A budget Paris Hilton would love

That ol' Communist, Floyd Norris, informs us that as all eyes are on the draconian cuts to such things as healthcare for the poor, literacy programs, and food stamps for the working poor, no one's paid much attention to how much more money is being set aside for the rich and, in particular, Jenna and Not-Jenna.

In 2001, to make the tax cut add up to only $1.35 trillion over 10 years, some money was "saved" by repealing the cuts in 2011, the last year of the period. Most, but not all, of the cost of this year's package comes from extending those cuts.

One area that deserves attention is the estate tax, or the death tax as President Bush calls it. The law now calls for phasing out that tax and then bringing it back. Estates of wealthy people - the only people who face the tax - will pay nothing if death comes in 2010, but will face the same taxes as before 2001 if death arrives in 2011. Call it the Dr. Kevorkian provision.

Of the $1.1 trillion cost of making all the old tax cuts permanent, the estate tax provision costs nearly a quarter of that, or $256 billion. More could be saved by stopping the process of reducing the tax every year. That would also remove the incentive for assisted suicide in 2010.

That's the kind of values 51 percent of the voters are all for, I'm sure. Those Wal*Mart clerks in the Red States understand that the rich have it tough, especially heiresses. I'm sure they will line up to support the Adopt-a-Baron program.