Legacies are usually written afterwards, but unfortunately, this one’s writing is on the wall. And given what’s already written there, a big space has been left for the next 13 months, assuming, of course, the wall doesn’t get bulldozed for a parking lot.
The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush
When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page.
I can hear an irritated counterthrust already. The president has not driven the United States into a recession during his almost seven years in office. Unemployment stands at a respectable 4.6 percent. Well, fine. But the other side of the ledger groans with distress: a tax code that has become hideously biased in favor of the rich; a national debt that will probably have grown 70 percent by the time this president leaves Washington; a swelling cascade of mortgage defaults; a record near-$850 billion trade deficit; oil prices that are higher than they have ever been; and a dollar so weak that for an American to buy a cup of coffee in London or Paris—or even the Yukon—becomes a venture in high finance.
And it gets worse. After almost seven years of this president, the United States is less prepared than ever to face the future.
Remember the presidential debates in 2000 between Al Gore and George Bush, and how the two men argued over how to spend America’s anticipated $2.2 trillion budget surplus? The country could well have afforded to ramp up domestic investment in key areas. In fact, doing so would have staved off recession in the short run while spurring growth in the long run.
sadly its doubtful we will ever see “how to spend budget surplus” as a debate topic again in our lifetimes. Ya know the song “proud to be an American” hasn’t come across my mind in many many years…
There will be a recession before this President leaves office. Most of the time Presidents have little control over economic cycles. This President has.
GWB legacy will be a skid mark, in making the united states look like a bunch of assholes. His father simply left office looking like a “wimp” which is far better than what his son has done.
You know your economy is bad when contracts in this country for celebrities have to be paid in another country’s currency (Euro).
A tax code favored to the rich? Taxes paid by the rich have gone up, in dollar amounts, and the share of total taxes. I imagine the rest of his numbers are just as bad, though the dollar is falling.
Dynasty presidents are exactly why I am not voting for Hillary. In my short adult life it goes like this:
Carter (after this is when the presidency changed.)
Reagan (Bush vice president.)
Bush
Clinton
Bush
Clinton (if she wins)
I am so ready for a fresh face in the Presidency. I’ll vote for a liberal most of the time but I’m not registered as a Democrat.
Taxes paid by the rich have gone up, in dollar amounts, and the share of total taxes.
As a percentage of income, (a far more meaningful number) how has their tax burden changed, as compared to mine?
What we have now is better than what Kerry or Gore would have left us as this is still the US.
#6 – Don’t feel bad for the rich, or defend them. One of my big considerations for financial outlays this month is my menu: which flavor of Ramen noodles, Mac & Cheese, PB&J, Tuna Sandwich, Ramen, Mac & Cheest, PB&J, Tuna Sandwich… I’m fortunate to have those choices.
Due to those bastards standing on the rest of us, giving themselves raises and golden parachutes, buying houses on the coasts, boats, and Benzes – guys like me, who work our asses off, are left with table scraps. Meanwhile, ‘they’ have another meeting to attend, where they’ll decide how to carve it all up amongst themselves by outsourcing jobs and firing Americans, another corporate lobster lunch, and 2 vacations coming up in the next 2 months.
Can you read the anger here? I’m middle-class, educated, and a professional. Imagine what people on the lower strata of the socio-economic totem-pole are thinking/scheming/planning…
Google: Eat the Rich. 🙂
+ treasury bankrupted
+ entire nation in hoc to china
+ moral high ground lost
+ anarchy in iraq with no end in sight
+ technological lead in the world nearly lost
+ safety & environmental safeguards gone
whew! gw’s been a busy busy boy
but hey we all got a $300 check, and saddam hussein’s no longer in power, so it’s all good, right?
right?
12–Robin==that certainly is BullShit. How can such a mental defective deserved a raise??
Oops–I read that again. Now, please tell us you explained to him the effect of marginal taxation and the net benefit to your employee–or did you withdraw your raise at your rapid acceptance of his hesitency?
Good Busie Boy. Now, go sit in the corner.
Share of total income has gone down for both, as intended. Nevertheless total revenues are up, and the rich are paying a larger share, which is what you can expect when the economy is growing. Now if they would just drop the income tax rates even more, and cut the corporate income tax, things would be better. Too many of the wealthy are skating by with special tax breaks and shelters, while others have to pay 35%.
[deleted, duplicate post -ed.]
12-anti Robin Hood-It’s amazing. You rather have your hard earn tax dollars being wasted by Bush on companies like Blackwater or Haliburton, then it going to help out your fellow citizens. Only in America.
I used to be a proponent of a Flat Tax, but now I like the Fair Tax: http://www.fairtax.org
The only flaw I can see is it couldn’t be enacted until after we approved a constitutional amendment outlawing any form of income tax.
Quit looking in the rear view mirror, Democrats are not running against Bush anymore. Give it up or risk loosing another Presidential election to the Republicans. By the way you better watch out or this current congress will blow it with it wasteful investigations, lobbyist, days off and emarks even beyond what the Republicans did. Disgusting.
RE: Article
> tax code that has become
> hideously biased in favor of the rich;
If by “rich” you mean anyone making more than $50K a year, sure. Oh and that tax “break” for the rich resulted in higher tax revenue. It is the height of stupidity to want higher taxes on the rich if that results in lower tax revenue.
> a national debt that will
> probably have grown 70 percent
Yep. Of course, I do not see any slam against Congress who are equally if not more at fault.
> swelling cascade of mortgage defaults;
How is this the Bush administration’s fault?! This is the fault of the Fed.
> a record near-$850 billion trade deficit
Yep and again Congress is equally culpable.
> oil prices that are higher than they have ever been
This one is tougher because it is difficult to know where oil prices would have gone had we done nothing in response to 9/11 and given the turmoil in the Middle-East. Oil was going to go up no matter what. The real question is how much.
#12: not a bad idea, working for a living. Very honorable, and of course, the right thing to do. My congratulations to your dad on a job well done instilling a work ethic. If you want to better yourself, work for it.
The only problem with that is that nowadays people would actually have to find a job that paid a living wage. Two-thirds of all jobs in the US don’t require a college education, so that means at least two-thirds of all jobs in the US now don’t provide a living wage.
When we’ve become a nation of low-paying, zero-security, part-time service McJobs instead of decent-paying full-time jobs with a future and security, it’s kinda hard now to dig ourselves out of a hole. My guess is that quite often, the government wants us beholden to them so that we’ll remember who gave us any goodies and vote for them when the next election rolls around.
I wonder if Halliburton or any of their subsidiaries are hiring…
16
> It’s amazing. You rather have your hard earn tax dollars being
> wasted by Bush on companies like Blackwater or Haliburton, then it
> going to help out your fellow citizens. Only in America.
It’s my money. I should get to choose what to do with it. And I do give to charities so don’t lecture me about not caring. I don’t need the gov deciding what is best for us and neither should you.
As I said, if your heart is bleeding so much for those that need help, then help them. But keep your dirty, rotten paws off my stash.
>The only problem with that is that nowadays people would actually
> have to find a job that paid a living wage. Two-thirds of all jobs in the
> US don’t require a college education, so that means at least two
> thirds of all jobs in the US now don’t provide a living wage.
So taking a larger percentage from the “rich” is going to help the McLaborers?
> My guess is that quite often, the government wants us beholden to
> them so that we’ll remember who gave us any goodies and vote for
> them when the next election rolls around.
That is exactly what is happening. It’s all about power and they’ve convinced the bleeding hearts that it’s the right thing to do. Once you accept money from someone, they become boss.
We get hit with a terrorist attack and do exactly what the terrorists want us to do and restrict freedoms of the citizens.
We start a war with a country (Afghanistan) because we know that the mastermind (a Saudi national even!) of the plan is there. We clean out the Taliban (which had nothing to do with the terrorist attack) but can’t manage to get the mastermind 6+ years later. And it appears that it’s not even a priority. But we drove out the Taliban, so we call that war a “win”. We’re still fighting.
The terrorists were mostly Saudi, and a few Pakistanis. (Whistling about how we’re still treating these two countries as friends…)
We start war with another country (Iraq) under the false assumption of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the public’s undeniable false assumption that Iraq had something to do with the terrorist attack. We didn’t find any WMDs. We didn’t even find any planted WMDs. We MAY have a public that now disassociates Iraq from the terrorist attack. Maybe. We’re still fighting
Then we said that it was to eliminate Saddam Hussein from power. We did that in three days. We heard that after we didn’t find the non-existent WMDs. Which took years. We’re still fighting.
Then we said that it was to start democracy in that part of world. The whole world saw the purple fingers that showed that democracy was in place. We’re still fighting.
Then we said that it was to fight the Al Qaeda in Iraq, because if we didn’t fight them there, the Al Qaeda would follow us home. It comes as no surprise that the Al Qaeda in Iraq really has nothing to do with the Al Qaeda that carried out the terrorist attack, just a name that WE put on them. The next question about them following us home is, why are they even waiting? We’re still fighting.
And now, Al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated! That is the great news! Our troops should be coming home now! But instead, the talk is of a 50(!!!) year deployment of our troops there. We’re still fighting.
At least we can point to the reduction of violence in Baghdad. The city has successfully been partitioned between the Shia and the Sunni, and there’s no more ethnic cleansing going on. Hurray! But now we’ve got a partitioned city. We’re still fighting.
We’ve got exhausted troops serving 15 months in a hell hole of a country. One of my sons was back last month from his 15 month deployment. He thought he was in a 12 month deployment, but with four weeks left, they extended it. His twin brother and sister-in-law are still over there just getting started with their 15 month deployment. At least those two knew going in, it was a 15 month deployment. All for the sake of this “surge”. They didn’t call anybody extra in, they just extended their deployments to make it look like they were. They’re still fighting.
We’ve got our ally Turkey threatening to invade Iraq.
And yet the nations of the terrorists that attacked this country are welcomed as friends to this country. Despite the fact that the Saudis teach their children how wicked we are. It’s the oil you know!
And then there’s Pakistan under a dictatorial leadership that has gone back on it’s word, holding lawyers and judges as political enemies. The talk of holding a democratic election sounds just like Castro holding an election. Rigged! But we have to be nice to them because they have nukes, and we don’t want just anybody to have those nukes.
And then there’s Iran. The sword-rattling is complete bullshit. Even if we DID need to do a military invasion of Iran, where are we going to get the troops from? The “surge” is to laugh at being so ludicrous.
And this is just the foreign policy of a very small part of the whole world. The United States is screwed by this diplomacy.
I would love to go into more detail on our loss of rights. I would love to go on talking about the economic malfeasance that this administration has engaged in.
But I will say I don’t get the people that complain that the high taxes are preventing them from making more money. Even under the old tax system, you were better off making $100,000 over $50,000, better off making $200,000 over $100,000, and better off making $2,000,000 over $200,000. Your argument is false.
Could taxes be arranged the way you envision they are? Probably. But even the old OLD tax code (maximum percentage 50%) wasn’t there.
If its not a living wage, then how are people living while working on that job?
Everywhere I go, I see plenty of now hiring signs.
#22 Ya, you choose to let Bush squander your tax dollars on companies that only benefits his friends and then defend him for doing it. “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Two-thirds of all jobs in the US don’t require a college education…
…so that means at least two-thirds of all jobs in the US now don’t provide a living wage.
How on earth did you come to that conclusion?
Bush hasn’t been a great president, however congress sets the budget and when the democrats got control instead of cutting unnecessary spending and waste they just shoved the republicans away from the pig trough so they could get their fill.
>>It is the height of stupidity to want higher taxes on the rich
>>if that results in lower tax revenue.
Yeah. Right. I often hear that at the country club, or out on the 80-foot yacht, some rich guy saying “I’d like to earn some more money, but those darned taxes are so high, I’m not going to bother”. Pffft.
>>Everywhere I go, I see plenty of now hiring signs.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, Mikey, but the kinds of places that put “now hiring” signs in their window are the kinds of places that offer minimum-wage, no-bennies, 3rd-shift jobs that are driving this country into the arms of the illegal aliens. Nobody (except illegal aliens) is willing to take them, as you need 3 or 4 at the same time to make a living wage.
>>How on earth did you come to that conclusion?
When’s the last time you heard about a job that required only a high school diploma that paid a living wage (jobs from your brother-in-law or Mafia button man don’t count).
Ask Bill Gates.
And Peter Jennings, if he were still alive.
Well, 12, it woukld be nice, except that as a millionaire, you’d be paying a much smaller percentage.
Jennifer –
Could you please clarify your comment? As it is written, it makes it appear that you think that the rich are taxed at a lower rate than everyone else.
23
>But I will say I don’t get the people that complain that the high taxes
>are preventing them from making more money. Even under the old
>tax system, you were better off making $100,000 over $50,000, better
>off making $200,000 over $100,000, and better off making
> $2,000,000 over $200,000. Your argument is false.
It doesn’t matter whether I make more or not. And I don’t think anybody said high taxes were preventing people from making more money. I do know that when I worked an hourly job years ago, overtime would sometimes put me in a higher tax bracket for that week and I would bring home _less_ that I normally would.
However, the fact of the matter is you are taking money from me because I have more of it. If you and your wife were having sex more often than mine and me, how upset would your wife be if someone came in and said, “You’ve got to start spreading that love box around?”
Just because someone has more of something doesn’t mean you can take it and give it away because you think it’s unfair.
26:
> 22Ya, you choose to let Bush squander your tax dollars on
> companies that only benefits his friends and then defend him for
> doing it. “Stupid is as stupid does.”
When did I say I supported the use of my tax money to benefit his friends? Stop clouding the issue. The issue is taxing the rich to keep the poor and ignorant that way.
29
>When’s the last time you heard about a job that required only a high
>school diploma that paid a living wage (jobs from your brother-in-law
>or Mafia button man don’t count).
There are plenty. The oil and gas industry is hiring HS grads and training them to monitor wells and pipelines. Starting salaries are over 55k/year, including med ins, company trucks, and tools.
31
>Well, 12, it woukld be nice, except that as a millionaire, you’d be
> paying a much smaller percentage.
Perhaps you would like a job as my accountant, then 🙂