Nearly Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

That’s what mom said when I “nearly” won the 200 sprint race in high school, or nearly got an A in a class. Or nearly got in to Harvard. The list goes on. You get the point.

Needless to say a Pavlovian reflex triggered when I saw the Gray Lady’s headline: Tax Package Will Aid Nearly All, Especially Highest Earners

Who are these “Nearly” People?

Definitely not the rich:

At least a quarter of the tax savings will go to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population. …The wealthiest Americans will also reap tax savings from the proposal’s plan to keep the cap on dividend and capital gains taxes at 15 percent, well below the highest rates on ordinary income. Hedge fund managers and private equity investors, who appear to have withstood an effort to get them to pay more by eliminating a quirk in the tax code that allows most of their income to be taxed at just 15 percent.

Oh praise 8 pound 7 ounce baby Jeebus, they will be able to create jobs to save us all. Wait, they haven’t created jobs since 2001 despite the tax cuts?

Then who was fucked over? Who are the “Nearly” people?

In fact, the only groups likely to face a tax increase are those near the bottom of the income scale — individuals who make less than $20,000 and families with earnings below $40,000. …  Although the $120 billion payroll tax reduction offers nearly twice the tax savings of the credit it replaces, it will nonetheless lead to higher tax bills for individuals with incomes below $20,000 and families that make less than $40,000. That is because their payroll tax savings are less than the $400 or $800 they will lose from the Making Work Pay credit.

Hope it’s worth it, especially when the Lucy Van Pelts of the GOP yank away the promise of extended unemployment benefits.