COL Gene

The Great Bush Economy is Falling Apart

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The Great Bush Economy is Falling Apart

Even his Wealthy Base may not be happy!

from JoeUser Forums




For some time I have pointed out that the economic growth that Bush has been claiming credit for is a mirage to the vast majority of Americans. Bush points to higher GDP, the stock market and healthy corporate profits. To the average American they see a DROP in Average weekly wage during the past two years and NO growth in the past five years. They now are faced with skyrocketing energy costs that are now showing up is sluggish sales at lower end stores. However the high end stores are doing a booming business because the wealthy are the only group that is not impacted by the higher energy prices.

Now the stock market is down over 600 points, and inflation is beginning to be a problem. There is an indication that the Fed will counter the inflation with even higher interest rates and the real estate market is cooling. Mortgage brokers have been lying off staff and the few bright lights that Bush has been pointing to are dimming. Projections for GDP growth for the balance of the year is much lower and consumer confidence has taken a nose dive.

All this with a Federal Budget Deficit in the $600 Billion per year range and the prospects for the future that is troubling at best. Airlines are in trouble, independent truckers are having real problems because of the higher fuel costs and the U S Auto makers continue to slide. The trade deficit is over $800 Billion with no prospect for a solution. Hanging over all the Bush policies is the disaster called Iraq.

Like so many issues with this administration, the consequences of the policies we have been following are coming to light. In time both the wealthy and not so wealthy Americans will understand what mistakes were made in the elections starting with 2000!
politics
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Reply #51 from JoeUser Forums Top
IT IS REMARKABLE HOW YOU BUSHIES CAN IGNORE WHAT BUSH AND THE GOP FISCAL POLICY IS DOING TO THE FISCAL AFFAIRS OF OUR COUNTRY!


And it's amazing how you ignore everything posted to you. You keep running in circles.
Reply #52 from JoeUser Forums Top
When I document issues that face this country you say how have the Bush Policies created the issue. The issues I believe fall into three categories -

Issues that Bush inherited and he has been ineffective in making progress to solve

Issues that Bush inherited and he has made worse by the policies he is following with the help of the GOP in Congress.

New issues that Bush created and were not problems when he took office.


Examples of the first category are things like the Funding Issues of Social Security, Border Security, Energy, Education etc. There is not ONE of there and all other issues that faced Bush in Jan 2001 that he and the GOP in Congress have improved.

Examples of the second category would be things like Medicare funding. Bush not only has offered NO solution to this issue but he and the GOP in Congress pushed the Prescription Drug Plan that has made the funding issues of Medicare MUCH worse because Bush and Congress DID NOT FUND this new entitlement! Another example is border security. The rate of illegal workers coming into this country has increased and Bush has done NOTHING to enforce Border Security or to enforce the laws that require Employers to obey laws like collecting taxes from many illegal workers. Even though Bush acknowledged he did not have the needed man power he DID NOT requests the funding to provide the added staff the HE SAID WAS NEEDED!

Example of the third category is the return of the Annual Budget Deficit. The combination of the Tax cuts and increased spending that BOTH Bush and Congress approved turned a BALANCED Budget into the monster we have today. We attacked a country that posed NO danger to the United States and have sustained lose of life, casualties and what could end up being another Trillion Dollars of DEBT. In the past when we went to war we enacted a tax to help pay for the added cost of war. Not Bush and the GOP, they put it on the TAB so we can continue to pay the interest for God knows haw many more DECADES.

This just a SAMPLE of the impact that policies that Bush and his supporters in Congress have enacted on the people of this country! They will continue to plague us for MANY years after Bush leaves office!
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Reply #53 from JoeUser Forums Top
IslandDog

Not So. I answer you questions you do like my answer.
Reply #54 from JoeUser Forums Top
Are you a socialist?

What percentage of income should successful Americans be taxed?

You never answer these questions. You other "answers" are you typical bs. I see you still don't get what Baker is telling you. One-sided democratic hack.
Reply #55 from JoeUser Forums Top
"The impact of the continued deficit is that we must increase the amount of tax dollars that go to the ever increasing interest payments."


Nope. That's like saying that I can go out and buy a new house that I can't afford, and then go to work and blame my boss for not giving me a raise. Philosophically your cause and effect is wrong.

"IT IS REMARKABLE HOW YOU BUSHIES CAN IGNORE WHAT BUSH AND THE GOP FISCAL POLICY IS DOING TO THE FISCAL AFFAIRS OF OUR COUNTRY! Every year the taxpayers MUST pay hundreds of Billions more in interest because we would not pay for what we spent!


It is remarkable that you can ignore the question and think no one will notice. You've abandoned the point of your blog and now are trying to change the subject. What has Bush not been doing to raise wages, improve benefits, and address the trade deficit.

It's a bad dodge, because evidently, according to you, Bush is the cause of the problem above, and yet in your last post you say that the necessity of raising taxes is the problem. Well, he hasn't raised taxes yet. So the national debt really can't be the cause of your complaints above.

So what is? How do you connect your perception of those CURRENT issues with what you call "consequences of (Bush's) policies? How do you propose he fix it. According to you, the only choice is to raise taxes to address a secondary issue, and make everything worse.
Reply #56 from JoeUser Forums Top
P.S. If it weren't for Reagan's policies that you complain about, you wouldn't have had the booming 90's to facetiously credit Clinton with. In 10 years, the fruits of our current tax strategy will be handed to some other Dem, who will squander it all and then leave yet another mess to be cleaned up...
Reply #57 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hey Gene,

Not to make you feel bad or anything but Oil just dropped below $70 a barrell after we killed Zarqawi. Hmm go figure. Kill a leader of the terrorist and oil drops. LOL
Reply #58 from JoeUser Forums Top
IslandDog

I am a Moderate Republican and have been so for Over 40 Years. I support Balanced Budgets and DO NOT support Nation Building like Iraq I support the tax levels on the wealthy that were in effect just prior to the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001.

You say I do not answer you. I have stated the above more times then I can count. YOU JUST DO NOT LISTED!
Reply #59 from JoeUser Forums Top
Killing Zarqawi was great. However I do not know how much less the violence will be since it appears to be sectarian between the factions in Iraq. Anything that enables us to GET OUT is a GOOD THING!

Our military does a GREAT job. It is the incompetent Commander-in-Chief and Sec Def that are the problems!
Reply #60 from JoeUser Forums Top
I have asked and asked and you refuse to answer. You can neither prove Bush's connection to the list of woes in your blog above, nor can you even suggest anything to fix them except going off topic and railing about balancing the budget.

Raising taxes won't fix lower wages or the trade deficit or lack of benefits. I've asked you time and again to back up your assertions on THIS blog, about those parts of the economy that you, yourself above blamed Bush's policies for. You opt not to. 'nuff said.
Reply #61 from JoeUser Forums Top
Am I the only one who notices that Col's "examples" not only fail to support his "the sky is falling" bullshit but actually refute it?

Slower growth is still growth. Nothing the Col has posted here shows an economy that is "falling apart". Quite the opposite in fact. Rapid growth can not be sustained indefinately without catastrophic effects.

Gene, try taking an economics course some time. Perhaps then you'd see just hop stupid articles like this truly are.
Reply #62 from JoeUser Forums Top
I am a Moderate Republican and have been so for Over 40 Years.


Col, you are a far left liberal. All your talking points fit their agenda.

You say I do not answer you. I have stated the above more times then I can count. YOU JUST DO NOT LISTED!


You have not answered those questions col. Answer with a simple percentage and not your usual anti-Bush bs. Can you even do that?


Our military does a GREAT job. It is the incompetent Commander-in-Chief and Sec Def that are the problems!


You disgrace our military everytime you speak their name.
Reply #63 from JoeUser Forums Top
Bakerstreet

The reason I support returning to the tax rates that were in effect prior to 2001 are as follows:

The tax cuts were predicated on the idea that we were over taxed as evidenced by the big surplus Bush insisted existed. There was NO surplus thus we were not overtaxed.

The evidence is now clear from the data OMB and CBO provided-- The tax cuts did not stimulate enough growth to replace the lost revenue and are adding TO THE DEFICIT.

WE CAN NOT KEEP PILING UP THE DEBT BECAUSE OF THE INTEREST WE MUST PAY. No country, person or company can live beyond their means for a long period of time and pile up the debt.

When a person can not pay their bills they cut their expenses and if that is not enough they seek a second or a higher paying job to generate more income (Increase Taxes to increase Federal income). They do not just keep putting the difference between what they spend and make on their credit card like Bush in doing with the U S Budget. I have answered you many times-- DO YOU NOW UNDERSTAND WHY I support higher taxes?
Reply #64 from JoeUser Forums Top
What is a disgrace is sending our military into a war against a country that was NO DANGER to our Country. Disgrace is telling us we were in grave danger (Mushroom Clouds) when the information available to Bush disproved that. Disgrace is not sending the number of troops needed to control Iraq which has caused the Vast Majority of the dead and injured Americans. George W. Bush is a DISGRACE!
Reply #65 from JoeUser Forums Top
"The reason I support returning to the tax rates that were in effect prior to 2001 are as follows:"


Did I ask you why you support taxation, Col? No, I asked you to simply tell us why Bush's policies cause the problems you specifically cite in your article above, and tell us what he could have been doing to fix them that he hasn't.

You keep shifting back to the deficit and taxes, but it is plain that that isn't the cause of the problems you state above. More so, those problems will be worse once we start raising taxes to pay off the debt, robbing money from the economy.

Your blog wasn't about the probles we are GOING to have when we start raising taxes and paying off the debt. The blog was about how "The Great Bush Economy is Falling Apart". You didn't in your blog explain why Bush's policies are responsible, and you continue to dodge doing so.

I won't bother to ask again, as your bob-and-weave is pretty much an answer unto itself.
Reply #66 from JoeUser Forums Top
The major reason why inflation is going up is because of the energy cost increases. Bush refused to deal with our dependence on foreign energy for the past 5 1/2 years. He would not require higher gas mileage, did not push development of alternate fuels and just insisted we drill in Alaska, and give big tax cuts to oil companies. The oil in Alaska is literally a drop in the bucket and giving the oil companies more profits has NOT done a thing. They have had record profits for several years and have not increased the activities to build refineries or develop more supply. There is one issue that Bush FAILED to address as President and the oil companies are not about to do anything that would increase supply or cut demand which would LOWER their profits!

Higher interest is also caused in part by inflation as well as the Fed borrowing all that money because Bush and the GOP will not balance the budget!

There are two areas from this Blog that are directly the result of Bush not providing policies that address the needs of our country!
Reply #67 from JoeUser Forums Top
What is a disgrace is sending our military into a war against a country that was NO DANGER to our Country. Disgrace is telling us we were in grave danger (Mushroom Clouds) when the information available to Bush disproved that.


So the democrats are a disgrace also col? They said the same things also, or will you give them a pass?
Reply #68 from JoeUser Forums Top
It really boggles the mind. You are actually claiming that "lower" wages, the trade deficit, etc,. are because of oil prices? You are seriously grasping at straws, it would have been better to have been honest and just not answered the question at all.

How can you assert that given that the economy on the whole is not suffering? You have twisted the numbers as hard as you can and you can't convince anyone that it is "failing". There have been 16 straight interest rate hikes and they still haven't slowed the economy sufficiently. Then, you point to the interest rate hikes as a sign that the economy is failing?

Inflation happens, period. The fact is the economy grew 5.3 percent in the last quarter, outpacing inflation, and most certainly not imitating a sinking ship in any way. Average hourly wages are up, and unemployment has dropped. Now you say that the oil prices are somehow causing the economy to fail in the face of all that.

You are most certainly not a moderate Republican, and if you call yourself that you are lying to yourself. No moderate Republican puts higher taxes ahead of budget cuts. No moderate Republican views the president as a totalitarian leader who can impose higher gas mileage and the development of alternative fuels on us whether we want it or not.

The people who espouse those kinds of things are usually called Democrats, Col. So far I find nothing in your posts that even slightly resembles the Republican party platform. If there is anything, it must not be important to you since you spend all your time promoting the Democrat's agenda. Hell, I've seen moderate Democrats that could pass themselves off as Republicans more convincingly.
Reply #69 from JoeUser Forums Top
#64 by COL Gene
Thu, June 08, 2006 5:27 PM




What is a disgrace is sending our military into a war against a country that was NO DANGER to our Country. Disgrace is telling us we were in grave danger (Mushroom Clouds) when the information available to Bush disproved that. Disgrace is not sending the number of troops needed to control Iraq which has caused the Vast Majority of the dead and injured Americans. George W. Bush is a DISGRACE!


Which has nothing at all to do with the topic you posted. Just admit that you're reading comprehension skills are as poor as your spelling skills, you jump to mistaken conclusions because you filter everything you read through the "I hate Bush" filter, and you simply don't have a single leg to stand on here. You're a joke, and a poor one at that.
Reply #70 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ok, I should say at least something nice.

Your absurd articles do give me a good laugh at times. It's hard for me to believe anyone could possibly be so single-minded as to appear to be a caricature with a single firing brain cell, but it's good for a chuckle. Thanks for that.
Reply #71 from JoeUser Forums Top
You know, as long as Gene's solution is to spend as much as he likes, and then find some rich people to mug when it's time to pay the bill, can I just say that we should probably be mugging non-Americans?

I mean, that's really all Gene is doing: looking around for someone with money, and then taking it from them. Not because it's his money. Not because they don't deserve that money. But simply because he doesn't feel like controlling his spending.

Okay, fine: But could we at least agree that, as Americans, it's really against our best intrests to mug ourselves for spending money?

If we're going to accept Gene's solution, couldn't we at least invade Canada or something? Take away other people's money, instead of our own?
Reply #72 from JoeUser Forums Top
Oh, and is it just me, or does Gene's entire argument boil down to agreeing that it's wrong to overtax the rich, but seeing as how we can't control our spending, can't we continue being wrong about overtaxing the rich just a little longer?
Reply #73 from JoeUser Forums Top
"If we're going to accept Gene's solution, couldn't we at least invade Canada or something? Take away other people's money, instead of our own?"


We could claim ownership of Iraq, and charge them rent for living there.
Reply #74 from JoeUser Forums Top
#73 by BakerStreet
Thu, June 08, 2006 8:21 PM



[BakerStreet]
"If we're going to accept Gene's solution, couldn't we at least invade Canada or something? Take away other people's money, instead of our own?"


We could claim ownership of Iraq, and charge them rent for living there.


Noooo. We should take over France and charge them rent. It's not like they'd put up a fight.
Reply #75 from JoeUser Forums Top
Pfft, what would they pay us with, croissants? They'd probably be rent controlled, anyway, and you'd be be unplugging their toilet once a week. No one wants that.

Iraq is where the money is. Black gold, texas tea.