Voodoo Economics

George Bush the Elder was by no means a good President. Yet he at least seemed to be sometimes aware of reality. Before he served as Vice President in Ronald Reagan's administration he accurately labeled as "Voodoo Economics," the notion that massive tax cuts for the wealthy, coupled with huge increases in defense spending would lead to long-term prosperity for the United States. Ironically, a major factor in his loss to Bill Clinton was that the myth of Reagan's success, in performing just this kind of magic, made it politically impossible for a Republican President to do what Clinton accomplished-- balance the budget.

"No nation has ever taxed and spent its way to prosperity." George W.Bush 7/6/2007

Well, O.K., if you don't want to count France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Japan and every other major postwar economic power.

What is undeniably true is that no nation has ever recklessly borrowed its way to prosperity.

When lil'Bush took office in 2001 our national debt stood at $5,728,195,796,181.57 As he tearfully announced Rove's resignation this Monday our national debt had risen to $8,969,936,197,090.19. So what did the U.S. get for the more than $3.2 trillion in new debt, taken on by our government, so far under lil'Bush's watch? Did over a thousand economically depressed areas in the U.S. each receive at least $320 million in development aid? Did every state in the union receive billions for necessary repairs to highway bridges, dams, and other infrastructure? Or, have real wages fallen for the vast majority of U.S. taxpayers? Has a first-class college education become prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthy and superstar athletes? Have we sunk billions into an Iraqi quagmire, gaining nothing but deeper enmity in the Arab world and the death of many thousands of people? What are we getting for our hard-earned money?

My friend Manny possesses a rare skill as a builder of high-quality yachts. The Rhode Island company he works for is one of the few in the nation who can, honestly, say that Bush's redistribution of wealth to the obscenely rich has helped its business. Yet, Manny tells me no one at the yard, including his boss, has anything good to say about lil'Bush. They, like over 70% of their fellow citizens, have recognized the Cheney/Bush administration as a national embarrassment and a fraud.

And so I ask Nancy Pelosi: "Off the table? Are you f#%*ing insane?"