Why aren't the Democrats complaining about the tax cuts more loudly? Are
they trying to ensure a crushing defeat in 2004? There's going to be a
serious negative fiscal crunch this year. California alone expects a $21
billion deficit -- assuming that the economy doesn't decline.
Not to veer off topic, but I'm still trying to figure out why the Dems failed to make more (or any significant) noise about California's electricity / corporate corruption crisis, not to mention knock-on effects in Oregon, Washington and Texas.
No energy company has admitted any wrongdoing. So far, only Williams Companies, who got a $417 million wrist slap even though they systematically closed down their power plants to squeeze profits, is paying back any of the $30bln stolen from Californians. And they're only paying the fine because investigations are a 'distraction' to their business. Dynegy paid a whopping $3mln to the SEC for its role, with no guilty plea. El Paso and Duke energy consider the investigations 'a nuisance.'
Nobody at Enron has been convicted of or paid back anything yet. Dynegy's crooked ex-CEO is reemerging at another energy company. Deregulator Phil Gramm is joining the leveraged buyout department of the bank (UBS) that bought Enron's energy trading unit (but apparently no responsibility for its past) to buy cheap pieces of the energy market he wrecked. And there's this deafening silence from the Dems.
Nomi
