The GOP is very likely to do what Chris says, and create very large lifetime savings accounts that only the wealthy can take full advantage of, as well as extend the current 15% rate for dividends and capital gains.  If they then DO NOT adjust the alternative minimum tax, and/or DO NOT permanently extend the cuts to the top two brackets, the result will be that the very rich pay a lower tax rate than salaried people in the upper middle class, all those high-powered, two-earner couples with huge mortgages and kids in fancy schools who aspire to live like the rich.  Those are the ones who were really hurt by the bankruptcy bill, and who will be hurt by rising interest rates if they did not get fixed rate mortgages.  Ironically, these are people the Dems have attracted in the past few years.

Of course the working and lower middle class will be hurt too, because per the GOP playbook, work will be taxed but wealth will not.  They will be especially hurt by an economic downturn that cuts jobs even further, and those who were able to buy houses may be caught in the crunch of rising interest rates.  

The fights this summer over the actual contours of the tax cuts.  It is very important to watch the House, especially, and the final budget bill, to see whose tax ox is gored, and whether the GOP can slip something like a switch from wage indexing to proce indexing for calculating initial Social Security benefits into the budget bill, where it is not subject to a filibuster.

The tax and spending fights are the real key to what, if anything, the Dems will be able to do in the future should they ever return to power, and whether today's young people will have much left of Social Security when they do retire.  My fear is that we will have spent all our energy saving something that years from now ends up looking like a corpse.  

This list is not comprehensive. We should add Sen. Feinstein (D-California), Sen. Lieberman (D-Connecticut), Sen. Dodd (D-Connecticut) and Sen. Nelson (D-Nebraska)

Did I miss anyone? That's twenty-three Democrats who Bush can reliably count on to provide the half-dozen votes necessary to pass virtually any legislation on Karl Rove's wish list.

Can somebody explain to me why David Broder told Tim Russert that Democrats were worried about being perceived as obstructionists?  Let's see:

1. Iraq
   
2. Tort Reform
   
3. Bankruptcy
   
4. No Child Left Behind
   
5. The Patriot Act
   
6. ANWR
   
7. More Judicial appointments than any first term President
   
8. Clear Skies
   
9. Healthy Forests
   
10. Medicare Prescription Drugs
    
11. Tax cuts
    
12. Inheritance tax repeal
    
13. Dividend tax reduction

Would somebody like to explain to me again why Ralph Nader was wrong about there not being any difference between the Republican party and the Democratic party? I'm having trouble remembering what the Democratic party stands for.

He's not going to stop until he gets what he wants. Even if he lets off the bully pulpit for a while. If he did, the problem is that the payroll tax could always be raised after he leaves office, ending the crisis with seemingly no explanation from Republicans.

Bush believes himself to the FDR of the 21st century. He'll stop at nothing to achieve his vision (not that he thought up all himself) for America.

As the minority party, substantive political victories will be few and far between.  Saving social security is a huge one for the good guys.  Yes the Bush machine rolls on, but we drew some blood on this one, and we deserve to savor the taste...

The Republicans could have passed tax-free accounts outside Social Security without any Democratic votes anyway. Going to the mat on Social Security has only hurt their standing and cause for more tax reform.

So it wasn't part of some bigger conspiracy.

In fact, their chances now of getting those big tax-free acounts are lower than before, because of all the polical capital spent on Social Security dismantling. The biggest problem they had and still have is the budget deficit. With the deficit at nearly half a trillion, more big tax cuts for the rich will surely cause a plunge in the dollar, rise in interest rates, inflation, and fiscal crisis.

Back in 2000 I was doing crazy things like reading annual reports and listening to conference calls of public companies and I noticed that the big boys like Microsoft were blaming earnings shortfalls, in part, on the money lost when they had to bring revenues back to the US.  The $USD was so highly valued that what they earned in many countries and got paid in that currency, they automatically got a big bite taken out when they converted to dollars.  So George gets in and immediately starts acting like a crazy man and brings the dollar down(this started well before 9-11)  

So now if a corp sells something in Euro, etc, they automatically get an earnings boost when they bring the money home AND ON TOP of that, just by accident, they can now pay, I think I read 5% tax on repatriated earnings, instead of about 35%. Just a one-shot deal they say. Some people have all the luck, eh?

I also read that global capital flow figures were distorted last month by the Microsoft special dividend sent to shareholders. It was that huge. More lucky timing as I can't believe even the dastardliest of Dems would not reinstate higher taxes on divs if elected.  Timing is everything.