Tax Cuts

Bush. He feels for the unemployed. Who doesn't? And he reckons that the election cycle moves faster than the Schumpeterian economic cycle.
             Still, hedging weakens his general argument, which is, or ought to be, that his rather significant tax cuts and other pro-growth measures will in the end serve the compassionate cause of job creation. Better, certainly, than any sentimental motto.
             4 Business environment feels optimistic and relieved.
             Gongloff, May 2003 (Mark, CNN/Money staff writer) CNN and Money Magazine, May 22, 2003, money.cnn.com.
             "This package will not, by itself, create a whole lot of jobs," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, who thinks the plan will add just a quarter point to GDP growth in 2003 and another half point in 2004. .
             But Zandi said the tax cut could create a better environment for businesses, possibly creating more jobs a little sooner. .
             Even more optimistic was Brian Wesbury, chief economist at Chicago investment firm Griffin Kubik Stephens & Thompson and vocal support of Bush's tax plan. .
             He thinks simply passing a tax cut will be a relief for business executives, who might have sat on their hands waiting for Congress to settle on a package before making spending and hiring plans.
             5 Back to School sales are up with a bit of help from the tax refund money.
             Supermarket News 4, September 01, 2003. Fairchild Publications, RDS.
             Many supermarket executives told SN they had strong sales in recent weeks. If consumers had extra dollars in their pockets as a result of President Bush's tax-cut package, at least some of those dollars were spent in supermarkets, executives said.
             "The average family is probably going to look at it as a bonus," said John Catsimatidis, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gristede's Foods, New York. "They'll spend some of it for bigger, better meals at home or for back-to-school clothing at other retail stores.".
             Ron Pearson, chairman and CEO, Hy-Vee, West Des Moines, Iowa, told SN in the second week of August that the chain had just come off "one of the best weeks in the history of the company.