(DISCLAIMER: Ramon VB is off the clock; he is expressing his own opinion and not representing ANY organization, especially the one he works for.)

The one thing that bothers me about this debate is that it is argued as if a tax cut were the only way to stimulate an economy. In fact many economist believe that it is not a very good way to stimulate an econmoy out of recession, because it takes to long. By the time the money is distributed, and then spent/invested, and then that effect trickles down (remeber that old chesnut?), the recession will be long over, and if not then by that time we'd be in deep enough doo doo that the tax cut wouldn't be the right approach anyway.

When you pay your taxes to the government, it doesn't just burn the money. It uses it to do things, pave roads, build bombs, conduct research, make sure planes don't bump into each other, put out fires, arrest criminals, subsidise farmers, take care of poor sick people, etc. All those things employ people (mostly in the private sector) and create and protect economic activity. Now we can argue about whether the government should do those things, or whether it can do them well, but it is unfair to carry on the debate as if government spending does nothing for the economy, or as if the govt is simply papering its offices with your tax dollars.

In fact, many very credible economists believe that a govt stimulus (spending) package is a much more effective way to jump start an economy, and it is a FACT that the last time we went down the road we are currently headed down (the Reagan years), it really screwed the economy bad, and it took a very big tax increase to get us back on track.

And finally, one thing the govt generally does not do is run some kind of nationwide ponzi scheme that empties everyone's retirement accounts and puts the money in the pockets of literally dozens of individuals, a la Enron or the tech bubble. Think about what that's going to do the workaday economy when that effect begins to take hold. I'm sorry, I think I actually trust the govt more (as long as it's not WDFW -- sorry, back on the clock for a second there).