charitable choice” provisions intended to allow religious groups to garner federal funding without proper civil rights and civil liberties safeguards. Ashcroft, an ally of the Religious Right, wanted faith-based providers to be able to hire and fire based on religion, even in programs supported by taxpayer dollars.
— The 'Faith-Based' Initiative, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 2017