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It’s the Economy, Stupid!

Of all the lies spouted by GW Bush on a daily basis, his contention that the economy of the United States is “strong and getting stronger” is the most blatant. His claims that job loss is not a real issue, that outsourcing is actually healthy for the economy and tax cuts for the rich will make America stronger are complete distortions. Voters need to remember --- this man will say anything to get re-elected.

We Americans threw GW’s father, Bush the Elder, out of office because of the same issue. The truth is, Republicans believe in placing the country in debt and pushing for policies that favor their big business cronies. And the policies of the Project for the New American Century supported by Bush and Company are the most insidious attacks on this country’s principles and policies in the history of the country. While Bush continues to hammer home his contention that the economy is thriving, Americans need to take a closer look at what this administration has actually done.

The Deficit

When Clinton replaced Bush the Elder in the White House he inherited the largest deficit in America’s history: $292 billion. We Americans were told then --- as we are again today --- by the Republicans that the deficit was so large that it would take generations to pay it off. Our children and our grandchildren would be paying for it and there was no way to avoid it.

That’s the way the Bush Republicans think. The Republican Party has actually failed to balance a budget in its entire history! As Howard Dean says, “Only Democrats know how to balance a budget.”

The truth is the Republicans don’t want a balanced budget, they are more interested in tapping the government for as much money as possible. They are more than willing to put this country in hock for their own personal benefit and then walk away leaving America to twist in the wind.

When Bill Clinton took office in 1993 he immediately reversed the Reagan/Bush supply side economic policies by raising taxes on the top bracket of tax payers. That policy enabled Clinton to bring down the deficit to $107 billion by 1996 and to $183 billion by the end of his first term.

In his second term Clinton not only eliminated the deficit but developed history’s largest surplus --- $236 billion --- before leaving office.

Bush actively reversed that trend by reinstating tax cuts for the rich and turned Clinton's record surpluses into record deficits. In less than four years he turned that $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit.

The National Debt

When Ronald Reagan entered the White House the United States was the richest nation in the world. By the time he left office the country was the world's largest debtor. The problem? The Republicans’ belief in living on credit. Reagan raised the national debt by 23.6 percent, the largest increase in history.

Of course they have their theories, Supply-Side Economics, the Trickle-Down Theory, etc. But you have to wonder about a policy that would deliberately place the richest country in the world in debt. Anyone who has ever worked off a large credit card balance knows that living on credit is not a good idea.

Again, we, as Americans, were told that the debt was so large and the problem so difficult that it would take generations of taxpayers to pay it off. The younger generations were faced with an enormous tax bill before they even entered the job market. It's one of the major reasons that the youth of this country are so disenchanted with politics.

The Reagan Republicans employed what they call Supply-Side Economics, sometimes called Trickle Down Economics (it’s more like the Piddle on the Peons theory), for which they have reasonable explanations, but to the layman it looks more like a government blank check for the privileged and a beneficial policy for corporations. These companies and individuals take advantage of the "opportunities" offered them to make huge fortunes. The layman loses his job.

When Reagan took office the national debt stood at $994 billion. By the time Bush the Elder left office, it had reached $4.3 trillion (a trillion is a thousand billion). It took the Republicans just 12 years to more than quadruple the debt! The interest alone paid in 1992 cost the taxpayers $292 billion. We despaired as a nation and we threw Bush the Elder out of office.

When Clinton entered the White House he effectively attacked the problem of the national debt and outlined a plan to eliminate the debt by 2012. By applying surplus funds from America's decade-long economic boom in the 1990’s, Clinton began paying down the national debt in August, 1999, and miraculously turned things around. He lowered the national debt limit and by the time he left office the end of the debt was in sight.

Now the Bush Regime is again purposely running up the debt. One of the first things they did after assuming power was to increase the limit on the federal debt from $450 billion to $6.4 trillion! And on Christmas Eve, 2002, the Bush Administration again quietly raised the national debt limit, blaming the economic slowdown and the costs of combating terrorism. A report by the Treasury, subsequently covered up by the Bush Regime, now predicts the national debt will reach $44 trillion if Bush receives a second term in office.

The National Debt, as of September 28th, 2004, was over $7.4 trillion, topping the established limit and almost doubling Bush the Elder’s record.

With an estimated population of the United States at 294,394,197 that means each citizen’s share of this debt is $25,128.12.

The National Debt has continued to increase at a rate of $1.69 billion per day since September 30, 2003!

More National Debt Info:

Job loss

When Clinton took office there were 109 million jobs in the US. Three-and-a-half years later, there were 120 million, or a net growth of 11 million jobs. Only Jimmy Carter's addition of 10 million jobs in the late seventies comes close in recent history for a single four-year term.

By the time Bush entered the White House there were 132 million jobs in the country. Three-and-a- half years later we have lost one million jobs. Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression to have a net loss of jobs.

When Clinton took office, the unemployment rate was fairly high at 7.5 percent and it dropped each year. In the summer of 1996 it reached 5.4 percent --- a rate so low that economists warned it would trigger inflation. But under Clinton the rate continued to decrease without significant inflation until it reached the extraordinarily low level of 4.0 percent in December of 2000. Under Bush unemployment has increased every year and reached 6.0 percent in December 2003.

It should be noted that unemployment statistics rarely reflect the actual number of people out of work in the country. The statistics only reflect the number of people actually receiving unemployment compensation. When it runs out the people are taken off the unemployment rolls, but this does not mean they were able to find jobs.

Poverty

When Clinton entered office, the official poverty rate stood at 15.1 percent. He was able to reduce it to 13.8 percent in three and a half years. By the time George W. Bush took office, poverty had fallen still further, to 11.3 percent. But it has risen steadily under Bush, back to 13.8 percent in June of 2004, and is still climbing.

Outsourcing

The current trend by corporations to send American jobs overseas in search of lower labor costs to improve their bottom line is a recipe for economic disaster, no matter what the spin doctors claim.

The US economy doesn't run on the stock market, it depends on the marketing of products. With fewer people holding jobs, and those that have jobs getting paid less, there will be fewer people purchasing these products. This is destroying the middle class, which is the basis for the success of our Democracy. We have a society in which the lower class is increasing rapidly, the middle class is disappearing, and the upper class is growing.

The rich may purchase more expensive items, which may be good for certain industries, like the auto, boating, real estate and jewelry industries, but they can only eat so much food, use so much gasoline, wear so many clothes, etc. Most industries depend on mass sales in order to survive and they are declining.

The Bush Regime encourages outsourcing because it benefits their cronies, who frequently belong to the top two percent of the richest people in the country.

This government actually provides tax incentives that encourage outsourcing. Combine these with the lower salaries paid for workers and the fact that these companies can also avoid paying workers benefits, including health insurance, they can reduce their labor costs to 25 cents on the dollar. Any Chief Financial Officer who doesn’t research these possibilities in this day and age is doomed for termination. You can hardly blame them.

Companies are now learning that in many cases the low-paid workers result in a deterioration of product quality. The company will suffer in the long run, but greedy top executives don’t care because they plan to skim enough off the top to retire rich and never have to work again. They don't care about the company or its employees, nor the country or local community. This is out-of-control greed.

At the same time, they are bolstering the economies of other countries, particularly India, and on top of that they are giving them our cutting edge technologies to manufacture. Some countries, particularly China, are looking at these technologies closely, setting up their own production facilities and manufacturing products to sell on the world market at lower prices. This is a formula for disaster.

The Survival of America

America cannot survive the corporate greed and illegal dealings of our government much longer. The 2004 presidential election is critical for the future of this country. Re-electing Bush for another term would be a rubber stamp for the administration’s failing policies.

Reclaim America for its people: Dump Bush in November