The Porky Tax Deal

As I read more and more about this, the worse a deal it seems.

We need to jam it with this much pork?

No, we don't. Obama needs this deal as much as the Republicans want it. We do not have to play the shakedown game and pay him off in billions to get him to do what he is already forced to do.

This bill will only survive if, like ObamaCare, it is rushed through quickly enough that its defects don't become apparent. The deal already includes nearly $5 billion in subsidies for corn-based ethanol; grants for wind and solar power; commuter tax breaks; tax preferences for NASCAR operators; and subsidies for Virgin Islands rum.

Even Al Gore, one of the original supporters of ethanol subsidies, is now attacking the program. He has been joined by 17 GOP and Democratic senators who called the ethanol tax breaks being added to the tax bill "fiscally indefensible."

"Historically," wrote the senators, "the government has helped a product compete in one of three ways: Subsidize it, protect it from competition or require its use. We understand that ethanol may be the only product receiving all three forms of support from the U.S. government at this time."

posted by Ace at 02:14 PM

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