On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.To all the wingnuts who are afraid of losing "their America," please recall who threw it away.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Bush's Economic Legacy
From The Atlantic:
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"the country lost ground during Bush's two terms."
ReplyDeleteLet's accept this statement as true for the sake of argument.
All of that's due to Bush. Not the 2000-01 recession/dot com bust. Not the terrorist attacks that almost destroyed the airlines (they didn't need much to begin with). Not the incredible increase in energy costs. Not the collapse of the financial shell game. Not the second recession causes by the previous two items.
It's all because of tax cuts that went to every single tax bracket.
The tax cuts were one of the biggest parts of the shell game and the fact that median incomes fell while the incomes of the top 1% skyrocketed makes it quite clear who benefited from them.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the huge increase in energy costs had something to do with the executive branch being headed by two Texas oilmen whose energy policy was intended to serve the oil industry's interests.
The 2000-01 recession was pretty mild by historic standards.
How do tax cuts cause incomes to fall?
ReplyDelete"Perhaps the huge increase in energy costs had something to do with the executive branch being headed by two Texas oilmen whose energy policy was intended to serve the oil industry's interests."
And nothing to do with 30+ years of liberals in Congress trying to make energy harder and harder to get.
The energy crunch was a clear supply and demand problem. It only eased because demand fell when the economy went sour.
I didn't say that tax cuts caused incomes to fall. I was merely pointing out that only the wealthy derived any benefit from the tax cuts. The reason is that the wealthy pay most of their taxes in the form of income taxes while the tax burden on the middle and lower classes is mostly in the form of state and local taxes.
ReplyDeleteHave oil prices been rising steadily for the last thirty years or did they spike dramatically while oilmen were in the White House?