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In all reality, fiscal economic policy can do very little to influence the recession boom cycle which is natural and will always happen.
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True, there is only partial control that the federal government has over economic trends. The most responsible thing a government should do in times of growth and boom is to raise taxes and build up a surplus to deal with the bad times. Not raise taxes in a big way, but a percent or two would be a huge boost and would not disrupt the boom (ie, if incomes go up 6% above inflation, taking 1% of that is nothing). Bush's taxes would be right on if the government had built up a hefty hefty surplus during the 90s that he could spend on the cuts. They couldn't though, ala Newt Gingrich. We saved up a little, but not enough. Now, we're left with nothing to spend.
I think the idea with not taxing the poor is two-fold. First, you want them to retain as much as possible so that they can invest in their own future and a better off lower class means a better of economy and society. Also, the idea is that those who make so little that they do not qualify for most taxes will spend it all. True, they're not paying taxes, but everything they have goes in to consumption. Isn't that what RS and someone else said? Consumption equals government revenue. If you give a poor person a $10 rebate, they'll spend it all and circulate it in the economy. If you give a rich person a $10 rebate, it means nothing and stays inactive. Which is the better investment?
Narwhal,
It's Yale. Don't ever confuse us with those Princeton kids
It's very hard to argue with some conservatives (not all) who's opinions are formed completely around self interest. "Cut public education because I can afford private schooling." "Release regulations on poison controls because I'm a pest exterminator." "Forget the poor because I'm not and never will be." "Completely privatize health care because I have a stake in it." And I'm not saying that only conservatives are self-centric. Many liberals are too (although one might wonder why someone like Kerry would push for higher taxes on his own class bracket). Sometimes though, what's not directly good for them (immediate tax cuts) has bigger pay offs in the end. Healthy lower classes amount to less stress on the upper classes and on society in general. Ideas may be fine and dandy, and facts more important, but it's the synthesis of the facts through educated critical reasoning that produces the theories that move us forward. Facts are only useful in the hands of those with proper perspective and aspirations for civic improvement. It's amazing how many people there are who believe societal improvement is only that which betters their own lives.
Alex