The Fiscal Shilling of America; The Bush campaign phrase “Strong and Getting Stronger” seems more and more like a proper description of the suction of the staggering national debt rather than a sunny description of an improving economy.

By Alex Hamilton

OpEdNews.com

    We have all been taken on a terrible fiscal ride since January 2001.  George W. Bush's tax cuts, heavily tilted toward the wealthy in terms of percent of the total cut, have driven this country perhaps to the brink of a financial crisis.  With the budget hemorrhaging red ink as far as the eye can see, each American should ask himself, "Was one good weekend at Wal-mart worth it?"  Because for most of us, that's exactly what this tax cut allowed.  And what's the reality?  Job recovery has been stubborn at best, barely keeping pace with the growth of population even during the past year.  The deficit has ballooned this year to a projected 445 billion dollars, and Bush doesn't seem to have a plan to fix this shortfall.  The Bush campaign phrase "Strong and Getting Stronger" seems more and more like a proper description of the suction of the staggering national debt rather than a sunny description of an improving economy. 

How They Sold It

   How did this mess get started in the first place? Let's take a look at what this tax cut was originally sold to us as.

"I want to send one-quarter of the surplus back to the people who pay the bills. I want everybody who pays taxes to have their tax rates cut."

"My plan pays down an unprecedented amount of our national debt, and then when money is still left over, my plan returns it to the people who earned it in the first place,"

   Early on you can see the Mr. Bush was selling this tax cut as a return of surplus to the people.  What could be wrong with that?  Well, the projections used to determine the budget surpluses were often as far away as 10 years in the future.  Anyone who has tried to plan a weekend camping trip around the weather realizes, while sitting in the rain, that prediction models are not very sound after long periods of time. Currently we are sitting soaked and muddy in the rain and being told that it's not raining. 

How They Resold It

   Now, let's see what happened soon after it was realized that the surplus was not going to be there.  Soon enough, the administration realized that they had a trump card. They would be able to run enormous deficits, dodge questions about what happened to the surplus, and force a piece of legislation through Congress, all by wrapping it in the flag.  The following quote, completely unedited from the White House transcript, is about as emblematic of this administration as it gets:

            *"Joke" repeated numerous times from Feb. 2002 onward.  

   It is clear that this trifecta that Bush speaks of is the suffering and death of countless Americans.  This is not a joke Mr. Bush.  It is also clear from the dramatic shift in rhetoric that this suffering and death is now being used to push a previous agenda, a tax cut favoring the wealthy, as an economic stimulus plan.      

"I look forward to signing legislation on both airline security and economic stimulus."

"There's a lot of workers who hurt, and they need help.  Our economy, while there's some good news, needs more stimulus.  I still think we need to pass a bill that will help workers and help stimulate the economy."

Results

   As the result of a stimulus package, one would expect that the economy would in fact be stimulated.  But, as is no surprise, a plan originally meant to be a "returned surplus" did not fare so well as an economic stimulus package.  In addition, most of the tax breaks have not even begun.  How does this make sense if the economy was in recession at the time of its passage?  If this plan was truly a stimulus package, the cuts would have been heavily front loaded(i.e. the main portion of the 1.3 trillion given back during the first few years) rather than heavily end loaded towards 2011 . This image from the New York Times graphic illustrates the poor results, and overstatement of expectations for the plan. 

Paul Krugman "Promises Promises" - The New York Times (Mar. 9, 2004)

   The administration has consistently overstated the effects of its own tax cut package.  This may come as no surprise as the administration has overstated the upside of almost every proposal since taking office, not to mention the Iraqi threat.  Take a look at the chart again, and ask yourself, "Can't we do better?"   

Will it Work Again?

   After being sold a lemon, most people would be much more cautious about buying a car on E-bay again.  Yet this is exactly what is happening today, we are indeed being asked to buy another car on E-bay.  In the face of the largest deficits in history, the Bush administration is attempting to make the tax cuts permanent, and they hope that none of us have done our homework.  This plan that was originally sold to us as returning the surplus has been dressed and wrapped tightly in the flag as a stimulus package, but there has been little effective stimulus.  It's time to face the reality that the country has inefficiently used its surplus to create only a handful of jobs, and has almost painted itself into a fiscal corner.  It is time to stop being political about the financial future of the country.  Somehow, with another 4 years of Bush cracking jokes that just aren't funny, I don't see that happening.           

Alex Hamilton is co-administrator and founder of a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush, seeking his removal from office and creating a progressive organization to push the agenda in the coming years.

Email Alex: alex@ibtp.org

Links

Do your own search of White House transcripts at http://www.whitehouse.gov