I never thought of it this way, but economist Dean Baker, writing in Business Week, points out that the current tax rule permitting private equity fund managers to pax taxes on performance-based fee income for services at the capital gains rate is tantamount to a special tax rate for one profession. Despite the many areas of dispute among economists, virtually all of them would agree tax rates should not vary by occupation. In other words, we don't want to see one tax rate for firefighters, a different tax rate for schoolteachers, and a third tax rate for bookkeepers...

"Moronic" is one way describe this editorial by Kevin "Dow 36000" Hassett in the Wall Street Journal. Brad DeLong calls it "the most mendacious ever." And Matthew Yglesias calls it the "worst editorial ever" and "insult to everyone's intelligence." And how! Economist Mark Thoma squashes the piece like a bug in his post this morning: ...Here's the picture from the editorial where they are making their usual plea for more tax cuts:

The Senate Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, a part of the Senate Appropriations Committee, passed its version of the FY 2008 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill (HR 2829) by a party-line vote of 5 to 4.

When I think of the Senate, I picture something like the insides of a very old and very big clock, with gigantic rusty gears that move extremely slowly. Well, it seems like, when it comes to expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), those gears are finally starting to turn, but slowly, of course, and with so much effort and compromise required for so little movement.