|
|
Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
A bad economy and a bad war!
 Fri Jul 18, 2003 3:29 am
|
 |
|
A bad economy and a bad war
James O. Goldsborough
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
July 14, 2003
The historical economic record does not bode well for President Bush. He
may hope the economy turns around prior to next year's election, but the
signs are not favorable.
The nation has lost 2 million jobs since Bush took over, and the
unemployment rate is still rising, reaching 6.4 percent last month, the
highest since the recession of the early 1990s.
Bush's tax cuts, which favor the employed wealthy, do nothing to help the
people actually losing their jobs, mainly low-income minorities. The rate
of job loss under Bush, minus 0.7 percent annually, is the highest since
Herbert Hoover.
The clearest sign of economic mismanagement is found not in the
unemployment data alone unemployment can be cyclical but in
unemployment plus federal deficit. Government spending under Bush is also
setting records, increasing by 13.5 percent since he took office "the
largest increase over the same period since President Carter," says
Veronique de Rugy of the fiscally conservative Cato Institute. Bush
promises us record deficits of more than $400 billion annually for years.
Massive federal spending accompanied by large tax cuts ordinarily would be
expected to boost a weak economy. But it is not, indicating it is the
wrong mix of spending and cuts.
Federal deficits matter. They crowd out business investment which has
been sinking for three years and weaken the dollar.
The European Union has a 3 percent limit on government deficits as a
percentage of gross domestic product. Germany has exceeded that by .06
percent this year to end a severe recession and risks EU sanctions.
Under Bush, the deficit-to-GDP rate will be more than 4 percent this year.
It's rare for presidents to be re-elected with a poor economy. The horrid
economy during Ronald Reagan's first two years improved enough by 1984 to
save him, but his successor, George H.W. Bush, was not so lucky.
Recession, record deficits (until now), and unemployment at 7 percent hurt
him.
Even the successful Gulf War couldn't save the first Bush. His son's Iraq
adventure is hardly successful.
Both Bushes are Republicans, members of the party whose reputation was
built on fiscal soundness. Republican Hoover carried that soundness too
far, insisting on balanced budgets even as the Depression deepened, but in
the postwar period Republicans were known for fiscal probity.
Republican Dwight Eisenhower ran surpluses three of his last five years in
office, and Democrat John Kennedy was impressed enough by that performance
to take Republican Douglas Dillon from Eisenhower to become his secretary
of the Treasury.
With Reagan, Republicans lost their fiscal reputation. The Reagan deficits
broke all records and continued under George H.W. Bush until he remembered
his heritage.
Coming from a distinguished line of New England Republicans his father,
Prescott, was a conservative investment banker turned senator from
Connecticut President Bush I raised taxes during his last year in office
in order to staunch the embarrassing flow of red ink.
It was a brave move that probably cost him re-election.
A Republican mantra is that federal spending should rise no faster than
inflation. By that standard the spending increase during George W. Bush's
near three years in office should be around 2 percent annually, especially
with GOP control of Congress.
What we find instead is the 13.5 percent spending increase plus
misdirected tax cuts that together will produce record deficits without
impacting rising unemployment a difficult combination to achieve.
… Bush should have … aimed tax cuts at unemployment and been cautious
about reckless new undertakings, like war with Iraq, that threatened to
worsen the economy without improving security.
For months, Bush refused to give any estimate of the economic costs of the
war with Iraq. When Gen. Eric Shinseki, the now-departed Army chief of
staff, tried to give an honest estimate to Congress of projected manpower
costs of war, he was ridiculed by Pentagon civilians.
Last week we finally heard some truth. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
told Congress Iraq occupation will cost some $47 billion per year, and
that U.S. troops at present strength would remain in Iraq "for the
foreseeable future." Spokesmen indicated that probably meant five years.
They owe an apology to Shinseki.
There is a good chance both estimates are minimums.
This combination of foreign adventurism and fiscal irresponsibility has
been costly, and neither the Iraq occupation nor the economy has gone as
Bush anticipated. The issue is whether things will turn around enough in
the next 15 months to help him.
What other president has survived both a bad war and a bad economy? The
only other modern president to deal with such a situation was Lyndon
Johnson, and he retired rather than face certain defeat.
|
| |
|
|
Fastwalker
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 832
|
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:07 pm
|
|
|
The only bad economy here is the bad economy terrorist face;....That's a GOOD thing Mech, unless of course, you are Mech who is allied with the terrorists...
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
Saddam's fall causes terrorist cash shortage
Downfall of dictator also results in power vacuum in Arafat's Fatah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 18, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
The downfall of Saddam Hussein has led to a shortage of funds for terrorists and has also created a power vacuum among terrorist organizations in general and Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in particular, reports intelligence newsletter Geostrategy-Direct.
This power vacuum has been most strongly felt in southern Lebanon. Palestinian sources said all of the Iraqi-financed Palestinian organizations have suspended public activities, such as rallies and marches.
Iraq had been directly funding such groups as the Arab Liberation Front, the Palestine Liberation Front and the Arab Socialist Party.
Saddam's demise has also led to renewed pressure on the Palestinians by Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has approved a series of appointments in the Fatah leadership in Lebanon. The first changes have already been made in Fatah's organization, including the Fatah commander for the Beirut area, sources said. The ex-commander was not identified.
Fatah has the largest presence in Lebanon outside of the Palestinian Authority. Lebanon has more than 300,000 Palestinian refugees and Fatah controls the Ein Hilwe camp outside Sidon, with a population of 75,000.
Meanwhile, Palestinian factions have been battling in Ein Hilwe. The battle has pitted Fatah forces against al-Qaida-linked insurgents led by Abdullah Sharbadi, chief of the Usbat Nur group. Sharbadi was injured in an assassination attempt earlier this year.
The official Egyptian news agency Mena reported that "radical changes" would be made in the Fatah leadership. The agency did not elaborate but Palestinian sources later said this would include a reduction of Fatah member salaries in Ein Hilwe and the revision of tasks in the movement.
The sources also said the powers of Col. Munir Maqdah, the Fatah militia commander in Lebanon, would be reduced. Maqdah is regarded as a leading opponent of any Fatah talks with Israel. He is a chief element in the tension between Palestinians and the Lebanese government.
Fatah secretary-general in Lebanon Sultan Abu Einin has opposed Maqdah. Under the proposed changes, Maqdah's authority would be transferred to other Fatah offices headed by Ahmed Nasser and Said Al Asus.
[Edited 1 times, lastly by Fastwalker on 07-18-2003] |
| |
|
|
Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 3:47 pm
|
|
|
Yawn!
Saddam was never a threat to the U.S.
Bu$h lied.
End of story. |
| |
|
|
Fastwalker
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 832
|
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:11 pm
|
|
|
Show the access to intelligence data that suggest you know more than Bush, that Saddam was not a threat. On what basis have you made this determination other than ignorant, misinformed opinion?
And you have still yet to prove that Bush lied about ANYTHING. That makes you the liar.... |
| |
|
|
hitech_46253
Joined: 16 May 2001
Posts: 499
Location: Indianapolis, IN U.S. |
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:39 pm
|
|
|
From yesterday's newsletter at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LLNews2
No matter what mountain of evidence there is, IDIOT PROPAGANDISTS like Fartknocker kneesl to his king. Wish I had his paycheck for his LIES! If he's doing this for FREE he's a bigger FOOL than I thought. SUCK that PROPAGANDA Fartknocker!!
Bush Obstructs 9-11 Investigation http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=447
Cycle Of War Culture http://www.rense.com/general39/cycle.htm
How To Deal With a Meltdown http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/iraq-meltdown.html
The great lesson of the fiasco in Iraq is this: it is much easier to destroy a nation than to build one. To destroy a country requires doing things that government does well: blowing up buildings, killing people, and generally creating chaos. To build a nation requires what government cannot provide: time and liberty. Unable to provide those things, government chooses another of its ancient methods: the lie. In the middle ages, kings didn't smash countries they conquered because to conquer meant to take possession for themselves and their heirs, and hence there was an incentive to preserve anything of value (buildings, people, and networks of associations). But modern governments that conquer merely become "administrators" of the country, which is to say they have every incentive to take what they can and no incentive to clean up the mess.
Iraq war has cost Pentagon $48 billion so far http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/07/15/national1702EDT0679.DTL
GI's Wonder 'Why Can't We Come Home?' http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=106&ncid=742&e=3&u=/nypost/20030716/cm_nypost/giswhycantwecomehome
US Death Toll Now Equals '91 Gulf War http://www.rense.com/general39/usdeath.htm
US Troops In Iraq - 'Let Down' And 'Losing Faith' http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/World/iraq030716_2ndBrigade.html
US Troops Shocked By Move To Keep Them In Iraq http://www.rense.com/general39/shoclked.htm
Key US Army Division To Remain In Iraq Indefinitely http://www.rense.com/general39/remain.htm
Attacks On US Troops More Sophisticated, Coordinated http://www.rense.com/general39/coor.htm
FBI Looking Into Forged Iraq-Niger Documents http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/07/16/fbi.niger/index.html
Wolfowitz Advised Iraq-Uranium Refernece In Bush Speech http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4123.htm
US General Says Iraq Has Become A Guerrilla War http://www.rense.com/general39/geur.htm
Missile Fired At US C-130 Landing In Baghdad http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_AIRPORT_ATTACK?SITE=MELEE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Rape (And Silence About It) Haunts Baghdad http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/16/international/worldspecial/16RAPE.html?ex=1058932800&en=86243e51010a04ec&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
16 Words And Counting
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/07/15/nyt.16words/index.html
Desert treks become even more deadly http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/7_17_03border.html
Cheney under pressure to quit over false war evidence
Anger grows on both sides of Atlantic at misleading claims on eve of Iraq conflict http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=424786
Mortar Attacks on U.S. Bases Growing
Mortar Attacks on U.S. Bases in Iraq Becoming a Growing Problem for Troops http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030716_142.html
Low Morale Plagues U.S. Troops in Iraq
Low Morale Plagues U.S. Troops in Iraq After Pentagon Extends Their Stay http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030716_1607.html
A Big Letdown
Soldiers Learn They’ll Be in Baghdad Longer Than Expected http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/World/iraq030715_2ndBrigade.html
Pro-American Mayor, Son Killed in Iraq
U.S. Soldier, Iraqi Child, Pro-American Mayor and Son Killed in Iraq As Saddam Loyalists Attack http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030716_1075.html
Revisionist Iraq history from the White House http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/opinion_f351dc6c85f4a0d000d7.html
Missile fired at US plane in Iraq
Suspected pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents fired a surface-to-air missile at a US military C-130 transport plane as it was landing at Baghdad International Airport today, but missed the target, a coalition military spokesman said http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6765434%5E401,00.html
Pro-US mayor killed by Iraqi guerrillas
The mayor of Hadithah, Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, was shot dead in his car as he drove through the city. Some local residents had accused him of collaborating with coalition forces, the pan-Arab satellite channel, al-Jazeera, reported. His son was killed in the same attack. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999271,00.html
US soldiers: We want to come home
Fed up with being in Iraq and demoralized by their role as peacekeepers in a risky place, a group of U.S. soldiers aired their plight on U.S. television on Wednesday and said they had lost faith in the Army.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64236-2003Jul16.html
Iraq pressure on Bush mounts as U.S. soldier killed
The latest death heaped pressure on U.S President Bush, who is facing mounting criticism for the cost of the war and accusations the United States exaggerated intelligence on Iraq's weapons to justify the conflict. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3101740
Little progress in finding MIA in Iraq
A secret Pentagon report states that once-promising leads in the hunt for Capt. Michael Scott Speicher in Iraq have turned up no evidence of his whereabouts, contradicting public official comments that the search was producing positive results. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030715-114916-4526r.htm
Watergate II? Domestic criticism mounts over intelligence used to justify war
"So far there is no hard evidence that President George Bush or his top aides knowingly falsified the case for war. In the absence of evidence, there has been an extraordinary amount of attention paid to marginal issues - most recently, those 16 words in Mr. Bush's state of the union speech that said, accurately, that British intelligence believed Iraq had been seeking to obtain uranium in Africa.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,999544,00.html
Panel: Iraq arms stockpile unlikely, data `fragmentary'
U.S. intelligence officials had only ''fragmentary information'' on banned weapons in Iraq before the war, and large stockpiles of such weapons probably do not exist, the bipartisan leaders of the House Intelligence Committee concluded Tuesday after a trip to Baghdad. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/6312155.htm
Australian analyst joins US push for weapons inquiry
The Australian former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie has been enlisted by Democrats in the United States to help campaign for a full, open inquiry into whether Washington - and, by association, Canberra - manipulated or ignored prewar intelligence on Iraq http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/16/1058035074618.html
Bush, only three days ago, speaking to reporters, said of Iraq's President, Saddam Hussein,
"We gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56336-2003Jul14.html?nav=hptop_tb
According to the Washington Post, Bush uttered that amazing sentence to justify the war in Iraq. The context shows that he was not speaking of any other world leader but Saddam Hussein. The truth is that Saddam had the inspectors in, the Inspectors were in and were saying that they were getting cooperation from Hussein. Saddam even offered the CIA to send in its own teams in addition to the UN inspectors already there, which Bush refused.
Cheney's Spy Network Competes with DIA and CIA
According to former Bush officials, all defense and intelligence sources, senior members of the administration created a shadow agency of Pentagon analysts staffed mainly by ideological amateurs to compete with the CIA and its military counterpart, the Defense Intelligence Agency. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,999737,00.html
Cheney under pressure to quit
Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President and the administration's most outspoken hawk over Iraq, faced demands for his resignation last night as he was accused of using false evidence to build the case for war. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=424786
Cheney Under Pressure To Quit Over False Evidence http://www.rense.com/general39/CHENY.HTM
Yet Another Major Bush 'Misstatement' http://www.rense.com/general39/another.htm
President Bush Has More Explaining To Do http://tennessean.com/opinion/archives/03/07/35960351.shtml
Tenet's Confession May Have Sealed Bush's Fate http://www.rense.com/general39/blood.htm
An Afternoon With Eustace Mullins http://www.rense.com/general39/EUSTACE.htm
"I WROTE about the Bush family in my book The World Order which came out in 1985. They'd been lackeys of the Harriman family at Union Pacific, and the Harrimans were lackeys of the Rothschilds who put up the money for Union Pacific. George Herbert Walker, who was the first President Bush's grandfather, was appointed head of Brown Brothers Harriman which handled all the Harriman investments. He did a very good job and the Bushes have been working for them ever since. They were all members of Skull and Bones at Yale. - More
"We'll get our own government and America will begin to have a history. We have no history. All we have is a history of Zionist intrigue" --Eutace Mullins (author of "Secrets of the Federal Reserve")
Bush's Data Dump http://slate.msn.com/id/2085481/
Bush - Busted Again http://www.rense.com/general39/behind.htm
Killing Africans For Profit - Bush's AIDS Offer http://www.rense.com/general39/ff.htm
THE SKULL AND BONES SOCIETY THAT BUSH BELONGS TO http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/8425/BONES.HTM http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/nworder03.html http://www.freedomdomain.com/skullbones.html
Washington Times:
Letter from US diplomat is a forgery
A letter to the editor of The Washington Times, purported to be from a senior U.S. diplomat with scathing criticism of the Foreign Service for lack of loyalty to the Bush administration, was exposed yesterday as a forgery. http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030715-114911-5946r.htm
The Liberty Committee: Congressman Ron Paul addresses the U.S. House of Representatives
July 10, 2003 "Neo-conned" http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/neo-conned.htm
Bush campaign gathers big donors http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61818-2003Jul15.html
One-fourth of President Bush's mammoth reelection treasury was collected by a group of 68 friends and moguls who raised $100,000 or more in the campaign's first seven weeks, according to records released yesterday.
|
| |
|
|
Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:43 pm
|
|
|
Coundn't have said it better Larry...
Bu$h and his administration are liars, cheats, forgerers, malcontents...ad nauseum.
The evidence is overwhelming. |
| |
|
|
Fastwalker
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 832
|
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:45 pm
|
|
|
More Spam Mech....
|
| |
|
|
Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:47 pm
|
|
|
Fart-talker...YOU are a LIVING, breathing example of SPAM. |
| |
|
|
Fastwalker
Joined: 26 Mar 2003
Posts: 832
|
|
Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:48 pm
|
|
|
I don't think so, Moron Mech. |
| |
|
|
shatoga
Joined: 23 Nov 2002
Posts: 1291
|
|
Sat Jul 19, 2003 11:07 am
|
|
|
To pick one story from the pile:
BUSHBABIES:
Carping and whining
US soldiers: We want to come home
Fed up with being in Iraq and demoralized by their role as peacekeepers in a risky place, a group of U.S. soldiers aired their plight on U.S. television on Wednesday and said they had lost faith in the Army. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64236-2003Jul16.html
Leadership of w's administration should understand the plight of soldiers at war.
Oh yeah..
Those neo-cons mostly are chickenhawks who avoided combat service.
Escept for Colin Powell, who covered up the MeiLai massacre for several years.
And our dear dubya.
The 'son of a Bush' who served mostly in Mexican cantinas and whorehouses until deserting from the Alabama National Guard.
Beside the point that the Bushbabies are whining about doing teir job.
Military who criticized Clinton were considered heroes by neo-cons who now see things different when their demigod is th eone being ctiticized.
"off with their heads!"
Naah!
Just send 'em to re-education camps.
Or put them in special punishment units.
The origional conservatives successfully staffed their 'Special Action' units with soldiers who otherwise were subject to courtmartial.
The Bushbabies could be guards at re-education camps.
There they could redeem themselves by harsh treatment of liberals 'concentrated' for re-education into
'good little conservatives'.
How about sending carping whining Bushbabies to the camps first?
|
| |
|
|
 
|
|
All times are GMT. The time now is Sat May 26, 2012 7:43 am
|
|
|
|
|
Login
