The ITT List
Thursday Dec 16, 2004 1:52 pm
Bush’s Economic Summit: What a Joke
Written by In These Times intern Kevin Friedl.
The White House???s two-day economic summit concluded this afternoon with closing remarks from President Bush in which he reiterated ???his??? plans to deal with the country???s massive deficit. Proving how difficult it can be to get an intelligent sounding quote from this President, Reuters was
forced to settle for his quasi-coherent assertion that ???if the deficit is an issue, which it is, therefore it???s going to require some tough choices on the spending side.???
Apparently, now that Bush???s tax cuts for the wealthy and his imperialist excursion into Iraq have created a record $412 billion annual budget gap, we???re expected to believe that his scheme to privatize Social Security, debunked by Dean Baker in a recent In These Times article, is going to save
the economy by drastically cutting the government???s financial responsibility to its most needy citizens. Shift the tax burden onto the working class in the name of ???tax relief,??? send their children to Iraq with promises of spreading freedom, and then pay the bill by eviscerating their retirement fund under the guise of fiscal responsibility. Excuse me, Mr. President, if I don???t know whether to laugh or cry at the sheer cynicism of it all.
But not everyone was cheerleading for the administration???s economic initiatives. Leaders from the AARP, AFL-CIO unions, NAACP, NOW, and the Center for American Progress all announced their opposition to Bush???s
Social Security overhaul. Rep. Robert Matsui (D-CA) issued a statement summarizing his objections to the Social Security pseudo-crisis:
The White House???s two-day economic summit concluded this afternoon with closing remarks from President Bush in which he reiterated ???his??? plans to deal with the country???s massive deficit. Proving how difficult it can be to get an intelligent sounding quote from this President, Reuters was
forced to settle for his quasi-coherent assertion that ???if the deficit is an issue, which it is, therefore it???s going to require some tough choices on the spending side.???
Apparently, now that Bush???s tax cuts for the wealthy and his imperialist excursion into Iraq have created a record $412 billion annual budget gap, we???re expected to believe that his scheme to privatize Social Security, debunked by Dean Baker in a recent In These Times article, is going to save
the economy by drastically cutting the government???s financial responsibility to its most needy citizens. Shift the tax burden onto the working class in the name of ???tax relief,??? send their children to Iraq with promises of spreading freedom, and then pay the bill by eviscerating their retirement fund under the guise of fiscal responsibility. Excuse me, Mr. President, if I don???t know whether to laugh or cry at the sheer cynicism of it all.
But not everyone was cheerleading for the administration???s economic initiatives. Leaders from the AARP, AFL-CIO unions, NAACP, NOW, and the Center for American Progress all announced their opposition to Bush???s
Social Security overhaul. Rep. Robert Matsui (D-CA) issued a statement summarizing his objections to the Social Security pseudo-crisis:
If the president is serious about reforming Social Security, he will need to hear from everyone involved, not just those who favor privatization. Today???s economic conference was a photo-op, a meeting of like minds and a missed opportunity for real debate about the future of Social Security. We don???t need any more privatization pep-rallies, we need leadership. If the President insists on privatizing Social Security, he needs to tell us how he???s going to pay for the enormous costs and how the benefit cuts imposed will affect future retirees.
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I am really so sick of GW and his lies. I sure hope American’s rise up, gather in the streets to protest the privatization of social security. We also need someone bigger than one individual (In These Times?) to organize against this. The time is now because the Bushies are going to make a big push for this right after the holidays. Let’s not let Bush and his friends get away with this!!
Folks it is very, very simple!
And it already has been done!
Yes, you can have a private account right now, t-o-d-a-y!
It’s called an IRA.
We don’t need no stinking badges (SS card)-private account.
The man runs up the largest deficits in history and then says we need fiscal responsibility!
He hands out public money to private corporations and the top 2% of the income population, and then turns around and says we need to limit ???discretionary??? spending…that???s Republican speak for the poor deadbeat individuals who didn???t have the good fortune to have the right birthlines, corporate or family connections to avoid having to toil at minimum wage or had the misfortune to get incurably sick with no healthcare coverage.
Compassionate Conservatism. It???s not an oxymoron…it???s a strategy.
WE???RE the morons!
If the democrats have any significance remaining at all (we’ll see, won’t we?), it will show during the upcoming social security debate.
For as long as I can remember, soc sec was considered the “3rd rail” of politics…you touch it, you die. If they let W touch it and live to tell about, they will have written their own obit.
The Dem’s need to make serious noise about this issue. I’m talking top of your lungs noise. It’s actually a great opportunity for them to grab on to a populist issue that affects just about all working Americans, red state or blue state.
Now, whether they’re up to the challenge or are willing to go quietly into the night, that I can’t tell you.
AMEN!!!! If all of us can see these issues crystal clear, why can’t our elected officials. Has the dumbing down of America creeped into Washington? Did everyone mysteriously forget the purpose of Social Security. That sad thing is the Bushies and the so called Christian coalition actually believe their bullsh**!
Don’t sell the “Ownership Society” short. Thanks to Reagan, Bush I, and Bush the Fucked Up, I now OWN close to $26,000 of the Incredibly Growing Debt. At the current record rate of debt growth under Bush TFU, my daughter should OWN more than $100,000 worth of debt by the time she is my age. And that’s not even taking into account the estimated $2 trillion that Bush TFU would add to the debt over the next 10 years if he is able to ruin social security. What the fuck is going on? Oh yeah, Compassionate Conservatism. Kiss my ass, ya fuckin’ retard.
The Bush plan to partially privatize social security should be closely scrutinized. There are critical issues which if not clearly evaluated could leave millions without resources.
To note a few:
What would happen if a person became disabled before accumulating significant savings? Would the govt provide indefinite payments as social security does now and if so, how is it funded?
Similarly, what if an individual just lives too long and they use up their resources. Is there a safety net and how is it funded?
It has been widely reported that to privatize, there would be start up costs of up to ?2 trillion dollaras. This is not a free ride. Does this make sense?
Because of administrative fees, privating social security will be a bonanza for wall street. If investing is so important, it would certainly be more cost effective if the government did the investing.
We should have learned by now that George Bush is an ideologue and facts are to be used to support his preconceived ideas. This has been vividly demonstrated on several occasions
1. Taxes: When he ran for election in his first term, we ahd a surplus and he reasoned that this money should be given back to the taxpayers. When things were not going so well with our economy we again should lower taxes to stimulate the economy. Regardless of the data, taxes accordingly should be lowered.
2. War with Iraq: His reasons for going to war continued to change as the facts that he relied on sequentially proved wrong. First there was the threat of WMD, and chemical and biological weapons, then we needed to remove a tyrant, now it is to bring democracy to the Middle East. It is obvious that there would always be a valid reason to invade Iraq, regardless of the facts.
3. Environment: Having a cleaner environment is always secondary to corporate profits. When most of the scientific community is concerned about climate change, this administration says that we need more studies. When there is a consensus about decreasing pollution, the administration has consistently resorted to double-speak enacting the ???Clean??? Air act or the ???Healthy??? Forest initiative, plans thata threaten to do the opposite of what they claim.
4. States rights: States rights are fine as long as they support the Bush agenda. When it comes to gay marriage, a constitutional amendment is supported. When it comes to drug laws, such as marijuana use, the administration is ready to step in and challenge the will of the local populations. Even with education, the administration has laid very heavy obligations on the states with the ???no child left behind??? act. Again states rights are supported as long as their agenda is not challenged.
I think one reason Bush speaks so poorly is that he needs to modify facts according to his ideology and this can sometimes be very difficult, so fudging and stumbling is a result. He is a powerful man, but because he is an ideologue with preconceived ideas that are unresponsive to the real world he is VERY DANGEROUS!
When he was asked about his plans for social security Bush TFU said such questions were merely attempts to “get me to negotiate with myself in public; to say, you know, what’s this mean, Mr. President, what’s that mean. I’m not going to do that.”
Yeah, I mean it’s really none of our business what his plan is. It’s not like it’s our country or anything. I wouldn’t trust the piece of crap to give me change for a dollar.
I work in the securities industry
an IRA is not enough and if most people were left up to their own investment decisions they’d have no money at all.
WHAT A WAY TO MAEK THE POOR POORER
The president can’t write laws, that’s for the congress. Therefore, it’s perfectly appropiate for a president to lay out guidelines, but eschew the details. Mr. Harris, the change back from your dollar will come when the legislative branch writes the details.
Yeah, and only Congress has the power to declare war. If your contention is that the Administration will have no hand in writing this legislation or other pieces for that matter (No Child Left Behind) you are in as much a state of denial as Bush TFU.
Nothing will happen to my dollar when the legislative branch puts their name on it. That comes if they vote it through and Bush TFU signs it (that parts a lock-no bills vetoed in his first term). Then my dollar disappears and they ask for another and another to pay off the ballooning interest payments on the IGD.
-the check is in the mail
-the economy is the strongest ever
-the war is going well
-Bush is fiscally conservative
-we’re getting armor to them as fast as we can
-the majority of the tax cuts go to the middle class
-Bush cares about the environment
We have a president who is an intellectual sloth and a pathological liar. He couldn’t manage a 7-11, much less this country. I just hope he isn’t allowed to do irrepairable damage over the next 4 years.
My contention is that there are no details now because the debate is inchoate and there is no actual law to scritinize. At this point you can only be against the concept, or distrustful of those putting forth the concept. I’m in the latter and not in denile as to the abilities of the president.
Soylent Green - what is happening today is very much what this movie truly depicted. The poor ground up as food, the rich living highly as they are the only ones that can afford “real” food, the only truth hidden away in underground libraries, truth police….how sorry we have become.
Look, it’s all very simple. It’s the 1930’s Germany/Italy/Spain fascist economic model. War machine profits, corporate rule, cut all social programs, cast lots of “liberal biased media” propaganda into the totally controlled mainstream press, chip away for years at the basic constitutional guarantees & rights, and then spread baseless suspicions on anyone who questions the god-annoited rulers. This was set in motion in 1980 with Reagan and his boys Cheney and Rumsfeld and all your current favorite leaders.
Read about the devout Christian fundamentalist-leaning guy named Adolf and his cabinet of wealthy tycoons, or Mussolini and his fabulously wealthy industrialist supporters.
A quote:
“The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and
cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.”
Adolph Hitler, My New World Order,
Proclamation to the German Nation
at Berlin, February 1, 1933
Doesn’t this sound recently familiar? Good luck because the German people couldn’t stop him.
Notice how you always hear about the 6 million jews getting gassed in WW2 ( but they killed jesus didn’t they?) But not about the 4-5 million political opponents, union leaders/members, teachers, professors, students, news editors, writers, poets, musicians, homosexuals, homeless, gypsies, petty criminals, etc ad nauseum?
Your country has been taken over. You will get poorer and you will do what your told or suffer the consequences because god chose bush.
Just don’t get used to it.
I was a casualty of the bush pathetic economic policy,we genuinely are witnessing
just as hitler saw an american populace that is greatly colonised mentally.We have a demon as the leader,with thecapacity to think at the level of his dog.
Surely the democrats should be capable
of limiting the damage this misunderestimated moron can bestow on his
subjects.
I sure hope to get more involved ,as i
did during the last stolen election(to
my dismay).To think that the biggest idiot
on the planet can create the greatest destruction to the human race is truly
remarkable.
We surely need more individuals such
those at “IN THESE TIMES” to counter the
FUCKEN ASSHOLE or are we becoming adept
to all his FUCK UPS .
‘THIS” IS REALLY THE WORST FUCKEN LEADER IN ALL OF MANKIND,‘THIS UNITER IS
CREATING THE MOST UNITED MOVEMENT AGAINST
THE BUSH NATION,AND THE MOVEMENT IS SURELY
INSIDIOUS IN ITS PROGRESSION.HE SURELY WILL LOSE NO SLEEP OVER THIS,HE IS TOTALLY OUT OF
TOUCH WITH HIS OWN RANCH IMAGINE WHERE HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD IS.
CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT HELL HILLARY
WOULD BE GOING THRU HAD SHE BEEN THE ONE
TO ACCIDENTALLY HAD KILLED HER BOYFRIEND
AS A YOUNG PERSON,THE ABOVE IS QUESTIONABLE,
I MEAN THE ACCIDENT,
FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE.
GILBERT
To everyone…(me included). Bitching online certainly feels good…but it results in NOTHING.
To keep myself honest I’ve pledged to make no complaints without corrosponding ACTION.
That is:
1. Contact your legisltors
2. Donate money
3. Volunteer time
Merry Christmas
Foo Fighter
Add to that ACTION list:
4. Write letters to editors
I throughly agree with both these last two comments! Write letters to the editor (if done well they can actually make people think), contact your congresspersons etc (which may or may not do a bit of good but it’s worth a try), join the ACLU and MoveOn or any group that is fighting these fascists, give what little cash you can spare to support our freedom fighters though we are all getting poorer and it’s getting much harder to balance the bills as our income levels drop through the floor while the cost of everything goes up. Most of all, don’t give up. It is OUR country, and discounting all the vote fraud, there really are more of us than them! We may lose like they did in Europe 80 years ago, but I’ll be damned if I won’t go down fighting for my rights. They’ll have to pry my pen from my cold dead fingers (and probably will if history is any indicator).
Happy Winter Solstice (one of the oldest human celebrations on which was dumped a religous holiday just like churches got built on older religous sites by the invaders of old). Know your history.
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