Axis of incompetence

In the 14 months since the Democrats took over all three branches of government, much has been made about the absolute control that the party had over the national agenda. To me, the most surprising thing is how little the Dems have accomplished. Sure, they rushed through a stimulus package that spent a trillion dollars to accomplish nothing, hardy an accomplishment. They also got close to passing healthcare, only to lose when Scott Brown won in Massachusetts in a clear indication of how strongly the public opposes that bill. But even for smaller things the Democrats have inexplicably fallen on their faces. It is as if they cannot govern even with their enormous majorities.

A good example of the failure of the Dems is the estate tax. When Obama's term began, the estate tax was scheduled to terminate in 2010 and then be reinstituted in 2011 at a much higher rate. This nonsensical situation was the result of budget manipulation when the change to the estate tax was passed years ago. There were some in Congress who did not want to reinstitute the estate tax and others who wanted the high rates of the past, but it seems safe to say that there was an easy majority for the plan to simply keep the tax at the same rates as 2009 into the future. Indeed, such a plan makes sense. Why should a person with 10 million dollars pay $3 million in taxes if he or she died on December 29, 2009, no taxes if death were three days later and $5 million if death were one year and three days later? It simply makes no sense. So after talking about what to do, Congress and the administration have simply left things drift; they never got around to taking action. As a result, the estate tax is gone for 2010.

It is true that Congress coul pass a retroactive bill for taxes in 2010, but that has now reached the point of a joke. For example, imagine the executor of a large estate of a person who dies on January 2, 2010. The executor could distribute the assets of the estate rather quickly. As of now, the law says that no tax is due. What happens if in three months, Congress decides to pass a retroactive law? Can the executor be held responsible for following the law as it existed? Who pays the tax? It is a nightmare that could have been avoided if the Dems had simply acted in a responsible fashion rather than spending all of their time on healthcare.

No matter what happens in November, I hope that the leadership of the next Congress will have more vision and skill than the Pelosi - Reid group. I think we should start referring to them as the "axis of incompetence".