APRIL FOOL'S FROM THE GOP

Yesterday the House GOP celebrated April Fool's Day by releasing their alternative budget for the second time. (The first time had no numbers so it was not very well received.) This time they even included a few numbers to talk about. It sounded pretty good. They promise to reduce taxes, freeze spending, reform entitlements, stop stimulus spending and live happily ever after with less of a deficit than under the Obama budget. Sounds great. So do most April Fool's Day jokes at the beginning. Otherwise, no one would fall for them. But if you really look at what the GOP is saying, you realize that's what this budget is....A BIG APRIL FOOL'S DAY JOKE!

APRIL FOOL'S JOKE 1: The spending freeze proposed is for five years. It does not allow for increases in population, need or disaster. So it's probably a good idea as long as nobody has any babies and boomers postpone retirement for five years. The GOP declined to explain exactly what this would mean in terms of future cuts to programs or the impact on ordinary Americans other than to say that they would be called "Draconian". They do say that the devil is in the details.

APRIL FOOL'S JOKE 2: The GOP offers a flat tax rate of 10% to people making under 50,000 per year and a 25% rate for those making over $100,000 per year. Currently under the Bush tax rate, those making over $100,000 per year pay 35%, so they get a 10% tax cut. Sounds really great unless your single person income is between $50-$100,000 per year. You get left out. This also cuts about $300 Billion dollars per year from government revenues.

APRIL FOOL'S JOKE 3: The GOP plan makes the Bush tax cuts permanent. Which is odd since they have a different rate set up for a flat tax. The setup is that you get to choose which rate you want to pay at. Old Bush tax cuts versus new flat tax rate. Once again, sounds good! The joke is that the deficit projected by the GOP is based on the premise that all tax revenues paid will be at the higher Bush tax rate. So unless you believe that all Americans making over $100,000 will want to pay 10% more in taxes than they have to....add $300 Billion dollars per year to the GOP approved deficit.

APRIL FOOL'S JOKE 4: Medicaid and Medicare will be overseen by private insurance. All I can say is....remember AIG. Do you really want people like that in charge of your healthcare safety net?

APRIL FOOL'S JOKE 5: The GOP budget doesn't include things like disasters and war. One of the reasons that the Obama budget is so high is that he included advance funding for natural disasters each year and the costs of the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. While the GOP budget increase the Pentagon's budget, the war is a separate line item expense. That's why each year the Bush administration had to ask for additional war funding. It was never planned for. The Obama budget assumes their will be natural disasters and a continuing war effort and includes funding for these items. The GOP prays for good weather and the belief that Americans would never cut off money to the troops. But add these costs onto the GOP deficit projections.

The GOP knows that this budget has no chance in a Democratic congress, so it was written to play to their base and show how different they are from Democrats. It didn't have to be workable or good for the country. It just had to sound good enough to sell the joke. What they showed us was how foolish they think Americans are. Thanks for the laughs!