According to our leaders, we are not supposed to let the war on terror
disrupt our normal lives. And, to their credit, they're leading by example.

For instance, far from the war disrupting the House's normal run of shameless
corporate toadying, it's enhancing it. Indeed, it's giving our leaders cover to put
forward their answer to each and every problem America faces: a massive
corporate giveaway. And they even have the gall to call it patriotism.
Others, using the English language more rigorously, call it war profiteering.

The so-called economic stimulus package that passed the House last week
would have been scurrilous in times of prosperity. But in this time of
national crisis it is, quite simply, grotesque.

The grisly details include a retroactive elimination of the corporate
alternative minimum tax and a 10 percent cut in the capital gains tax. And
on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Republicans are proposing an
acceleration of all the top-bracket tax cuts and a return of that old
favorite, the fully tax-deductible three-martini lunch.

The House package is little more than a rehashed corporate wish list, doling
out $115 billion in tax breaks to big business and the wealthiest taxpayers,
and a comparatively measly $14 billion to poor and moderate-income families
in the form of tax rebates and unemployment benefits. And while the tax cuts
for the haves are permanent, those for the have-nots are good for only one year.

What's more, the money given to corporate America is given without
conditions -- not tax credits tied to investments, but handouts more likely
to end up in CEOs' Christmas bonuses than back in the economy.

All you really need to know about the true nature of this bill can be found
in a largely unnoticed provision that makes permanent a gaping tax loophole
that was about to expire. It allows multinational corporations such as GE
and Ford to avoid paying taxes by shifting profits to their offshore
subsidiaries -- but only if those profits remain overseas. Tell me, how
exactly is providing incentives to keep money out of our economy supposed to
stimulate our economy?

http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/103101.html