Shouldn't I be happy with Bush's fiscal policy?

[jimbutorac]

As a supposedly free-spending, big government liberal Democrat shouldn't I be be happy with Bush because:

- During the first two fiscal years that Bush had control of the budget, 2002 and 2003, annual government spending has grown more than 16% to $2.2 trillion in 2003, the biggest two year increase in a decade. (USA Today, Jan. 15)

- "Discretionary spending, the money Congress approves each year ...for just about everything the government does outside big "entitlement" programs such as Social Security has grown 26% to about $824 billion, the biggest two year increase in more than 20 years". (ibid)

- "The spending surge and tax cuts widened the deficit to a record $374 billion last year and are expected to drive it to $500 billion this year". (ibid)

At the same time, it seems you right wing conservative Republicans would be heeding the words of your fellow conservative Republicans like:

- The General Accounting Office's Republican Comptroller David Walker who was quoted in September as saying:

"Our deficits are not manageable without significant changes in programs, policies and procedures".

- or Brian Reidl a public policy analyst at the conservative Heritage foundation who says Bush policymakers "have successfully blurred the distinction between national security and other spending by simply adding "defense" or "homeland security" to the titles of their old rejected proposals".

- "More than 90 House Republicans plan to meet January 22-23 under the auspices of the House Republican Study Committee to discuss ways to stop what leaders call excessive government spending - most of which has been initiated by the Bush White House and approved by the republican controlled Congress" - USA today January 15th.

So surely you right wing conservative Republican bretheren can agree with the fiscal conservatives of your own party that Bush is fiscally irresponsible. It looks like you need to be voting for our candidate(s) and we need to be voting for yours.

C'mon guys, bring the spin!

 

[WildBill]

Don't forget the "energy policy" that somehow finds a way to spend billions without really setting anything that would pass a smell test as "policy". The one thing it did attempt to accomplish was set national grid standards to avoid power blackouts. That could pass with near unanimous support, yet the Elephants didn't see enough political gain with that. They had to wrap it into other things that had nothing to do with grid standards. To make it worse they are now in a spot where if it were not to pass they would try to blame Democrats for not passing the bill that would generate the grid standards. Oh isn't politics great?
We get nothing done and nothing but finger pointing on a slam dunk issue.

 

[xpanda]

Don't forget, also, the $500 billion that this administration spent last year on your military alone. Mind you, in a time of war, one could almost expect that, except that only $102 billion of that can be attributed directly to the effort in Iraq ... in other words, your defense budget went from $260 billion to $400 billion without confronting an enemy.

In the age of the Bush administration, fear levels have risen to a point like that of the Cold War. Interestingly enough, during that time, the Kennedy administration spent only less than half, adjusted for inflation, than Bush is spending. Just to be sure your tax dollars do in fact make their way to the war effort, much scrambling is now underway to position Alaska as a nuclear launch pad, just in case those damned Koreans actually believe what Bush wrote in his National Security Strategy about preventive war and the US's not needing a 'permission slip' to launch a first strike ... North Korea is likely, and justifiably, arming themselves to the as I type this, and Bush will have a handy little $150+ billion answer for them.

 

[D2bets]

And as the Reoublicans here love to point out, the Congress is Republican controlled and dominated. It's the first time...I'm not sure, but a long time...that Repubs have controlled both Prez and Congress and whaddya know we get out of control spending, and deficits.

The conventional though is that Bush is a fiscal liberal and social conservative.

 

[KMAN]

Don't forget that Bush said that if he remains President for the next 5 years the national deficit will be cut in half. That's pretty impressive being that the deficit has been rising every year since I could remember. (whether a Democrat or Republican has been in office) If he's right, that will be a pretty big step for the US.

KMAN

 

[Massmilwaukee]

Bush is going to cut the deficit in half by cutting social programs and sex ed education and replacing them with church based initiatives and abstinince programs.

 

[xpanda]

If Bush said that, then it must be so. He certainly doesn't strike me as the type to lie or even exaggerate.

As Phaedrus once said: you are more easily trained than a golden retriever.

 

[D2bets]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KMAN:
Don't forget that Bush said that if he remains President for the next 5 years the national deficit will be cut in half. That's pretty impressive being that the deficit has been rising every year since I could remember. (whether a Democrat or Republican has been in office) If he's right, that will be a pretty big step for the US.
KMAN<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Surely you jest. Did you happen to forget that the Clinton Admin. inherited a record high deficit in 1993 and turned it into a record SURPLUS in 2000? The deficit was certainly NOT rising in the 90's under Clinton's watch.

As for Bush, when he took office he also promised to eliminate the DEBT by 2012. Now he merely hopes to cut the deficit, not the debt, in half by 2009. Talk is cheap. If you believe this President about the deficit then I've got fabulous Florida swampland for ya.

 

[jimbutorac]

btw, those figures i posted were all prior to Bush's initiative to renew space exploration efforts for the moon and mars.

Anyone see the Jon Stewart show or whatever it's called?

Sen. McCain (Mudbone's favorite Republican) was making fun of Bush's space initiative. About Bush, he said "doesn't he know that we've already been to the moon"?

 

[xpanda]

It's called the Daily Show ... watch it every night (although we get it a day behind on cable.) I love the shredding Dean is getting on that show.

 

[jimbutorac]

X,

if you get it a day behind, for you tonite's is worth watching. he shreds the State of the Union address. First thing he makes fun of are the President's remarks on steroids.

 

[Banned4Life]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Don't forget that Bush said that if he remains President for the next 5 years the national deficit will be cut in half. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I wouldn't count on it, considering Bush's record of lying.

 

[jimbutorac]

Just read this in NY Times today:

- When Bush took office 3 years ago, the Congressional Budget Office forecast a surplus for the following decade of $5.6 trillion.

And now we're staring at $500 billion deficit for the next year. Freakin' brilliant.

I wonder if the fact that he inherited a surplus from Anne Richards in Texas and turned it into a record deficit in his tenure might have been a clue to his current inept performance.

From Brian Reidl, the analyst at the conservative Heritage foundation,

"The president used the State of the Union to defend past spending increases and he made 8 specific calls for new spending increases. But he made zero calls for spending cuts".

How can you right wing Republicans live with such a big government free spending president? Shouldn't you be trying to get him out of office?

 

[xpanda]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mudbone:
X,

if you get it a day behind, for you tonite's is worth watching. he shreds the State of the Union address. First thing he makes fun of are the President's remarks on steroids.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just discovered that if I stay up late enough, I can get that day's episode ... watched the SOTU one as well, hilarious. But I don't think anything will come even close to the hilarity of 'Pajoanie loves Pachachi.' I actually cried.

 

[jimbutorac]

X,

That was pretty funny. I thought his impersonation of the mullah doing the Dean speech - "We're going to Kirkuk" was just as funny.

 

[jimbutorac]

Bump for Patriot.

 

[D2bets]

President Bush has never vetoed a spending bill. Not once. Never. By modt accounts this is the most freespending Congress ever. The idea that Republicans are the party of fiscal restraint is laughable.

I think the economy will remain strong for Dubya this year but if he does win it's going to him in the face in 2005 or 2006 when the deficit causes higher interest rates and in turn even higher deficits. If a Dem does win the economy is going to blow up in his face becsuse of Bush's policies.