Yes, there IS a difference between Obama and Bush!

People call Obama "Bush III." Not true. There is a difference.

If Godzilla had destroyed the Washington monument, if Martians had invaded New York, if Cthulhu rose from the murky depths, George W. Bush would have had only one response: Cut taxes on the wealthy.

If Godzilla had destroyed the Washington monument, if Martians had invaded New York, if Cthulhu rose from the murky depths, Barack Obama would have had only one response: Cut taxes on workers.

This is what makes Obama a "socialist."

His plan will cut payroll taxes by some $240 billion. How will this create jobs? I'm not sure. The workers whose taxes will be cut already have jobs.

Arguably, the workers will spend more. Higher demand will create jobs, theoretically. But you know what else would create jobs? Creating jobs will create jobs. Why not try the direct approach instead of relying on theory?

Cutting the payroll tax will only endanger Social Security. Right now, the dangers are only theoretical (and the theory is pretty arguable); the system is solvent for another thirty or forty years. Underfunding the system will bring insolvency closer.

Tax cuts don't work. Tax cuts don't work. Tax cuts don't work.

In the meantime, the Republican propaganda machine will do its best to convince the public that Obama's payroll tax cut plan is actually a scheme to raise taxes. Never underestimate the power of propaganda. Many Americans think that Obama's unprecedentedly humungous tax cut in 2009 was actually a tax hike. They think that way because Murdoch and Rush told them to think that way. Many Americans are so fucking stupid they could be talked into eating rocks.

So what is Obama's real agenda? I think he expects the Republicans to shoot down his plan. He will then be able to claim that the GOP are tax-raisers, not tax-cutters.

There is canniness in this, and also -- dare one say it? -- some genuine virtue. The Republicans do want to raise taxes on the workers and lower taxes on the wealthy. Whenever you hear a Republican offer euphemistic bleatings about "sharing the burden," he's talking about robbing Joe Sixpack to pay the brothers Koch. Alas, most Joe Sixpacks do not understand this simple fact of political life, and they refuse to believe the truth when you explain it to them.

If Obama's gambit somehow wakes people up to that truth, then he will have (finally) done something well. Otherwise, and on its face, his proposal is poor policy.

They're still doing it: Did you know that Standard and Poors, the good folks who downgraded the U.S., are still giving AAA ratings to crap securities based on crap mortgages? I did not know that. You probably didn't know it either. But now you do.