The economic policy promoted with infomercial urgency over the last seven years by Bush and the Republican congress has failed in a way that no one could have predicted. Under the veil of secret meetings and national security, we have seen an unabated rise in gas, food, energy and health care costs. Despite all the economic warnings to the contrary, ideology and a naive conservative trust in corporate responsibility prevailed and flourished, devastating the economic well being of this and other industrialized countries around the world.
It’s a problem the President of the United States should have seen coming four or five years ago. But President Bush, leader of the world’s economic powerhouse and not just a political Party, had the look of a deer in headlights. Senator Chuck Schumer summed it up this way, “He says he’s concerned with high gas prices and high food prices and student and home loan problems. But the truth is that the president has closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears as this crises have grown.”
Here are a few frightening observations and quotes from the New York Times story, “Bush Says Pain from Economy Defies Easy Fix.”
“President Bush delivered an unusually dark assessment of the economy, saying the nation was in ‘very difficult times, very difficult…There are no quick fixes, Mr. Bush said, to ease the pain Americans feel.”
“If there was a magic wand to wave, I’d be waving it, of course,” Mr. Bush said, referring specifically to gasoline prices, which have climbed $1.40 a gallon in 18 months. “But there is no magic wand to wave right now. It took us a while to get to this fix.”
Again, the President you would love to have a beer with said, “It took us a while to get to this fix.” I’m left breathless. And when a President includes in a statement meant to calm the rest of the world, the words “magic wand,” god help us.
“The economy is in a “rough patch…a new report found consumer confidence plummeting as home prices have collapsed more rapidly than at any time in 20 years. “I will tell you that these are very difficult times, very difficult.”
“Instead of embracing new proposals, Bush dusted off old ones…opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for petroleum and expanding nuclear power…Mr. Bush also said, “Those who worry about recession, slowdown, whatever you want to call it” ought to make his tax cuts permanent.”
How are congressional Republicans reacting to these dire economic times? It’s not their fault. For example; “The minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, noted that gasoline prices were $1.20 a gallon higher than when Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007.” That’s right; the Democrats are responsible for the increase in gasoline prices over the last year. Not the two former oil men in the White House or the rubber stamp Congress.
Which begs the question, does anyone else feel like screaming too?
No comments:
Post a Comment