Panic in Needle Park

Bailing out reckless, greedy, and probably criminal, wheeler dealers is hideous. But it would be even more hideous to see those who’ve been hard-working and careful lose their life savings in a nationwide financial meltdown. We face, in the words of Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), “the greatest financial risk and peril this country has ever seen.” According to Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), “There is a crisis in our country … Our economy is on a precipice … and we must do what we can to move it back from that brink”.

October 3, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (HR 1424) aka the $700 billion bailout, was approved by the House of Representatives and signed into law by the President. I should be relieved. My IRA and 401(k) are safe, at least for the next week or so. But somehow I feel like I just bought a boatload of cocaine for a mob of crack whores—and so did you.

The full text of HR 1424 is 451 pages long. But only about a quarter of that (112 pages) actually addresses the “Troubled Assets Relief Program” (TARP), i.e. the mortgage meltdown, and related provisions. Despite our “financial peril”, our economy “on a precipice”, the folks in Washington found time to add over three hundred pages of special tax breaks and other programs to a bill that will already burden the taxpayers to the tune of $700,000,000,000.

Why bother to openly debate a comprehensive national energy strategy when you can just tack a 148-page “Energy Improvement and Extension Act” onto the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The bill has tax credits and/or allowances for everything from wind energy, insulation, and plug-in cars to oil refineries, coal, and tar sands.

There’s more.

There are pages and pages of special tax breaks. Some of these seem fair, such as those addressing costs generated by natural disasters. Others are shamelessly opportunistic, including provisions for the film industry, racetracks, the wool research fund, and “wooden arrows designed for use by children”.

What a generous people we are! Even in a crisis, we provide for the poor starving film industry and auto racing. And of course, whose heart doesn’t leap at the sight of children playing with their wooden arrows? Especially those who manufacture prosthetic eyeballs.

Wait! That’s not all.

There are provisions for revenue sharing with states and counties with large amounts of federally owned land and the Merchantable Timber Contracting Pilot Program. Guess the lumber lobby has a lot of pull. Lost in the middle of all this is the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which constituted the original HR 1424, before it got hijacked into the bailout bill.

To balance out this binge of spending and tax credits, there’s also all of nine pages of “spending reductions and appropriate revenue raisers for new tax relief” which primarily address taxes on deferred compensation.

What were they thinking?!?

Even if our economy is not completely broken, our system is. What were these Senators and Representatives thinking? Is the U.S. Congress so morally bereft that even a bill to address a worldwide economic crisis is just another opportunity to load up on pork?

Is the crisis really real? Could our economy be so close to collapse that lobbyists and Congressmen saw HR 1424 as their last chance to pick the carcass clean? Have we elected the sort of people who would rifle through the pockets of accident victims looking for cash and credit cards?

Maybe they’re so addicted to pork, they just can’t help themselves, like junkies who really intend to use that welfare check to pay the rent, really intend to buy food for the kids, but always end up in the shooting gallery.

Is this the best America has to offer?

Earmarks for Gas Guzzlers

Tired of spending a fortune for gas every week? Thinking maybe you don’t really need a full size Subcontinent or Exhibition to commute by yourself every day? Considering downsizing or carpooling?

Wait a minute! Hold that Hummer! July 30, Congressman John “Don’t-Expect-Me-To-Help-My-District-It-Would-Be-Fiscally-Irresponsible” Campbell introduced HR 6667 which would provide a tax deduction for the cost of fuel utilized to commute to work, whether or not you otherwise itemize deductions.

Other work-related expenses, such as the cost of tools, uniforms, or professional licenses, must still add up to at least two percent of your income before you can take a tax deduction. But fossil fuel is special.

On his web page Campbell states, “I will be working hard to encourage greater energy efficiency by offering conservation tax incentives to Americans who make their home, car, and business more energy efficient.” And what better tax incentive for Americans to make their cars more energy efficient than increased tax deductions for gas guzzlers? Instead of the carbon tax proposed by some, Campbell’s proposing a carbon tax deduction.

Sure, you may have chosen to live forty miles from your job, opting for an Inland Empire McMansion over a smaller house and shorter commute. You chose that 4WD Grand Cherokee as an essential accessory for your never-get-off-the-pavement suburban lifestyle.

Keep driving that pollution spewing dually for the sixty mile commute to your office job. And don’t even think of buying a bus pass. No tax deduction there.

Thanks to the panderers in Congress, you won’t have to bear the cost of unwise personal choices by yourself. Whether it’s a lone commute in a ten passenger cargo van or a re-fied mortgage for a trip to Tahiti and a plasma TV, Congress is there to help, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.