Why do Presidents like Bush insist that their tax cuts be made permanent? I’m sure that when the marginal tax rate was put at 94% back in the 1940s FDR hoped it would be “permanent,” and that didn’t happen. In fact, it dropped to 86% almost immediately, then rose back to 91% in 1951 and stayed around there for 12 years, then began to fall until in 2003 it bottomed out at 35%.
Language is important, but when it’s used to buttress an assertion that history shows is highly unlikely to be borne out, why bother?
Why bother? Well, you have to pay lip service to supporters to whom this is an important issue. Besides, if you keep saying something, maybe it will come true – if you’re not Reality-based.
What I tell you three times is true…