Bush to Tour Mansions Ravaged by Estate Tax

President George W. Bush is encouraging Congress to focus on perhaps the most dire issue facing the nation today: the estate tax and its devastating impact on the richest Americans. Mr. Bush said that repealing the tax could aid tens, even dozens of Americans. Former FEMA chief and Arabian horse expert Michael Brown has been tapped to reach out to the victims of the tax.

Cargo planes arrive carrying fois gras and veuve cliquot

By Deanna Swift

WASHINGTON, DC—President Bush is encouraging members of Congress not to delay in their efforts to improve the fortunes of some of the worst suffering Americans: those devastated by the estate tax. Mr. Bush said that repealing the tax could aid tens, even dozens of Americans.

A tour of devastated estates planned
President Bush plans to visit Bridgehampton, NY, Aspen, CO and Rancho Santa Fe, CA later this week, where he will tour the mansions of some of the Americans hardest hit by the tax. Aides to the President say that he will first survey the properties from the air in an effort to assess the impact of the estate tax on landscaping, pool maintenance and fleets of cars.

The death tax earns its name
While the surcharge on wealth is formally know as the “estate tax,” over time it has come to be known as the “death tax” due to its devastating impact on the nation’s wealthy. “These are people who have been forced to choose between unbelievably expensive works of art and other unbelievably expensive works of art,” explained one source close to the White House. “In the President’s view, no one should have to do without the necessities of life.”

A point man appointed
In a sign of just how serious Mr. Bush is about helping victims of the tax, he has tapped former FEMA head Michael Brown to liaise with those most in need of help: the wealthiest 2% of Americans. Mr. Brown, known as “Brownie,” will join Mr. Bush on the tour of mansions and other properties upon which the estate tax has rained down wrath. “He’s the right person for the job,” said one source close to Mr. Brown. “He feels the pain of these people and he wants to make sure that they get what they need ASAP.”

On the ground, fois gras and veuve clicquot
Air Force One will be accompanied by cargo planes loaded with emergency supplies for the mansion occupants. On its way: individual servings of fois gras, chilled veuve clicquot with champagne flutes and an allotment of truffles for residents who have gone without them for as many as two days.

From Arabian horses to the horsey set
Mr. Brown’s admirers say that the former rules enforcer of the Arabian horse association should do  well in his new position as the Arabian horse is popular among the wealthiest Americans. Experts say that Mr. Brown will also encounter some similarities between the horses he once oversaw and their owners to whose rescue he will soon be coming. Both are prized for their gleaming coats and endurance but have suffered mentally as a result of generations of inbreeding.

Has the Bush Administration done enough to ease the suffering of the wealthiest Americans? Talk back to Deanna Swift.

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Comments

[Jason]

Get real, Julia. Do you have any evidence to support your claim that the estate tax is causing family farms to be lost? Any whatsoever, or just what you heard from Rush between snorts of Oxycontin?

The fact is that the New York Times did a search and failed to find a single family farm that was lost due to the estate tax. Not a single one.

Oh, and your "'wealth' you've managed to accumulate over a lifetime of overtaxation" is crap too. It turns out that 56% of the value of the estates affected by the estate tax is unrealized capital gains. That means it's money that's NEVER been taxed. Without the estate tax, it will NEVER be taxed. Yeah, way to set up a permanent aristocracy, 'cause that's exactly what the USA is all about.

If you've got some evidence, let's see it. Until then, sit down and be quiet while the grownups talk.

[Joe Hill]

Stop World Hunger - Eat The Rich

[dr phil b]

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."

[Jim]

Attacking the rich? Since when is giving a windfall to the ultra, ultra wealthy 'attacking the rich'? And who is going to make up for the loss of this tax revenue? You are, you moronic twit. Same old tired re-hash of the wingnuts who are dragging this country into bankruptcy for the sake of their inability to think. How blatantly stupid you are, and how freakin immoral you are.

[Chuck P]

I may not not be rich -- YET but as GOD IS WITH me I will be and poor people may be loved by GOD but not when they serve SATAN which is which is what the do when they support government taxes and claim that they are unfair (the rich people) becasue GOD has smiled on the rich of this great land becasue this is the land of GOD and the poor who complain will receve there jest rewads in HELL. Amd communists, homosexuals, anarcist (ANTICHRISTS), democraps, sociaiests, and all of the other's who are not smart and wise enough to to follow GODS WILL.

[julia]

In the 1800's, if someone robbed from your dearly beloved's grave.. that meant he/she was the victim of a GRAVE ROBBER.

How the hell is this same action justified by the government in 2006?!

This article, in an attempt to be funny neglects to mention how badly death taxes affect family farms, restaurants, and small businesses. Think about it people, if the gov takes 1/2 of whatever 'wealth' you've managed to accumulate over a lifetime of overtaxation (nevermind that the supreme court ruled income taxes illegal) and part of that wealth is tied up in your house/farm... then you're going to have to sell the farm. Estate taxes benefit big government and big companies by keeping the little people down. And yes, 'little people' includes those nouveau riche in the photographs. If they were trully filthy rich as this article seems to suggest, then they'd have sheltered their money overseas like 98% of the generational politicians and be immune from the death tax.

[pennswoodpusher]

You may receive a lifetime of benefits by choosing to come out of the right womb.

[lex icon]

I'm with you entirely. Everyone who has more stuff than me should have half of it taken away and redistributed to me and my friends.

[pen]

funny how poor people always assume rich people are dumbasses who all stole their riches and didn't earn a dime. Talk about sour grapes.

[Staunch Conservative]

LIBERAL PUKES!!!

[chuck]

why attack the rich? when one person becomes rich, why should his money be taken by the government? this isn't a left wing or right wing issue. This is what is fair. If I make a lot of money in my lifetime, when I die why should my kids not receive what I have made? The government gets to take half? If my kids don't spend their money wisely, they will be broke while stimulating the economy. It seems that when the government gets the money, they spend it on huge corporations that have to show no real results or product in order to keep recieving it. At least when my kids have the money, they can spend on whatever they want. Large houses whose property tax keeps most local governments afloat. Why give it to government? You know where you need your money.

[FreeDem]

3 doznen mansions in ten days..... and then on to fundraisers with a second family... even the horses have maxed out their limit...Brownie Knows

[ed]

Good Lord, do you mean a repeal of the estate tax will encourage further inbreeding of the aristocracy? Imagine, even lower IQ GWBs and little Brownies popping from the wombs of Babsie Bush clones on their way to Washington and to Walll Street to save Amerka by divine right...Uh, Ahh mean "Da will uh da sheeple".

[Mike V.]

Classic!
Thank you!

[j]

http://yahoo.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-06-katrina_x.htm?csp=1

...Local officials bitterly expressed frustration with the federal government's sluggish response as the tragedy unfolded.

"Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area. And bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today," Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said on CBS' The Early Show.

"So I'm asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot.

In addition to help from other Louisiana and Alabama departments, a Canadian task force of firefighters and police arrived four days after the storm, St. Bernard Fire Chief Thomas Stone said.

"If you can get a Canadian team here in four days, U.S. teams should be here faster than that," Stone said. Pointing to two large oil refineries, "When they're paying $5 to $6 a gallon for gas, they're going to realize what this place means to America."

...President Bush said Tuesday, "I'm going to find out over time what went right and what went wrong" in the response to the disaster. Bush said Vice President Cheney will tour the devastated region Thursday to help remove obstacles to federal aid.

"In other words," Bush said, "Bureaucracy isn't going to stand in the way of getting things done."

The Cavalry can't get past FEMA

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish on Meet the Press:

...Sir, they were told like me. Every single day. The cavalry is coming. On the federal level. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves and were almost a week out.

Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn't need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast guard said come get the fuel right way. When we got there with our trucks, they got a word, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, fema comes in and cuts all our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards said no one is getting near these lines.
[...]
The guy who runs this building I'm in. Emergency management. He's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said. Are you coming. Son? Is somebody coming? And he said yeah. Mama. Somebody's coming to get you.. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night. And she drowned Friday night. Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.

[j]

Has FEMA's leadership been politicized, and is it up to the task? According to news reports, the agency's head, Michael Brown, had been supervising horse-show judges in Colorado before he was called to Washington in 2001 to work for an old friend, then the head of FEMA. Brown, with little disaster experience, quickly rose to be the agency's deputy director and then its leader. In the first days of the crisis, FEMA's decision-making appeared tentative and confused, with fatal consequences.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050906/cm_usatoday/femafailskatrinavictims