Bush Tax Plan - It Reeks of Politics (washingtonpost.com)

In his first public appearance since he was fired last month as Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill told a Sulgrave Club audience the other night that, with the economy growing at a 3 percent annual rate in the first three quarters of 2002, "it is hard to see a need for Keynesian remedies," i.e., further tax cuts and more stimulus.

Before the O'Neill talk, I asked one of my favorite Republican economics guides what he thought of the new Bush tax plan. He did not mince words. This man -- a veteran of the Nixon and Ford administrations and a friend and adviser to many officials in the Reagan and two Bush administrations -- said, "It may be the least defensible policy ever." I would amend that slightly: It is probably the most ill-considered since Treasury Secretary John Connally persuaded President Nixon to freeze wages and prices in 1971.

His arguments are flexible, but the policy is constant: Keep cutting taxes from the top down.

This is a bad indefensible plan.