Tilting at Windmills

It's the first of the month, which means A) rent is due, and B) the latest version of Washington Monthly is online.

Plenty of interesting stuff up over there, as usual, including my favorite segment of every Monthly, Charles Peters' "Tilting at Windmills" column.

Some choice selections:

Bush's latest package of tax cuts went into effect on July 1. In July, the nation's payrolls declined by 43,000 jobs. Well, you say, it's not fair to judge the results of the tax cuts on just one month's results. That's true. But doesn't it make you just a little bit nervous that the August job loss was more than twice as great–93,000?

Remember how Wall Street's Charles Schwab urged Bush to cut or eliminate taxes on dividends, saying this would be a sure prod to jobs and growth. Bush followed his advice. A year or so later, The Wall Street Journal reported that Charles Schwab had saved $5.4 million in taxes himself because of the dividend tax cut. Not long after that, Charles Schwab Inc. announced that it is laying off more than 800 employees. Now you know how Bush economics works. But don't tell anyone. That would be class warfare.

As usual, you have until the 5th of the month to read Peters' column before being charged a late fee.