Digging a hole

Maybe it doesn't take professional economists to draw the conclusion that Bush's proposal to make tax cuts for the wealthy a permanent state of affairs isn't the brightest idea in this time of massive deficits. But two Brookings Institution scholars have released a paper laying out the experts' argument against Bush's plan. "Making the tax cuts permanent would be regressive and would dig a fiscal hole over the next 75 years that is as big as the combined Social Security and Medicare trust fund shortfalls over the same period," they say.