What Are They Trying To Say?

What comparison is this New York Times economics writer going to draw following this opening?

Things that seem temporary can have a sneaky way of becoming permanent. Anyone who's ever bought a home knows how it works. At first there are dozens of fixes you plan to make -- that dreadful carpet, those dingy tiles in the bathroom, maybe even a silly door knob. Ten years later, you find yourself still staring at them.

Is it some useless billion dollar earmark in the federal register that somehow gets renewed every year?

Is it some huge government subsidy to an industry that is no longer in financial danger, yet somehow manages to get the taxpayers money anyway?

Is it an ineffectual federal bureaucracy that manages to perpetuate itself year after year?

Is it a progressive educational system that hasn't experienced real reform for over a century, yet sucks in more and more money each year and refuses to allow parents real educational choice?

No! It's none of those things! It's the Bush tax cuts!

Of course that's what it is! What could be more like a crappy old house than the people retaining more of their income in one year than they did the year before!