'Let Them Eat Cake' Economics (Alterman - Newsweek)

[VolcanoJen]

Excellent, brutal article about Bush's failed economic policies.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/941341.asp

Excerpt:

When Al Gore exaggerated the details of his dog’s prescriptions, it helped cost him the presidency. The very same people who eviscerated him for it are now saying, hey, cut President Bush some slack—he wasn’t lying about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions, only exaggerating . This flap won’t hurt Bush in 2004, except to undermine his credibility on other issues.

<snip>

Yes, the president acknowledges that the economic downturn might also have contributed something to the eye-popping $455 billion budget deficit announced last week, the largest ever. But God forbid he admits that his huge tax cuts are in any way relevant. That would risk saying something inconvenient and true. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that Bush’s tax cuts have cost the Treasury nearly three times as much as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, reconstruction after September 11 and homeland-security measures combined. Tax cuts= 9/11 + war x 3. And the numbers get much worse in the years ahead as baby boomers retire. In other words, even if the tax cuts help stimulate a modest recovery, we have dug ourselves a deep hole.

<snip>

Explaining all this politically is a “bank shot,” to use a billiards term. It requires trusting the voters with complexity. Will they see that their new $400 child credits are chump change compared with all the new fee hikes and service cuts? Will they understand that they’re paying more in state and local taxes so that a guy with a Jaguar putting up a McMansion down the block can pay less in federal taxes? Will they connect those 30 kids cramming their child’s classroom to decisions in faraway Washington?

It’s hard to tell, but the Democrats better try to develop that connective tissue. The reason I have not yet written off John Edwards is that he is quietly devoting his campaign to this theme. In New Hampshire last week, he raised Bush’s unfunded mandates in education: “The result is that your property taxes have to be raised, and that’s a huge mistake.”

emphasis added by VolcanoJen

[opihimoimoi]

1. Translated::: LET THEM EAT SHIT///// The rich Pubs got theirs baby

and yours?? forget you if you cannot keep up with the rest of the JAG Crowd at the Country Club.

The Peterism the Pubs promote is scandleous to say the least. The Pub psyOps has fooled America with Jingoism, nationalism, and patriotism,,, all neatly packaged and rolled into one easily digested form, greed and selfishness.

[papau]

2. Edwards tying the economic case together does keep him in the race

The media is having a hard time being critical of Bush - so they are not.

The broadcast networks have refused to air the voting machine discovery, and even C-Span today refused to read the NYTimes print story!

And today on TODAY Bremner was quite good - those not of a DU mindset would lap it up - and I think did lap it up - as he change the subject from Bush lies to "How is it going" and then he used excellent language to calm things down.

I suspect Clinton is correct - we need to hit the Bush lied very hard - but Iraq war - at this point - is a how is it going story, and not a how evil is the war story - at least politically for 04.

[berry]

4. I don't think they can be separated, ultimately. How-the-war-is-going

will make people look back on how we got into it, unless it goes well. And, plausible as Bremmer sounds, I don't think things will go well. They haven't even thought out this problem of lack of Iraqi cooperation. They say it's from fear of Saddam's forces coming back, so eliminate that fear and voila, all will be well. I don't think so. There are names in every language for people who cooperate with foreign aggressors/invaders--collaborator, quisling, Benedict Arnold, etc. Maybe, if the US had unimpeachable motives and credibility, this occupation would have a chance of going smoothly. I think maybe the Dalai Lama could pull it off. But Bush*? I hope I'm wrong, but they are appearing too stupid, too eager to tell us how well it's all going, and too corrupt for it to be likely.

As you say, Bremmer IS smooth and convincing. But I think he's lying, and so all the smoothness in the world won't cover that forever--especially with US troops dying. All they're gaining is a little time (and they won't use the time to reconsider their goals and methods, so it will be wasted time). Granted, this is just my opinion...

[berry]

3. Actually, it's Jonathan Alter (not to be confused with Eric Alterman of

MSNBC blog and The Nation fame). But I'm so glad you posted this. I read it in the magazine and meant to find it to send around to people. My favorite paragraph was the last one, and especially the last sentence:

<< President Bush is a regular guy who doesn’t care a whole lot about regular people. The first is a political asset; voters like his guyness. The second is his greatest vulnerability, and he offers more evidence for it almost every day. Remember how he promised last winter to get rid of a loophole that allows U.S. companies with homeland-security contracts to unpatriotically incorporate in Bermuda to avoid taxes? The loophole’s still there. Remember how he promised to expand national-service opportunities for patriotic young Americans by 50 percent? Last week—despite bipartisan action in the Senate—he still hadn’t lifted a finger in the House for a measly $100 million to keep AmeriCorps from being slashed by 40 percent, leaving kids untutored and after-school programs facing closure. Who is he for first ? The question is not just if the president tells the truth but if the truth—finally—will be told about him.>>

Alter is hitting hard on the LIES. And it's not just about Niger uranium that credibility is a problem for Bush*. With all the saturation of the news with Uday-Qusay to distract the masses, I'd forgotten: both Time and Newsweek have come out recently with really damning stuff. This is mainstream and national (international, really)--and I think there is more ammunition yet to be fired. Isakoff was on with Wolf a while ago today talking about the 9-11 report. There's more to come, IMHO (I hope, I hope).

[SnohoDem]

5. Loved these lines...

"Who is he for first? The question is not just if the president tells the truth but if the truth—finally—will be told about him."