Previous Columns by Fred Bockhauser:

How I Used My Tax Cut

President Bush has recently taken bold steps towards revitalizing our economy. As a proud Republican and also as an American, I consider it my duty to do what I can to help our economy rebound.

With all the emphasis on creating jobs -- after all, about 2,000,000 of them have been lost since President Bush took over -- I decided that I should use my tax cut to create a job. Here's how I did it -- or, at least, my first attempt at it.

First, I looked around my house to determine where I most needed help. After a great deal of soul searching, I finally decided that what I needed most was a yard man. So, I pulled out the local paper and began searching for an unemployed worker that I could recruit back into the ranks of the employed. Giving someone a job is more than just giving them a paycheck. It's giving them self-esteem.

My search ended when a young man showed up on my doorstep to claim the job. He was unemployed and willing to cut the grass, thereby meeting two of my criteria. He was also 15. We decided he would start on Saturday morning, bright and early with his first mowing of the Bockhauser lawn.

Sure enough, my newly hired employee showed up Saturday promptly at nine in the morning and began mowing, weeding, raking, and making the yard look nice. Aside from one fifteen minute break, to have a glass of Mrs. Bockhauser's world famous homemade lemonade, he worked tirelessly, wrapping up around five o'clock.

Mrs. Bockhauser and I were standing there, admiring the nice job that had been done on the lawn, when it occurred to both of us that we really hadn't discussed price with our young charge. He suggested $45 as a fair price, reasoning that at $6 per hour, that's about what we owed him, taking into account the short lemonade break.

There was a problem though. My total tax break was only $400. Taking into account that we'd need to have the yard attended at least twenty times, we could only afford to pay $20. Our employee looked at us like we were crazy as I offered him the twenty dollar bill.

"I didn't just give up a whole day for twenty bucks, man," said our employee angrily. So much for self-esteem.

That's when I reminded him that we had never discussed price and to let that be a lesson to him to always settle money matters up front.

He stormed away and said something that I didn't understand but I don't think he's coming back next week.

That's okay. There are lots of other unemployed people that we can find who will gladly work for the $20 per week that we can afford with our tax break money. In fact, I'm about to look for one now who's good at climbing trees to remove toilet paper and who can clean eggs off of our driveway and front door.

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Pinching The Poor

Let me ask you a question.

Which would hurt more? Breaking your arm or giving you a little pinch. That's an easy one, right?

Apparently, there are those in Congress and in the Democratic Party who would disagree. Let me explain. While President Bush is trying to do the right thing by giving tax cuts to the wealthy, there are those who are crying out against those cuts and instead asking for tax cuts for the poor working families. Nothing could be more immoral or less American than giving tax cuts to the poor.

If the liberals had their way, the rich would be taxed a whole lot and let the poor off the hook. They claim that's "fair," although by who's measure, I don't know.

To use my opening metaphor, they want to break the arms of the rich rather than pinch the poor, and to me, that's just wrong. In fact, it's backwards.

The correct approach is to pinch all the poor people, and I mean give them a good pinch that stings a little. A few dollars here, a few there. Pretty soon, the nation's treasury is flush.

The rich? Leave them alone. In fact, give them tax cuts because we all know they will do the right thing and build factories to employ the poor and pay them an honest wage. In other words, we can count on our country's wealthy people to take care of the poor.

You might be asking, "Fred, can we really afford to let the rich off scott free?" Sure, we can! The reason is that there are a whole lot more poor people than there are rich. Plus, by the time we're done pinching all of them a little more, there will be even more poor people to help carry the country's financial burdens.

You don't have to trust me on this. But, you do have to trust someone much wiser and with a great deal more of intelligence: President George W. Bush. He's a firm believer in soaking the poor and ignoring the rich. As the President has learned along with many of his Republican counterparts, it make good economic policy and perfect sense to ride the backs of the poor. Remember this when you go the polls next November.

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"DeLaying" Tax Breaks For The Poor

The Senate has recently passed legislation that would increase the $350 billion tax cut by a little more than 1%. The additional tax cut is in the form of a refundable tax credit, which would be available to those taxpayers who make less than $26,000 per year and don't otherwise pay enough income tax to take advantage of the credit.

Althought the bill sailed through the Senate and reportedly has the approval of President Bush, the bill is meeting resistance in the House of Representatives. According to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the bill doesn't have a "snow cone's chance in hell" of gaining the necessary approval needed to get to President Bush's pen.

The problem, as DeLay points out, is that it's wrong to give a tax refund to people who don't pay taxes. Sure, some of the people this tax cut would benefit are among the neediest people in the country, but DeLay has his principles, and those are to be respected.

DeLay further stated that the House has "priorities" and helping the freeloading poor isn't one of them. Plus, passing the bill would cause the cost of the tax cut to explode from $350 billion to $355 billion, which he argues is simply too much. It would be a little like paying $3.55 for a tri tip sandwich instead of paying $3.50. DeLay doesn't think the public would stand for it.

DeLay has indicated that he would support passing the bill if it came with some additional bells and whistles, such as additional cuts for our most deserving families. For example, DeLay proposes an additional $100 billion tax cut that would benefit the top 0.5% of taxpayers as a condition to providing relief to the "working poor." So far, there is not a lot of support for DeLay's proposal.

In the end, it's all about the "priorities" that DeLay speaks of so highly. There's been talk of a House investigation into Hillary Clinton's fundraising and her book advance. Plus, the passage of the newest versions of the Patriot Act are waiting in the wings. In the meantime, the working poor will have to wait their turn, and all House Democrats can say is sorry for the "DeLay."

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Bakersfield's Economic Recovery Begins

Exciting things are happening in Oildale, the blue collar community located in northern Bakersfield.

In anticipation of the new tax cut tha President Bush signed into law last week, local residents Jeffrey Ellis and Harlan McCoy have announced the opening of a new dollar store in northern Bakersfield. The store will simply be called the "Dollar Store," and all items in the store will sell for $1 each.

President Bush talked about putting people back to work and getting those tax dollars back into the economy. This is just the sort of thing he was referring to.

Ellis, who manages a mobile home park, got the idea of a dollar store from a recent visit to the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles. He immediately became captivated by a store that could sell everything for $1.

"We'll be selling Pez dispensers, small sponges, these little bottles of detergent, and we just got in a box of last year's Halloween candy. The beauty is that everything will cost $1 per item," said McCoy.

The store is expected to hire two part-time employees - Ellis and McCoy - which means two new jobs will be created. McCoy will be giving up his Amway distributorship to devote full time to running the cash register at the Dollar Store while Ellis travels the state's swap meets searching for inventory to sell in the store.

As for why Oildale was chosen for the location, Ellis explained that he had read somewhere that the average tax cut for Oildale residents under President Bush's tax plan was going to be $1. He then thought, "what can you buy for $1"? That's when the idea of the dollar store suddenly made sense.

The economic recovery of America is beginning in an unlikely place. In times like these, though, you take what you can get. Pez dispenser anyone?

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Trickle Trickle

Some nights, I sit outside on my patio and I swear I can hear it. The soft trickle that sounds a bit like water. No, I'm not talking about Mrs. Bockhauser's bath water either.

It's the gentle "trickle down" effect that accompanies large tax cuts to the rich. It's a gentle sound, a bit relaxing, a little numbing.

Years ago, Ronald Reagan invented this theory, which has a nifty name: "supply side economics." Try that one out the next time you're out with your friends, if you want to impress them. Say something like, "hey, what do you guys think about supply side economics," and see what kind of looks you get.

The way President Reagan envisioned "supply side economics" is this: the government gives lots and lots of money to the wealthiest people in America. They then use that money to create jobs for the rest of us who aren't as wealthy. They do this because the wealthiest people are also the most generous when it comes to spreading around their fortunes, and they love to see the little people happy. At least, that's what Ronald Reagan said.

I know what you're thinking: "Fred, why don't they just give me some money so I don't have to wait for the trickle?" Because it doesn't work that way. You have to be trickled on or it's not "supply side economics," and it just won't work properly. Plus, if they just gave you money, you'd most likely blow it on something for yourself, like food or medicine, and then you'd be poor again. No, the better solution is to give the tax cut money to the rich so tha they can decide where it can best be used.

Once President Bush's tax cuts are passed, the trickle will begin. I'll warn you. It starts with a few drops, then becomes a steady stream pouring down on all of us. Don't expect a downpour though. After all, the rich need to keep some of their wealth for themselves.

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How About a 100% Tax Cut For Everyone?

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Leave No Millionaire Behind

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The Happy Meal Tax Plan

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