Republican April Fool's Prank: Antiquated Budget Roll-Out

The Republican alternative budget that was revealed today could have basically been written in the 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s. Two words: TAX CUTS!!! (and lots of them) In a nutshell, the Republicans want to up the ante on Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy and impose an absolutely ludicrous, across-the-board discretionary spending freeze for five years (yes, FIVE years).

I'm actually a bit swamped at work today so I'll just highlight some comments from wiser people than me about today's Republican budget:

As surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Republicans will offer tax giveaways to the wealthy as the cure-all for surpluses, deficits, boom times and recessions, perhaps even for enlarged prostate and erectile dysfunction. But while Steven Benen deemed today's GOP budgetary sleight of hand "completely insane," OMB communications director Kenneth Baer said, "I have two words for you: April Fool's."

As usual, the Republicans' joke is on us

Just to give you some context, here's how Bush's round of massive tax cuts for the wealthy turned out:

As the Center for American Progress noted, the Bush tax cuts delivered a third of their total benefits to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. And to be sure, their payday was staggering. As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities detailed in 2008, in 2007 millionaires on average pocketed $120,000 from the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. Those in the top 1% stashed an extra $45,000 a year. As a result, millionaires saw their after-tax incomes rise by 7.6%, while the gains for the middle quintile and bottom 20% of Americans were a paltry 2.3% and 0.4%, respectively. (Another CBPP study demonstrated that the Bush tax cuts accounted for half of the mushrooming deficits during his tenure in the White House.)