Matt Tabbibi makes some interesting points on Alternet: "If the Estate Tax were to be repealed completely, the estimated savings to just one family... would be about $32.7 billion dollars over the next ten years. The proposed reductions to Medicaid over the same time frame? $28 billion."
"...the heirs to the Mars candy corporation... will receive about $11.7 billion in tax breaks. That's more than three times the amount Bush wants to cut from the VA budget ($3.4 billion) over the same time period.
...the Cox family /would receive a/ $9.7 billion tax break while education would get $1.5 billion in cuts.
...the Nordstrom family (Nordstrom dept. stores) /would receive a/ $826.5 million tax break while Community Service Block Grants would be eliminated, a $630 million cut.
...the Ernest Gallo family /would receive/ a $468.4 million cut while LIHEAP (heating oil to poor) would get a $420 million cut.
...the family of former Exxon/Mobil CEO Lee Raymond, who received a $400 million retirement package, would receive about $164 million in tax breaks. Compare that to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which Bush proposes be completely eliminated, at a savings of $108 million over ten years. The program sent one bag of groceries per month to 480,000 seniors, mothers and newborn children."
It's clear Taibbi is speaking in the "gonzo journalism/Rolling Stone political voice," coined by Hunter Thompson, which is characterized by the extensive use graphic and profane metaphors and language. Yet the points made still are worthy of consideration. He summarizes it well:
"Even if you're a traditional, Barry Goldwater conservative, the kinds of budgets that Bush has sent to the hill not only this year but this whole century are the worst-case scenario; they increase spending generally while cutting taxes and social programming... This is something different from traditional conservatism and something different from big-government liberalism; this is a new kind of politics that transforms the state into a huge, ever-expanding instrument for converting private savings into corporate profit. That's not only bad government, it's bad capitalism."