Bushenomics 102: Reality

[Demeter]

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/06/06/con06249.html

Bushenomics 102: Reality

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Larry Beinhart



In the past it's been called trickle down theory and voodoo economics.

The first thing that happened utilizing this theory was a recession. Bushenomicers blamed it on Clinton.

We have had a slow recovery. Bushenomicists blame it on Clinton, on 9/11, and the subsequent wars. What George Bush fondly calls the "trifecta."

The first of these is odd because under Clinton the economy grew like gangbusters. It produced jobs, the Dow Jones grew over 350%, the deficit left by Bush the Elder turned into a surplus. So Clinton policies should have been a perfect "how to." The second was reasonable, but only for a brief period. A month, two months, perhaps a quarter. That's all. The third is absurd. War normally produces growth. All around growth. Including jobs.

The great bulk of the tax cuts went to rich people. If someone making a million a year gets to keep an extra hundred thousand, what do they do with it? Go out and start a company? No. They put it in the stock market or real estate. In this case, business has not really been growing. The Dow is still only a few points over where it was when Bush took office. Other factors, like low interest rates, favored real estate. So the money flowed there.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Larry Beinhart is the author of Wag the Dog, The Librarian, available at nationbooks.org, and Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin available at BuzzFlash.com Progressive Marketplace.


THE PERFECT ECONOMICS FOR GOP DUMMIES ARTICLE!

[AX10]

1. kick

[Amonester]

2. "Cut and Run" is the GOP mantra since day 1.

In short, it's: "Cut" programs "and Run" away with the money.

(8.2 billion$ in Iraq was just the tip of the iceberg. + the Pentagon's 2 trillion$)