We were warned at the time. And despite the administrations support for off shoring (yes, they knew it would cost jobs), anyone with a half a brain knew that wasn't going to work well. But Bush and the Republicans said the pain would be short lived. Guess not.
Sadly, at the time, I didn't save the links to these stories (links that would probably be dead today anyway). I think you'll be amazed at all the information Americans ignored:
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Aug. 2003: What caused
a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion to become a projected deficit of $4.4
trillion? Of this extraordinary $10 trillion deterioration, approximately 36
percent comes from enacted or expected tax cuts, 31 percent from budget
increases, especially for defense and homeland security … President Bush's tax
cuts since 2001 have shifted more of the tax burden from the nation's rich to
middle-class families, according to the Congressional Budget Office
Feb 2004: According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office,
the single biggest cause of the deficit is the president's massive tax cuts for
the wealthy -- which he conveniently did not mention. Specifically, 36% of the
deficit comes from the tax cuts, while only 31% comes from defense/war related
spending increases, And as the president starves veterans health care,
low-income housing, and health care programs of funding, he is pushing more
than $1 trillion in new tax cuts, primarily for the wealthy.
2004: What we
have here is a form of looting." So says George Akerlof, a Nobel laureate
in economics of the Bush administration's budget policies. The government is
simply borrowing to make up for the loss of revenue. In 2004, the typical
family will pay about $700 less in taxes than it would have --- but meanwhile,
the government will run up about $1500 in debt on that family's behalf.
February 10, 2004 NY
Times: The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other
countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S.
economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush
administration said … in the president's annual report to Congress on the
health of the economy. "Outsourcing is just a new way of doing
international trade," said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council
of Economic Advisors. "More things are tradable than were tradable in the
past. And that's a good thing." His
advisors acknowledge that international trade and foreign outsourcing have
contributed to the job slump. Although trade expansion inevitably hurts some
domestic workers, the benefits eventually will outweigh the costs as Americans
are able to buy cheaper goods and services and as new jobs are created in
growing sectors of the economy, the report said. "Maybe we will outsource
a few radiologists," Mankiw told reporters. "What does that mean?
Well, maybe the next generation of doctors will train fewer radiologists and
will train more general practitioners or surgeons…. Maybe we've learned that we
don't have a comparative advantage in radiologists. Mankiw said, "The
market is the best determinant of where the jobs should be," he said.
September 24, 2004: Responding
to an election season request by Democrats, the Congressional Budget Office
estimated that some of President Bush's budget policies, plus other costs
would add $1.3 trillion to federal deficits over the next decade.
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And finally, this amazingly futuristic and optimistic
Salvador Dali plan for Social Security that will stun the senses:
Social Security also must be restructured to
let workers put part of their retirement funds in private accounts, the report
argues. Doing so could add nearly $5 trillion to the national debt by 2036, the
president's advisors note, but the additional borrowing would be repaid 20 years
later and the program's long-term health would be more secure.
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