REID: “So, Bruce, the idea that if you give very wealthy people and corporations tax breaks, they turn into jobs, it’s like just not true. Even CEOs don’t believe it, right?”
BARTLETT: “It’s complete nonsense. It’s a lie. Bloomberg, Reuters, other organizations have done surveys of corporate executives. By and large, they all say the same thing: ‘We’re going to increase our payouts to shareholders. We’re going to increase bonuses for corporate CEOs.’ This is not going to create a single job, believe me. Except maybe among tax lawyers.”
REID: “And what would be the justification in your mind that Republicans would have for raising taxes on lower income people? Because they spend all of their income. So why raise taxes on them?”
BARTLETT: “It really defies comprehension. Maybe they think that the poor have it so easy that they need to have to pay more taxes to force them to go out and work more. It really — the amazing thing is that people seem to be accepting this so meekly and mildly. It’s really akin to rape. It really is.”