‘The Trillion Dollar Fix.’

I hope you meant that as a drug reference, Megan.

R.S McCain summarizes Megan McArdle’s post about our current economic strategy in three words: “It won’t work.” Which is a fair assessment, both in what Megan’s analysis and in her conclusions. Personally, I would have preferred it if Stacy could have been able to summarize both with one word, though: “Oops.”  Not to be a broken record about this, but I didn’t need Megan to tell me that we enjoy, ah, suboptimal economic oversight. I already knew. Or that the current administration seems to default to style over substance. I already knew that, too. Or even that we are going to have to raise taxes on the lower and middle class to pay for all of this. A lot of us knew this already.

But apparently, we just weren’t trendy enough to satisfy a sufficiently large portion of the electorate.  To those of them reading this and smirking, at this point: real quick.  You know that tax cut that some of you college kids received?  Yeah, the $13 dollars a week thing that didn’t even register with most people.  Anyway, turns out that the IRS messed up:

— A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent’s tax return, she doesn’t qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.

(Via Jammie Wearing Fool, with a fortuitous link from Instapundit. See also Brother Warner of RS.)

Yes, they’re going to want that money back. No, they’re going to have to insist. Sure, you can do it in stages… if you’re willing to pay interest. No, sorry, unless you’re a Democratic executive branch nominee there’s no such thing as “special circumstances.” Yes, this probably grates on the IRS’ collective soul, too, but they have to distinguish between their personal ethical system, and that of their current political masters. But look on the bright side: you’re not alone. Also in the mix are retirees, double-income married couples, and single people working two jobs. “Misery loves company,” right? And “elections have consequences.”

Here, have some.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

One thought on “‘The Trillion Dollar Fix.’”

Comments are closed.