John Kerry, who has at least half-heartedly tossed his hat into the 2004 ring, has echoed Robert Reich's payroll tax cut idea.

Kerry called for a one-year holiday on payroll tax payments for the first $10,000 in income, which he said would mean a $765 tax cut for every worker, or $1,530 for a two-income family. Spokesman David Wade estimated the cost of the tax relief at $100 billion and said Kerry would pay for it from general revenue, not Social Security funds.

Okay, so I guess when the tax cuts go to likely Democratic voters, it's okay to eat $100 billion out of the Federal budget. Deficits are only bad when Republican tax cuts supposedly generate them. Tax cuts actually increase revenues, but we'll overlook that. We'll also overlook the usual bald-faced lie about there being some difference between Social Security funds and general revenue.

And then there's the Federal Light Rail Project idea...ewwww.

To be fair, Kerry also has some ideas that are worth looking at:

Kerry also recommended a tax credit to reward job creation, the elimination of capital gains taxes for what he called "investments in critical technology companies" and elimination of double taxation on dividends.

Don't know who would get to decide what are "critical technologies," but the elimination of double taxation on dividends has been a Republican goal for years.

Kerry's original speech can be found here, and it is a combination of some good ideas and some bad ones. The usual refrain on increasing the minimum wage is there. But he also hits on several good points, including condemnation of wasteful pork barrel spending and real corporate welfare. And tax cuts for businesses.

The speech is worth a real read. Don't know that much about Kerry, and I realize that Democrats get elected by moving toward the center, but along with some high end socialist concepts, there are a lot of ideas in there that would not sit well in the left wing of the Democratic Party. A remarkable mix.