The first broadside in the 2004 Class War. Boy, that really sets it up, doesn't it? The virtuous poor up against those Evil Rich, and from an economic idiot who once suggested indexing the minimum wage to inflation. When one citizen is at another citizen's throat, the Democrats thrive. Kill and eat the rich, and eternal happiness will be ours.

It is refreshing that Reich has finally discarded the big lie that Social Security is somehow funded off its own "trust fund," instead of being dumped directly into the Federal kitty like it is every year. He just killed Gore's "lock box" dead in its tracks, and exposed Social Security for the straight welfare program it's always been instead of some kind of government "insurance," but I doubt anyone will take note of this.

Now, let's go the the reasons that Reich, is, as usual, totally full of shit.

Note the $700 billion number. Where does he get this? Why, out of his ass of course.

What an estate tax repeal would "cost" the government depends on who you ask and what assumptions you make. According to numbers given by some opponents of the estate tax repeal, who have every incentive to make the numbers as large as possible, the estate tax repeal would cost $100 billion over the next ten years, slowly phased in, and $50 billion per year after the permanent cut is established. The highest worst case figure I have been able to find from opponents is about $660 billion over 10 years.

To get a total of $700 billion by NOT cutting the estate tax would require, using the first formula, 22 years. Using the second formula, over 10 years. Nowhere even close to two years.

Now, I haven't been able to confirm the $700 billion that "forgiving" two years of low-end Social Security payments are supposed to cost. That seems like a lot--the total social insurance receipts to the government each year is about $700 billion, which would imply that this little "gift" would cut them in half. But let's assume he's right (big assumption.)

Okay, we can see that he's lying about "balancing" this budget arrangement. Using the above numbers, $700 billion in tax rebates to the lower income voters is balanced by at most $20 billion over those two years in uncut estate taxes, if we divide $100 billion by five. In reality, since the estate tax phaseouts are back loaded, it would probably be less than $20 billion. So it looks like this tax cut will result in the Federal Government, and Social Security in particular, not getting about $680 billion required to "balance" the payroll tax cut.

With me so far? May have made a mistake somewhere, but don't think so.

Now of course as we all know, in my worldview, this $680 billion in the hands of the private citizen, either the hands of the lower income groups OR the rich, will probably do them and us more good than the same amount of cash in the hands of the government, but Reich cannot pretend that it's a balanced arrangement.

And after the glorious two years goes by, then what? What elected official is going to have the balls to ramp the taxes back up on the struggling poor? You know, the voters who outnumber the rich voters by hundreds to one? The two year timeline is no coincidence, since this plops this wet baby back on the Republicans in a presidential election year.

Will the Democrats propose we keep the big lower-class tax cut and ravage the wealthy to get the lost money? Is the pope Catholic? Count the votes.

We can spend a little time enjoying Reich's loving description of employees and employers basking in the huge economic benefits of being released from a mandatory socialized retirement program that hangs around their necks like a maggot-ridden dead albatross, but that's just gravy.

What the Republicans should do is toss it back, offer to cut both the estate tax AND reasonable cuts in payroll taxes, and ask the Congress to come up with appropriate spending cuts to make up the difference.

And yes, Bowser, it is stealing wealth from one group of citizens and handing to another more numerous group to gain and keep political power. But we knew that already, didn't we?