Sister kissing

Congress agreed to an extension of President Bush's tax cuts worth $70 billion dollars yesterday:

House and Senate Republican negotiators gave final approval Tuesday to a five-year, nearly $70 billion tax package that extends President Bush's deep cuts to tax rates on dividends and capital gains, while sparing about 15 million middle-income Americans from the alternative minimum tax.

Though my wife doesn't believe me, in my old age I've become a half-full kind of guy. I welcome the extension because I think it is wise in the long-term interests of the US economy to keep the tax burden lower rather than higher, so I welcomed news that taxes wouldn't be going up anytime soon.

Yet I couldn't escape the notion that nothing was really accomplished here. Yeah, we got a kiss but kissing your sister has never been seen as any kind of great prize.

Make the cuts permanent!