Do tax cuts for the wealthy stimulate the economy?  Sure they do, but not as effectively as direct investment in research and development, education and retraining workers, and infrastructure repair and replacement.

The plan is not just to eliminate the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but it is to replace them with something more effective.  In other words, redeploy the Bush tax cuts to something more effective.  What Democrat would be afraid to support such a plan?

As long as the Democrats allow the Republicans to cast the debate as to whether or not tax cuts for the wealthy stimulate the economy, then the Democrats are on the losing side of the debate.

The real debate is whether or not we can find a better stimulus than the tax cuts to the wealthy.  The Democrats have a plan, but the Republicans do not.

Don’t dismiss retraining because you think all the good jobs are outsourced already.  Even the PBS Nightly Business Report had a feature on how a business wanted to expand but they could not find qualified operators for their new robotics production equipment.  They said that their staff was too small to spare anybody to train a new employee.  What a terrific case for the need for government funded training.

2010/09/05 Update

The Dems find themselves in a bind.  They decry the effect on the long term debt of the Bush Tax cuts for the wealthy.  I guess the redeployment of this part of the tax cut can only be able cover the next few years.  Then the stimulus will end and the out lying years we will use the funds to cut the deficit.  The message gets more complicated.