“Sen. Barack Obama proposes a welfare plan that will transfer billions of dollars from those who earned it and to others who didn’t. He doesn’t call his plan ‘welfare’ or even ‘hand-outs,’ which would be accurate descriptions. Instead, Mr. Obama portrays this massive redistribution of wealth as ‘tax cuts,’ which is more palatable to voters. Who could object to tax cuts? The presidential aspirant from Illinois says he will ‘cut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families.’ The first of many problems with this claim is that only about 62 percent of U.S. households pay any income taxes. … But, after all, it is an election year.” [editor’s note: It’s quite correct to define these terms properly; if subsidies to the poor were ever properly constructed (e.g., as direct tax credits to those who choose to support such efforts?) … why, they might even work! - SAT] (10/14/08)