Fox Uses the Anxiety Created by Yesterday’s Plunge in the Dow to Push Tax Cuts

Reported by Melanie — February 28, 2007 -

Today on Your World w/Neil Cavuto, substitute host David Asman aired three segments linking yesterday’s plunge in the Dow to either making George Bush’s tax cuts permanent, or cutting taxes even more. The most in-depth explanation the audience got as to how or why the two go hand-in-hand was when Asman introduced his first pro-tax cut guest, Sam Brownback (R-KS):

Tuesday’s 416 point plunge by the Dow is putting a spotlight on our economy and what it needs to keep it humming. My next guest says, even more tax cuts!

Brownback and Asman talked about cutting taxes for a few minutes; Brownback’s big plan being an alternative flat tax which he did not explain such that I can tell you what he has in mind.

A few minutes later Jack Kemp came on. He and Asman lamented Ronald Reagan’s genius at handling the economy (the huge deficit he left us did not come up). Kemp said Reagan, was right in sound money, less regulation, free trade and low tax rates on labor and capital. He said, Bad policies cause recessions, raising taxes doesn’t. He said, most Republicans today understand that lower tax rates means a bigger pie, a bigger economy, and more revenue, not less. Lowering the rate. would add to the efficiency of our economy and keep this growth cycle going well into the next decade.

Another few minutes later (these segments were evenly spaced throughout the hour), Edward Lazear of the Council of Economic Advisors came on. Lazear was ostensibly going to talk about the White House reaction to stock market swings, but that didn’t come up. Instead, Asman wondered about, people who say tax cuts were instrumental to the strength of the economy and indeed it has helped fuel this economy and revenues coming in who say we need to make the tax cuts permanent before Bush leaves office. Lazear said he hoped they would be made permanent before then but if not, hopefully the next administration will, in its wisdom, see that the tax cuts were very good for the economy. Following up, Asman wondered, What happens if those tax rates do go up, if they’re not made permanent? Lazear said, Well, we, you just wouldn’t want to see that. I would worry that we would see significant declines in investment which would then mean a decline in the economy.

Comment: So, Fox was going to talk about tax cuts today anyway, right? I don’t think so. People watched yesterday’s plunge, they got scared, Fox slithered in, took advantage of their anxiety, and pushed Republican tax cuts. These guys don’t miss a beat.