But it costs too much...

Over the summer, we heard the refrain from the Republican side of the house that the efforts to extend jobless benefits to those that were still out of work would cost too much money and hurt the recovery efforts. It was opposed because it would cost $34 billion dollars. A substantial amount of money no doubt.

Today, the Republicans are singing the same song about hurting the recovery efforts. Except this time, it will cost an estimated $10 billion, per year, but only if the Republicans do not get their way. You see, the tax cuts for the rich, implemented under Bush II are due to expire, and if the are not allowed to expire, it will cost $10 billion per year, according to some estimates in lost income for the Treasury. But this amount seems to be perfectly reasonable to the Republicans.

I am not sure who has the shorter memory, Democratic voters, Republican voters, or just the average American voter, despite several polls indicating that the majority of Americans are in favour of letting the tax cuts expire. I guess we will find out in November.