When I turn the channel to Fox News, all I hear are the words “I want to make the tax cuts permanent” over and over.

Followed by this is the statement that this tax cut is going to “stimulate our economy by increased spending.”

As most people know, all we do in the United States is spend.

This is evident by the amount of credit card debt and other loan-based purchasing.

It is hard to find working people who utilize a savings account these days.

Look at our deficit, and you will also see how much we spend.

How does Bush deal with the budget shortfalls?

Borrow more, of course.

Why not push the debt even higher — what has he got to lose?

The first problem with the Bush tax cut is that the richest 1 percent of Americans getting a tax break will cost government programs an astonishing $477 billion during the next 8 years.

I am sure this top 1 percent can go without this money and still manage to get by, but these people are Bush’s best friends, so he wouldn’t want to make them pay “pocket change” out of their millions.

When you cut taxes, this also means you are cutting jobs within the government.

Without funding, you can’t have the jobs or funding for important programs like education any more.

Education funding is noticeable right here at Iowa State. The price of tuition has increased greatly during the last few years.

Along with this, many programs have been eliminated — and two colleges just recently had to merge.

Bush is looking for the easiest solution out of a terrible recession.

I don’t think, however, that it’s going to work as well as he thinks.

How can people increase their spending when many can’t even find a well-paying job?

The president recently announced this projection of 2.6 million jobs to be created this year might be too high, but he said he not in charge of the numbers.

Another point is Bush’s focus on small business taxes. This is somewhat of a good idea, because they are an integral part of the economy.

But even with these tax cuts, small businesses are still struggling with the increasing cost of health care in this country, an issue the president fails to address.

Our deficit recently hit $7 trillion, and it’s still climbing.

How is a tax cut that affects only the wealthy going to help us?

Bush should know that taxes have helped people, including himself, when he bought into the Texas Rangers for $606,302 — a 1 percent share in the team.

He then rounded up many of his wealthy Yale friends to get some real money to buy the team.

When they got the team, they said they needed a new stadium— and there was no way they were going to pay for it, so they turned to the fans.

So they introduced a tax for the city of Houston, and it passed. After the completion of the stadium, they decided to sell the team for $250 million.

Since Bush had been such a good guy, rounding up all of these people with money, they gave him an extra 10 percent in the team, making his share worth $14.9 million.

This was the only time Bush ever made money in business — and it was due a tax increase.

How can Republicans think Bush is a conservative?

I thought conservatives wanted to decrease spending.

It is time for a change to solid leadership that cares about real Americans.

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Matt Nissen is a senior in hotel, restaurant and institution management from Ames. He is a member of the ISU Democrats.