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November 4, 2004

Bush Agenda Clearly Delineated

Our president stated his goals very distinctly for his next term:

We will continue our economic progress. We will reform our outdated tax code. We will strengthen Social Security for the next generation.We will make public schools all they can be, and we will uphold our deepest values of family and faith.

Economic progress: More tax cuts increasing future deficits at the expense of the already wealthy. The averages will again be cited instead of the quintiles, showing disproportionate percentages of the refunds going to the wealthiest.

Outdated tax code: Easier ways to deduct for people who spend more, and thus can itemize better. Actually, I heard that the Bush administration is pushing a very good use of the Health Savings Account (HSA) program which allows tax-free accumulations of money used only for a variety of health-care purposes if you opt for a high-deductible health insurance program. There's talk that HSAs for people below a certain income level would be seeded with $1,000 a year for insurance premiums among other benefits. HSAs primarily benefit people in a high-enough income bracket and with enough discretionary spending power to put money away and get a 25 percent or more "discount" on their saved cash. But this seeding of dollars towards health care for the working poor is a very good idea.

Social security: privatize as much as possible without addressing the shortfall of current obligations that's growing and growing. I don't mind the idea of allowing private management of funds to better own those funds, but existing obligations should be funded and met.

Public schools: No more funding, just a renewal of legislation, and more penalties without dollars to fight problems. Without money behind No Child Left Behind, charter schools gain momentum as do a move of parents and dollars to religious schools. This is a very clever multi-pronged approach that he's been using successfully for his whole term.

Values of family and faith: Anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. More blurring of church and state with faith-based initiative pushing. I thought conservatives wanted less control of their lives by big government?

I have to say that it's refreshing that the agenda is no longer being cloaked. I mean, he's using code words, but these code words are really straightforward ones. No compassionate conservatism, which meant nothing. These words means something and we can respond. This is kind of a relief.

Posted by Glennf at November 4, 2004 8:36 PM

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