Bad Heir Day. In a New York Times op-ed piece, Paul Krugman calls the Bush tax plan “bizarre”, “weird”, “a joke. But if the administration has its way, the joke is on

us. For the bill is absurd by design. 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. The idea is that when the absurdities become apparent —

when mobs of angry junior vice presidents from New Jersey start demonstrating

against the A.M.T., or when elderly multimillionaires develop a suspiciously high

rate of fatal accidents — Congress will always respond with further tax cuts. And

if the result of all those tax cuts is to prevent the government from ever providing

the things Mr. Bush promised during the campaign, like prescription drug

coverage under Medicare or increased aid to education — well, that was also

part of the plan.”