Gamin' tha Capital Capitol

So after spending the afternoon trying to pull myself out of a Congressionally-funded funk I've sat down to read the blogs and educate myself a little. The topic of choice? Capital gains, of which my father claims no other nation in the world has, of which I call bull-shit. Apparently one of the ideas floated by House Republicans (who, when they put Congress against the wall when the revolution comes, should be shot at by the geriatrics who lost their life savings in the market) is to temporarily suspend capital gains taxes. With my newly minted knowledge I can confidently call that idea fuck-all wrong.
It's not hard to figure out really. If a capital gains tax is a tax on basically positive dividends from stock sales (that's really dumbing it down, but I'm really that dumb) then what good does suspending the tax do? Chances are good that most long term investors would look at such an idea as a great way to get what's left of their portfolio profits. Rather the opposite effect of what I think the House Republicans are looking for. There's no incentive to invest, but rather to devest. What's more, only the people who have a good deal of money invested in the market would take that route. So, I again call the idea fuck-all wrong.
I honestly have little clue as to what Congress should do, aside from putting forth regulatory bills with mighty incisors and/or reviving the old idea of corporations needing renewable charters. What I do know is the middle class has suffered the effects of an unsustainable economy for the last decade so not much has changed there. Plus, the worse the economic situation looks the better the chances of Sen. Obama winning the presidency. That's all I got for ya.