Some folks think Bush is compromising here, but in reality his decision to increase the Medicare benefits is the result of a persuasive lobbying push from the older set that swayed him - a dad and mom and their friends who have his ear.

And don't think for a minute that Karl Rove hasn't stressed the value of bartering tools that can get key legislation included into the final budget.

Bush is not a fiscal conservative. The one thing Bush, Rove & Co. learned from the Clinton era - just push the stock market up and let the taxes on the huge ocean of stock fill your coffers and create a surplus. Surprise! Greenspan hasn't raised lending rates yet and the stock market is well above ten thousand as we approach tax time. And anyone who has worked in the corporate world should know that many corporations tax time occurs at the actual turn of the year - January 1. So the high level stock market push for this time was not a coincidence, but a key component of his fiscal policy that Bush plays down and no one on the left seems to be paying any attention to. Bush knows big business will definitely pay their fair share that's why he is pro-business, but it's also why he has been acting like a man with a full wallet on payday. Bush is probably playing down this strategy because there are enough powerful forces that, if they got wind of what he was doing, would try to subvert it and sabotage the stock market.*

SDAI-Tech1

(*I don't even like posting this because word travels fast and by April we'd see some of the bigger corporate "lefties" and their intentionally released "downturn" economic data and projections that would appear in March and dissappear after June. So SHHHHHHHHHH! ;-)

SDAI-Tech1