Another Bush, Another Recession

By: Mike Hersh

We have the weakest economy in ten years. Who was screwing up the economy then? G.H. Wimp Bush. Another Bush, another recession. As the Republican precision smear team attacks Democrats for holding off on the Bush "special interest porkage", our unelected unqualified misleader does back flips.

Do we need the 'stimulus' right wingers and special interest lobbyists demand on behalf of workers - who will see almost nothing from the Bush bill? AWOL Bush has no idea. Why should he? His handlers haven't told him what he thinks yet.

A friend adds: I would suspect that those handling Bush are not too upset by the failure to pass the bill. If the economy rebounds, he can take the credit, and if it doesn't, those who didn't vote for that awful bill will take the blame.

Paul Krugman explained: "George W. Bush endorsed a 'stimulus' bill so tilted toward corporate interests that even many conservatives were startled. [T]he American people ought to ask [why Bush didn't propose a plan with] rebate checks for those who didn't get them last summer, plus extended unemployment benefits, and a temporary investment tax credit." Bush didn't, says Krugman, because a compromise with Democrats would compromise his ego.

Bush has to "win". If he can't win, he'll cheat or "take his ball and go home", according to Gail Sheehy. One more reason Bush is the wrong person for the White House. Not only did he lose the election he cheated to steal, he puts his ego and his stubborn pride above our economy.

Another reason Bush is wrong for the job: his polices are lousy. They don't work, and they favor his fat-cat contributors over our jobs and our families. Bush's "stimulus package" was really a "special interest porkage" with $billions for those who need it least, and would help the economy the least.

As the NY Daily News reports, Bush's "stimulus package included tax breaks for businesses and individuals... Democrats said it was larded with benefits for corporations and tax breaks for rich people".

This after his last Bushwhack tax scheme already gave $billions of our money to the wealthy and well connected special interests who financed his all time record breaking campaign. The Republicans claimed the last Treasury raid would protect the economy from recession, and would not deplete the surplus. Wrong on both accounts.

The New York Times cited "[N]eutral calculations by the Congressional Budget Office [which] demonstrate clearly that the lavish Bush tax cut is responsible for most of the disappearance of the surplus". Now Bush wants to add debt to deficit in policies which have already failed miserably.

Of course Republicans claim the 9/11 terror attacks threw their calculations into a tailspin. Even if that were true - and it isn't - we need to keep our government solvent to address national security requirements home and abroad.

Also, if throwing money at the wealthy and big corporations worked, we wouldn't have been sliding into recession even before the attacks. Bush may have stopped claiming we should run government like Enron, but he's still pushing a failed Enronomics approach.

When Congress returns to work, how many Americans won't? How many times have Republicans claimed this will help regular Americans who only lose their jobs and purchasing power? Republicans keep saying these policies work. That means they consider transferring wealth from the middle class to the wealthy few and the richest corporations success.

We need real stimulus, not a bill that throws money at corporations and busts the budget. We need protections for the unemployed, a minimum wage increase, and a repeal of the Bushwhack Bush tax [cut]. Otherwise we'll suffer deficits as far as the eye can see, and the economy will collapse under high real interest rates.

If Republicans keep blocking these needed programs, we should kick them out of office. If you don't agree with the Republican definition of economic success, don't trust Republicans with our money. If Republicans keep passing job-killing bills like this fake stimulus "porkage", voters in the 2002 elections should show Congressional Republicans how it feels to lose a job.