Quotes of the Morning: No Tax and Spend

“Your fellow citizens ought to worry about somebody who is out there making promise after promise after promise, like over $2 trillion worth of new promises, and not telling you how he's going to pay for it. You know, he says, well, we can pay for it because we'll tax the rich. Well, we've heard that kind of language before. And you know what happens with this kind of tax the rich deal. That's why they've got accountants and lawyers. So the rich figure out ways not to pay, and you get stuck with the tab.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, August 18, 2004

“Ah yes.. We can’t tax the rich because you will get stuck with the tab. So, instead of taxing the rich, we’ll tax you instead or just cut all of your needed social services. How’s that working out for everyone?”
-Skippy

“But some Republicans worry that social service cuts, though relatively small, might have outsized political ramifications, especially when Republicans move in the coming weeks to cut taxes for the fifth time in as many years. Those tax cuts, totaling $70 billion over five years, would more than offset the deficit reduction that would result from the budget cuts.
‘The problem is the interrelationship between cutting taxes, which no matter what you do will be viewed as cutting taxes for the rich, and reducing programs for the poor,’ said moderate Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.). ‘It's that simple.’"
-Washington Post, November 2, 2005

“A smaller-than-expected 56,000 new U.S. jobs were created in October despite the fading impact of hurricane Katrina, while total job growth over the two prior months was revised lower, a Labor Department report on Friday showed.
[…]
Wall Street economists had forecast that 100,000 jobs would be created last month and the unemployment rate would be unchanged.
The department revised its figures for August and September. It said that 148,000 jobs were created in August instead of 211,000 that it previously thought and that 8,000 jobs were lost in September instead of 35,000. As a result, the data shows 36,000 fewer jobs were created over the two months than the department previously estimated.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Kathleen Utgoff said the relatively weak increase in jobs last month could not be blamed on Hurricane Katrina, the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast region in late August. ‘Rather, job growth in the remainder of the country appeared to be below trend in October,’ Utgoff said.”
-New York Times, November 4, 2005

“If I didn’t know better I’d have to say that cutting taxes for the rich really hasn’t done much to stimulate the economy over the last four years. It takes about 150,000 new jobs a month just to compensate for the growth in the labor market (in other words, to ‘break even’ on the unemployment rate).”
-Skippy

“In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, ‘I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.’ ‘Fantastic,’ the president exclaims, and he tells her she has ‘the hardest job in America, being a single mom.’
Later, the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the president deems ’uniquely American’ and ‘fantastic.’ He asks her if she gets any sleep.”
-Washington Post, February 6, 2005