Let's Play "Did You Know?"

Did you know that any money, apparently, in the pockets and bank accounts of ordinary people is a gift from government? Witness Rep. Elijah Cummings today on MSNBC, in response to a question about the tax compromise hashed out by President Obama and Republican legislators:

"We are concerned about the estate tax. We're concerned about a number of things. We're also concerned about whether we can, in fact, afford this. Keep in mind--we are about to give $68 billion, over the course of a year, to 39,000 families through this estate tax item. That's a problem." [bold added]

That's "give," as in GIFT.  Well, Ho Ho Ho to you, too, Representative Cummings!