families is a very useful thing, and it establishes a principal, which will that you can substitute general revenues in the social security trust fund xhshgs , which cuts social security. the extension of tax cuts is very bad tax policy and economic policy. it s totally ineffective. if you re extending it for two years under the duress of the situation that conrad explained a few minutes ago, i think the deal is defensible on the whole. professor, as you re wearing your economist hat as opposed to strategic, let s go over a point about the $250,000. that tax was established in 1993. in real dollar terms, $250,000 today working backwards to 93 would you have been $165,000 had that bracket been indexed for inflation as all brackets should be.