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When George W. Bush cut taxes for wealthy Americans, the economy was still strong. But the seeds of the imminent collapse were being sown by our large corporations, greedy CEOs, free-wheeling loans and credit by banks and other lends. And, of course, inefficiency and wasteful and pork-barrel spending by the federal government.
U.S. Rep. Tom Graves and apparently most Republicans intend to vote for an extension of the tax breaks for top earners. I suspect that Graves, along with the major contributors to his campaign when he was elected to fill Nathan Deal's post, qualify as "wealthy."
If the tax break is extended past Dec. 31, the $700 billion cost over 10 years (to be paid for largely by middle- and lower-income groups) will further bloat our national debt, now in the trillions, and will prolong the current recession or mini-depression we are enduring.
Such a continued drain on our national tax revenues, added to the untold trillions we have wasted over the past six decades fighting other nations' wars (the biggest drain), and innumerable other unnecessary, expensive boondoggles have burgeoned our debt to intolerable levels. It has dethroned the U.S. as the world's leading economy and left us headed for bankruptcy if these insane expenditures and tax cuts are not halted very soon.
Jim Scharnagel
Gainesville