Economy Made Few Gains In Bush Years

Washington Post: Eight-Year Period Is Weakest In Decades; Job Creation At Lowest Level Since Data Collection Began

(Washingtonpost.com)  President Bush has presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades, according to an analysis of key data, and economists across the ideological spectrum increasingly view his two terms as a time of little progress on the nation's thorniest fiscal challenges.

The number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush's tenure, the most tepid growth over any eight-year span since data collection began seven decades ago. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration. And Americans' incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush's father.

Bush and his aides are quick to point out that they oversaw 52 straight months of job growth in the middle of this decade, and that the economy expanded at a steady clip from 2003 to 2007. But economists, including some former advisers to Bush, say it increasingly looks as if the nation's economic expansion was driven to a large degree by the interrelated booms in the housing market, consumer spending and financial markets. Those booms, which the Bush administration encouraged with the idea of an "ownership society," have proved unsustainable.

"The expansion was a continuation of the way the U.S. has grown for too long, which was a consumer-led expansion that was heavily concentrated in housing," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a onetime Bush White House staffer and one of Sen. John McCain's top economic advisers for his presidential campaign. "There was very little of the kind of saving and export-led growth that would be more sustainable."

"For a group that claims it wants to be judged by history, there is no evidence on the economic policy front that that was the view," Holtz-Eakin said. "It was all Band-Aids."

From 2002 to 2006, the housing boom generated about 600,000 to 800,000 jobs that otherwise would not have been created - about 10 percent of total job growth in that span, according to the consulting firm IHS Global Insight. Such data, expert say, suggest the economy was not as fundamentally strong as it seemed.

"Some of the recovery, some of the expansion, was based on very shaky foundations," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight.

"It's sad to say, but we really went nowhere for almost ten years, after you extract the boost provided by the housing and mortgage boom," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, and an informal adviser to McCain's campaign. "It's almost a lost economic decade."

The president's current aides say they are proud of their economic record. They note, for instance, that they attempted to rein in the growth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance companies whose vast expansion they see as a central cause of the financial crisis. Independent analysts generally view them only as contributors to the crisis.

"It does look like a great eight years, aside from the last quarter, unfortunately," Edward P. Lazear, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a recent interview. "In the long term, things look good. The reason things look good is this economy will rebound, and it will rebound strongly. . . . We expect things to turn around, and I would say early in President Obama's administration."

Even excluding the 2008 recession, however, Bush presided over a weak period for the U.S. economy. For example, for the first seven years of the Bush administration, gross domestic product grew at a paltry 2.1 percent annual rate.

Failing To Stabilize Social Security And Medicare

The administration also failed to gain traction on some of the fundamental economic and fiscal issues facing the nation - including solidifying the finances of Medicare and Social Security, simplifying the tax code, or making health care more affordable. Resolution of those issues might have left the government more flexibility to respond to the current crisis by lowering the nation's future budget deficits.

The federal government had a modest budget surplus when Bush took office in 2001, but ran a deficit - funding itself to a significant degree with borrowed money - of 4.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2004 and 4 percent in 2005, even as the economy was growing at a healthy pace.

Bush did not steer the country toward a more sound long-term fiscal position. After winning reelection, he made a failed push both to tweak Social Security to stabilize its long-term finances and create private accounts for Americans to invest in the stock market. Democrats aggressively fought the plan, but indicated they were willing to work on a compromise to ensure the program's long-term financial stability if Bush would take private accounts off the table, which he declined to do.

Keith B. Hennessey, Bush's chief economic adviser, said the administration "tried everything" it could to broker a deal on Social Security, including sending subtle signals to Democrats that it would negotiate on private accounts.

Changes to Medicare were also elusive for the administration. When Bush entered the White House, the program faced a long-term funding deficit. It still does, and its cost is expected to balloon in the years ahead. In fact, the administration's addition of a prescription drug benefit enlarges Medicare's long-term funding imbalance.

The administration had planned to try to deal with the problem after a successful overhaul of Social Security. That day never came, though, and officials figured that if they couldn't reach a deal on the relatively simple problem of fixing Social Security, they would have no shot at fixing the vastly larger and more complex problems facing Medicare.


"We Didn't Fix Them When We Had The Chance"

Bush made a more concerted effort in 2007 to overhaul the health-care system, with a plan that many independent experts thought could make care more affordable for poor and middle-income families. But by the time the president made the push, he was already highly unpopular. The proposal went nowhere.

"The retirement of the baby boom is not a distant thing, and the rapid rise in medical care costs goes on year after year," said Alice Rivlin, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and senior economic official in the Clinton administration. "It's easiest to fix those things when the economy is doing well, and we didn't fix them when we had the chance."

A Bush-created commission proposed a detailed overhaul of the tax code in 2005 that aimed to make taxes more fair and less complex, also winning plaudits from tax experts. But passing such a plan wasn't a high priority for the White House, and the effort stalled.

"On tax reform, I think they themselves were not very interested in it," said Kevin A. Hassett, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and an adviser on Bush's reelection campaign.

As achievements, Bush and his advisers point to the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which many analysts credit for keeping the last recession mild, even as the cuts contributed to the large deficits that followed. Bush and other administration officials play down the role of the tax cuts in feeding the deficits, arguing instead that increased spending on counterterrorism, national security and the military after the Sept. 11 attacks was the primary, and unavoidable, cause.

Bush also boasts about his record on trade, including the signing of 11 free-trade agreements with countries in Asia, Africa and Central and South America. But he also failed in bids to land several other prominent trade pacts and saw the collapse of negotiations to curb global agricultural subsidies, known as the Doha Round.

One constant for Bush has been an optimistic, even rosy, economic outlook. Throughout much of past year, even as the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve began preparing for the worst behind closed doors, Bush and his aides trumpeted the fundamental strength of the U.S. economy and dismissed Democratic proposals for a second stimulus package. A White House fact sheet released on Sept. 5 was titled: "American Economy Is Resilient in the Face of Challenges."

Two days later, the administration announced the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie, setting in motion the most sweeping government intervention in the economy since the Great Depression.

That takeover, experts widely agree, was necessary. But even those sympathetic to the president's ideas are skeptical of his overall legacy.

The highest praise Hassett offers for Bush's economic legacy is that "the economy was caught up in a storm while he was president, but it wasn't his fault."

"In the end, to the extent there ends up being a defense of the Bush presidency" on economic issues, "that's about the best you can get."

[clathrate]

Why would anyone be surprised by this? Bush and the neocons are proven liars and incompetent hacks.

Good riddance to bad garbage.

[donevis-2009]

ECONOMY MADE A FEW GAINS?? What reports are they reading? Hailaburtons? Exxons?? Madoffs? They do think we''re idiots and they can pass anything by us they want to. They''re still bailing out the big wigs. With the gigantic amount of bail-outs the government could have given every tax payer a Million dollars and all the economic problems would have been solved.

[ms1-1-11]

-WHOA-

According to RUSH LIMBAUGH, sorry, I Misspelled that LIMP BALLs, REPUBLICAN MOUTH PIECE and I quote "America is in Great shape... et al.," it''s the DEMOCRATs "you see" ... Ad nauseam

A quick look at the facts year to date the deficit under oh I think REPLUBLICAN was it stands at a mere

...$585,399,375,949...

Exhibit A:

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

Let''s look at our

[ms1-1-11]

...deficit only the highest in the HISTORY of United States of America

PLEASE THANK A REPUBLICAN... but wait there''s more ...indeed ... BIG-3 BAIL OUT BULL.... duh ...

and banks
and porn industry
and there''s more

[dynamited777]

Yup, two things the bushies have done to wreck this country. First is hidden in the cheney secret energy task force that enabled energy prices to be set in the futures market so spectators would manipulate the prices and second, lied the US into a war of choice in Iraq to further control oil supplies. The silver lining is the reduced carbon consumption during this depression will give us some brief room to figure out what to do about global warming.

[ms1-1-11]

I dont know what the author of this article is thinking. Clearly the Bush years have been the best the economy has ever seen.
------------
Posted by mrs_zambesi at 10:41 AM : Jan 12, 2009

Let''s be honest here shall, we would need a 20-electron microscope to view the Bush presidency''s accomplishment et al., et cet., exclamation point, left bracket, right bracket, left parin, right parin and then some hello....

[ms1-1-11]

dynamited777
ConDumbistan et al.,

Question: Didn''t George Herbert Walker Bush President of United States of America allege he graduated from YALE UNIVERSITY?

Answer: BOY GEORGE didn''t know
... Congress must declare war before the president can undertake war. ...
Article I, Section 8 (11) of the constitution says flatly that %u201CThe Congress shall have Power%u2026To declare War,%u201D but no Congress has declared war for the past 60 years. They%u2019ve passed resolutions, they%u2019ve passed authorizations, and they%u2019ve passed budget authorities, but they haven%u2019t declared war. The 108th Congress certainly never declared war on Iraq.

[notmudrose1]

we all know bush is a slumdog. he made our nation and the economy into slumdogs.

[windmaster12]

Bush was asleep at the wheel---
As late as Sept 08 he said
"The Fundamentals of our economy are sound"
The rest of the country knew we were in deep shiite---

So much for him being on top of things!!!

Bush the worst President in History--

Paraded as a conservative
But spent like a liberal
Tripled the national debt
And size of Gov''t. in 8 years--

In fact-- Accrued more debt in 8 years than
Every other president''s debt combined --

Now that is competency
Unparalleled in History !!!!

Still27% think he did a good job

Perhaps they take the polls in mental hospitals.

[stevenapoli-2009]

Top reasons for the financial mess...
1. Greed at banking/ corporate America level.
2. Greed at individual level (see shows like My Sweet 16 and Flip This House)
3. SEC failure to regulate exotic investment vehicles.
4. Failure by Congress to tighten lending standards of Fannie Mae in 2006.
5. Abolishment of the uptick rule
6. Mark to market deception
7. A Federal Reserve printing $ like crazy
8. The Bailout

[cbscrash072]

Obviously this doesn''t reflect my personal economic situation over the last 8 years. The Bush years have been good to me.

[steeepe]

Isn''t this, plus all the other failures in the last 8 years, the nail in the coffin of Republican ideology? Why would anyone want to support Republican ideas after the proof that they fail and fail miserably?

[stevenapoli-2009]

Isn''''t this, plus all the other failures in the last 8 years, the nail in the coffin of Republican ideology?

DON''T FORGET THE DEMS CONTROLLED CONGRESS THE PAST 4 YEARS. DID I MISS ALL THOSE BILLS THEY PROPOSED ON FIXING THE ECONOMY? THERE IS PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND.

[evian_ycnan]

The economy may not have, but you bet your *** that ******** Cheney`s perosnal wealth did.

Cheney is the son of a career US gov''t employee and Cheney himself was a public servant all but 7 years and he''s worth over $20 million.

[antoniof123]

Paraded as a conservative
But spent like a liberal
Tripled the national debt
And size of Gov''''t. in 8 years--
Posted by windmaster12 at 11:39 AM : Jan 12, 2009

Typical neocon dribble conservative is a political idea not a business process or finance process. The true term is fiscal responsiblity.

This dribble of the conservatives is nothing more than propaganda and bulling. I finaly realized it I know many liberals that are far more responsible than conservative lets take for example Warren Buffet. That is the end of the discussion.

Bush is just typical of those that chase the wind.

[steeepe]

Isn''''''''t this, plus all the other failures in the last 8 years, the nail in the coffin of Republican ideology?

DON''''T FORGET THE DEMS CONTROLLED CONGRESS THE PAST 4 YEARS. DID I MISS ALL THOSE BILLS THEY PROPOSED ON FIXING THE ECONOMY? THERE IS PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND.
Posted by stevenapoli at 11:53 AM : Jan 12, 2009

I don''t think that the Dems controlled Congress for the last 4 years, but only since 2006. The Republicans filibustered or threatened to filibuster most of the Democrat proposals in the last few years, so little got done.

[cruzn66]

It continues to amze me that people still don''t understand the principles of this government. It is the ADMINISTRATION that has the responsibility to oversee the welfare of this country with the oversight of the Legislature(Congress). And how much oversight can you do when the minority party stall any efforts through the use of filibuster and veto power. The unfortunate problem is that politicians are more concerned about maintaining party ideology rather than what is good for the country. The art of compromise, which has been the cornerstone of any democracy, has been lost on the ideologues in both parties, and so now we get nothing accomplished on behalf of the American people!!

[yam250]

Bush= massive job los
Bush= massive debt
Bush- took office DOW 10,000 8 years ago
Bush-leaves office DOW 8,000 8 YEARS LATER
Believe only what you see, Not what you read or see on TV.

[ballpen1]

The Republicans filibustered or threatened to filibuster most of the Democrat proposals in the last few years, so little got done.

Posted by steeepe at 12:03 PM : Jan 12, 2009

Yeah, but thats because Dems are spineless! Lete them filibuster! Let Bush veto! Every time they/he does this get in front of every camera and explain the consequences to the citizens in plain english. Then use each filibuster/veto in every election for every seat in the country, including dog catcher.

Then see if they are still playing around with "nuclear options" or if they reset to reason, after being innundated with letters, phone calls, e-mails AND losing seats in every local, state and federal race across the country. But to do that you would have to be really interessted in the well-being of America, and since Dems AND Reps are just pols they all just want a good life and hence nothing ever happens...

[steeepe]

The Republicans filibustered or threatened to filibuster most of the Democrat proposals in the last few years, so little got done.

Posted by steeepe at 12:03 PM : Jan 12, 2009

Yeah, but thats because Dems are spineless! Lete them filibuster! Let Bush veto! Every time they/he does this get in front of every camera and explain the consequences to the citizens in plain english. Then use each filibuster/veto in every election for every seat in the country, including dog catcher.

Then see if they are still playing around with "nuclear options" or if they reset to reason, after being innundated with letters, phone calls, e-mails AND losing seats in every local, state and federal race across the country. But to do that you would have to be really interessted in the well-being of America, and since Dems AND Reps are just pols they all just want a good life and hence nothing ever happens...

Posted by ballpen1 at 12:18 PM : Jan 12, 2009

I agree!

[antoniof123]

Isn''''''''''''''''t this, plus all the other failures in the last 8 years, the nail in the coffin of Republican ideology?

DON''''''''T FORGET THE DEMS CONTROLLED CONGRESS THE PAST 4 YEARS. DID I MISS ALL THOSE BILLS THEY PROPOSED ON FIXING THE ECONOMY? THERE IS PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND.
Posted by stevenapoli at 11:53 AM : Jan 12, 2009

I don''''t think that the Dems controlled Congress for the last 4 years, but only since 2006. The Republicans filibustered or threatened to filibuster most of the Democrat proposals in the last few years, so little got done.
Posted by steeepe at 12:03 PM : Jan 12, 2009

Steeepe it is useless to try to talk to a neocon they only spout off dribble they have no talking point and blame everyone else and still they don''t understand why theya re losing seats in every branch of government across the country. Next election will be another blood bath for the neocon party.

[tycobb111]

Top reasons for the financial mess...
1. Greed at banking/ corporate America level.
2. Greed at individual level (see shows like My Sweet 16 and Flip This House)
3. SEC failure to regulate exotic investment vehicles.
4. Failure by Congress to tighten lending standards of Fannie Mae in 2006.
5. Abolishment of the uptick rule
6. Mark to market deception
7. A Federal Reserve printing $ like crazy
8. The Bailout


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by stevenapoli


Finally someone making some sense on hear. And I''ll add to #4 that Congress was unsuccessful (or unresponsive to a certain president''s requests) for regulation of Fred and Fannie in 2003

[hermitdave]

The common man didn''t do well, but the private contractors for the military industrial complex made record profits under 8 years of crusader George.

[twistedsister1959]

Not a Bush fan but I am wondering how all the Bush Haters who post on this board are going to fare on January 20 when they no longer have him to rip into everyday. Are they going to go through withdrawal like an addict? I mean I really would like someone with some knowledge of this type of behavior to answer this question. I actually feel sorry for some of you because you are about 9 days away from having some tough times to deal with after he is out of office and you have no one to blame and hate.

[ms1-1-11]

Monday. 12 January 2009

Per Rush Limbaugh -sorry for the misspelling- Rush Limp Balls, REPUBLICAN mouth piece quote end quote "America is in fine shape, it''s the Democrats you see" ... Ad nauseam

Last I heard, the deficit under BUSH REPUBLICAN Administration is year to date...$585,399,375,949 and climbing...

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

[walt1944-2009]

It has been determined that over the past 8 years, the Great Emperor Bush II did "diddly squat" about the economy, despite rantings to the contrary by loyal "Bushies"!

This news, naturally, comes as nothing new for the average person who has been trying to "get ahead" over the past 8 years, and has ended up falling back 3 steps for every step taken.

In this respect the past 8 years of "Bushism" can be compared to a mountain of sand with you trying to climb up to the top! The only ones able to reach the top, are the elite who own the corporate jets to fly them to the top!

However, although historians and economists are in agreement that the past 8 years of "Bushism" have been a disaster and the Great Emperor Bush is the ABSOLUTE WORSE leader EVER, those stupidly-loyal Neocon Fascist Nazis who insist that the Great Emperor Bush II can "walk on water", can get their "fix" of "Bushie propoganda" by visiting the Bush Library in Dallas.

After January 21, the then Ex-Great Emperor Bush II can greet them at the front door handing out Nazi armbands!!!

SIG HEIL, WE HAVE AN ARMY OF ILLIGALS SEWING THEM RIGHT NOW!!!, BUSH!!!

[ms1-1-11]

babalu59


allow me to assist you, anything is better than 8 years of failed years of a weak ,cowardly ,failed administration..

hold tight I so am not done as yet,

one said George Herbert Walker Bush President of United States alleges he graduated from YALE UNIVERSITY,

HE DIDN''T KNOW


... Congress must declare war before the president can undertake war. ...
Article I, Section 8 (11) of the constitution says flatly that %u201CThe Congress shall have Power%u2026To declare War,%u201D but no Congress has declared war for the past 60 years. They%u2019ve passed resolutions, they%u2019ve passed authorizations, and they%u2019ve passed budget authorities, but they haven%u2019t declared war. The 108th Congress certainly never declared war on Iraq.


something tells me Ozzy Osbourne had a clue ...

[ms1-1-11]

walt1944


THANK YOU ! ! ! ! !


AMEN! ! !

[gce65]

Is this information any secret? We''ve all known it for years. The only growth industry has been the privatization of our nation''s military functions so that the Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld families and those like them could get richer on taxpayer dollars.

[McHineguy]

Journalism has died in America. Doesnt matter whether you like Bush or hate him. You cant trust the American press to tell it like it is. People on these boards even argue over where they get their information (liberal media vs conservative media, Sean Hannity vs Chris Mathews). Its sad that we are entering what may be the most dangerous period since the great Depression (economic AND international challenges) and we have no consistent and credible source for information. The government will be free to tell us whatever they want and we wont be able to verify it.

[stinginrich]

The number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush''s tenure, the most tepid growth over any eight-year span since data collection began seven decades ago. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration. And Americans'' incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush''s father.

So the Shrub Crime Family presided over the two largest transfers of wealth from working class to Ruling Elite in American History......well duuuuh...

[lovegetpeace]

Congratulations to the Toxic Ideology of the NeoCons:

When do we get more Massive Tax Cuts for poor American Corporations to create millions of good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we eliminate Regulations of poor American Corporations so they can create more good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we eliminate Environment Protection laws so that our poor American Corportions can create more good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we Invest Billions and Billions onto Innovations so that America Corporations will start the Productions (BENEFITs) oversea?

Anybody fan of more Toxic Ideology?

[lovegetpeace]

Congratulations to the Toxic Ideology of the NeoCons:

When do we get more Massive Tax Cuts for poor American Corporations to create millions of good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we eliminate Regulations of poor American Corporations so they can create more good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we eliminate Environment Protection laws so that our poor American Corportions can create more good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we Invest Billions and Billions onto Innovations so that America Corporations will start the Productions or benefit (OVERSEA)?

When do we borrow more from OVERSEAs for our $11 Trillions and counting Federal Budget Deficit.

When do we borrow more from OVERSEAs for the Most Powerful and Advanced Military in the World?

Anybody wants more Toxic Ideology?

[stinginrich]

We''re still waiting for some of that Trickle-Down, Neocons, as soon as this 8 year Sh*t and Ur*ne Storm lets up.....

[lovegetpeace]

Congratulations to the Toxic Ideology of the NeoCons:

When do we get more Massive Tax Cuts for poor American Corporations to create millions of good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we eliminate Regulations of poor American Corporations so they can create more good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we eliminate Environment Protection laws so that our poor American Corportions can create more good jobs (OVERSEA)?

When do we Invest Billions and Billions onto Innovations so that America Corporations will start the Productions or benefit (OVERSEA)?

When do we borrow more from OVERSEAs for our $11 Trillions and counting Federal Budget Deficit.

When do we borrow more from OVERSEAs for the Most Powerful and Advanced Military in the World?

When are Americans going to Sacrifice with Hard Work for this Nation?

"ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. "

[rafterman1]

===You must either not be aware (or have chosen to ignore,) the fact that conservatives STILL berate Bill Clinton.===
Posted by raflin0010

Clinton? Are you kidding? The neocons are still trashing JIMMY CARTER!

[McHineguy]

I am not a Bush fan but there are other explanations for our "tepid" growth. Those other explanations scare me because if they are true (and its likely they are at least in part) we will continue downhill.

Consider:
1. Our country and its leadership economy has been the first to implement new ideas. That has given us a head start on every new development. The last new development was the so-called dot-com industry. Nothing new = tepid growth.
2. When there is nothing new to develop nations must optimize what they have. Our nation is in a turmoil of EPA concerns, alternative energy, and immigration. Its nearly impossible to optimize anything in the midst of such discension. The houseing market succeeded in part because it is mostly immune to this discension.
discension and infighting over regulations - negative growth.

More to follow

[McHineguy]

More to consider:

3. Education and innovation are the ultimate natural resource. Our country has sacrificed both in the name of equality and fair play (im not railing about racial equality so dont start that argument). We choose to not discriminate based on potential, we choose to make sure all opportunities are available to everyone, regardless of abilities.
equal opportunity = no exceptional activities
4. Dreams replace science. Most scientists will tell you that solar and wind power are not likely to provide more than a few percent of our energy needs. Yet we insist on betting a significant share of our wealth on their development.
ignore science = live in a dream world

[McHineguy]

===You must either not be aware (or have chosen to ignore,) the fact that conservatives STILL berate Bill Clinton.===
Posted by raflin0010

Clinton? Are you kidding? The neocons are still trashing JIMMY CARTER!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Rafterman1 at 02:13 PM : Jan 12, 2009

Sometimes we are correct. How will you know? Put away the labels and consider with an open mind.

[omega40]

Economy Made Few Gains In Bush Years

Well gee, you could have knocked me over with a feather with that headline. To be correct though it really should read poor made no gains and the middle class lost ground. The rich of course prospered big time.

[carpriddler]

There were tremendous gains in the fast food service sector. The fake green cards and social security business doubled. Bankruptcy attorneys quadrupled their business. Debt collectors contributed to the phone company profits. Private security showed sharp increases.

[omega40]

There were tremendous gains in the fast food service sector. The fake green cards and social security business doubled. Bankruptcy attorneys quadrupled their business. Debt collectors contributed to the phone company profits. Private security showed sharp increases.

Posted by carpriddler

Don''t forget record profits for the oil companies and a spectacular eight years for the defense industry.

[presjfk]

"It''s sad to say, but we really went nowhere for almost ten years %u2026 It''s almost a lost economic decade.
Mark Zandi, Moody''s Economy.com"

What does he mean, "almost." What a frigging disaster.

[presjfk]

I sure screwed up. I should have been rich with all the money being thrown around.

[cariboubarbi]

Modern "conservatism" is a morally and econmically bankrupting ideology that espouses the insane belief that the answer to every problem is to simply move more money from the hands of the working classes into the already full pockets of the super-rich.

Welcome to the fallout from 8 miserable years of "conservative" government.

If, when the trickle in Bush''s trickle down economics finally reaches you, it looks and smells like urine...........that''s because it is!

[lovegetpeace]

The way Economists determine how poor a Poor Nation is is by measuring the distance between the Richs and Poors.

Under that standard measure, America got very Poor during the last 8 years. I suppose I do not need to say this since everyone must know it except for the Super Rich.

[lovegetpeace]

From 20 January 2001 to 20 January 2009, America borrowed 7.7 Trillions.

What does one call an Empire surviving on just a Mortgage?

[lovegetpeace]

"...but leave it up to the individual as to what they make with it once they have it."

Posted by Mcliar at 02:57 PM : Jan 12, 2009

So as watching too much TV, Cable, Nintengo, Gameboy and of course Computers, Laptops, Internet, etc. and then blame the Obesity on McDonald''s Restaurant.

Once you become Rich under Capitalism, Laziness, UnProductive, Comfortable and Sick and Bored with nothing to do is The LifeStyle.

[lovegetpeace]

...but leave it up to the individual as to what they make with it once they have it."

Posted by Mcliar at 02:57 PM : Jan 12, 2009

"Once they have it", they can watch too much TV, Cable, VideoGames, Computers, Laptops, Internet, etc. and then blame the Obesity on McDonald''''s Restaurant.

Once you become Rich under Capitalism, Laziness, UnProductive, Comfortable, Bored with nothing to do is The LifeStyle. Capitalism has a Built-In Mechanism to commit Self-Destruction (Suicide).

[lovegetpeace]

"...but leave it up to the individual as to what they make with it once they have it."

Posted by Mcliar at 02:57 PM : Jan 12, 2009

"Once they have it", they can watch too much TV, Cable, VideoGames, Computers, Laptops, Internet, etc. and then blame the Obesity on McDonald''s Restaurant.

Once you become Rich under Capitalism, Laziness, UnProductive, Comfortable, Bored with nothing to do is The LifeStyle. Capitalism has a Built-In Mechanism to commit Self-Destruction (Suicide).

Capitalism needs a Growing Population and a Population with Big Dreams and Energy which we get only from Recent and 1st Generation Immigrants - the same group of people Americans are attempting to LockOut forever now.