WikiLeaks Analysis

Very interesting and thought provoking analysis, http://w3thepeople.blogspot.com/ by Ms. Ghassemian. I agree with some aspects of the review and have questions about others. For one, Ghassemian is right on target on pouring scorn on the US Governments notice to Federal employees and contractors not to read Wikileaks documents. The notice was out of touch with reality as the employees could easily read the documents in the New York Times, Guardian and a few other newspapers. Besides, Federal employees should be able to read any material in the public domain without let or hindrance.  The author gives the impression that a cyber attack or hacking, “…bravo to Julian Assange for at least giving a heads up of how easy it is to get cyber attacks”. Actually the information obtained by Assange is thought to have come from Army Pfc Bradley Manning who had the required clearance to access classified material, so the information was not obtained through a cyber attack, but through old fashioned insider leaks.

In another matter, the author gives credit to the current administration for not attacking Iran even though the Arab governments were pushing for such an attack. This type of thinking is naïve at best, as the reasons the US has not yet attacked Iran is based on its own strategic calculations, and if and when the time comes to attack Iran, the US will not hesitate to do so. A good example of such calculations was the attack on Iraq. All the Arab countries pleaded with the Bush administration not to invade Iraq in 2003, but the US went ahead anyway and did it. Most information security experts are agreed that the US should have done a better job of protecting its classified information. Indications are that US policy is being revised with fewer people having access to classified information on a more limited need to know basis.

Extension of the Bush Tax Cuts

For the first time in US history, the Bush Administration enacted tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 at a time when the US was engaged in two wars. With regards to this article, (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/us/politics/03million.html?_r=1) the top marginal tax rate on income was reduced from 39.6% to 35%.  Since Republicans and democrats knew that the cuts were not sustainable over the long run, the tax reductions and a sunset provision requiring the cuts to lapse at the end of 2010. As Paul Krugman wrote at  the time: “The administration, knowing that its tax cut wouldn’t fit into any responsible budget, pushed through a bill that contains the things it wanted most — big tax cuts for the very, very rich — and used whatever accounting gimmicks it could find to make the overall budget impact seem smaller than it is.”
Now that the tax cuts are expiring, the Republicans are engaging in a new round of deception and demagoguery. Democrats have proposed keeping the lower rates for couples making 250,000 or less, the Republicans are pushing for an extension of the lower rates for all tax payers. While deficit reduction was a major part of the Republican’s campaign strategy, their support of the tax extension for the wealthy will add $700 billion to the federal deficit, taking Republican hypocrisy to new heights of fiscal irresponsibility. The GOP plan to borrow these billions, mostly from less well-off Americans and their children, to give already wealthy Americans more continued relief each year than many military officers earns in an entire career, is reprehensible. Have they no shame?  If our economic elites insist lower taxes at a time of war and surging debt, then the people with wealth and power have lost their moral bearings.
Having taken a shellacking as President Obama called the defeat of Democratic candidates in the mid-term elections, the President and the Democratic Party are eager to compromise with the Republicans on the tax cut issue.  It appears that the Democrats will agree to the GOP proposal to extend tax cuts for the wealthy for one to three years or increase the tax cut income cap from $250,000 to $1 million. Based on responsible economics and opinion polls showing 51% support for the Democratic position and 31% for the GOP position of extension for all, the Democrats should agree to no more than a year’s extension of the tax cuts and not fall once again for the Republican trap of extensions that are politically inconvenient to repeal.