Bush/Treas Sec Snow spin -Lousy economy would be worse without tax cut

[papau]

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html

"Treasury Secretary Snow will address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today and The Note has an exclusive preview of his remarks.

In his prepared remarks, Snow says, "Without the passage of the president's plans, by the second quarter in 2003, the unemployment rate would have been nearly 1 percentage point higher. As many as 1.5 million fewer Americans would be working, and real GDP would have been as much as 2 percent lower."

Snow goes on to say, "What's more, without the president's tax cuts, it is likely that by the end of 2004 the unemployment rate would be as much as 1.6 percentage points higher than it will be. 3 million fewer Americans would be working, and real GDP would be as much as 3.5 to 4 percent lower."

And Snow has this zinger for those who question what Dean has donned the "Bush tax cuts": "Consider this: if the 2001 and 2003 tax relief acts were to expire now, it would raise taxes by an average of $1,544 for 109 million taxpayers in 2003."

"Let me be perfectly clear: failure to make the tax relief permanent would be a huge mistake and would put our recovery in jeopardy."

[SlavesandBulldozers]

1. whew

thank god our "recovery" hasn't been put in jeopardy. i'm so comfortable now that I know that almost 3 million jobs are gone, it could have been another 3 million. with friends like these. . .

[papau]

2. why does Snow's bull pass media laugh test?

our not right wing GOP controlled media, they just act like they are.

[Kolesar]

3. Remember: High energy prices take that money (back) away from consumers

So the tax cut cannot be a stimulus on the balance.