http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-108-1-351Recent Economic Data Reflect Continued Failure of President Bush's Economic Policies
October 2, 2003
The economy entered recession in March of 2001, two months after President Bush was inaugurated. During the spring of 2001, the Administration claimed that its economic plan was the answer to our economic troubles and the President's tax cut proposals would strengthen a struggling economy. President Bush's economic plan was enacted soon after the recession began and now has been in place for more than two years. Unfortunately, GOP predictions that it would turn the economy around proved false - the President's economic plan has failed. Two years later, although the recession has officially ended, our economy remains sluggish and continues to lose jobs.
The recession began on President Bush's watch and a Republican Congress almost immediately enacted his plan to fix it. That plan has been an economic and budget failure. But the Administration's only response has been to push for more of the same failed policies.
http://www.jobwatch.org/The state of jobs and wages
Lee Price and Jared Bernstein
Economy up, wages down
The year 2005 was a solid economic year by some indicators, as the economy expanded for the fourth consecutive year. Real hourly wages, however, fell for most workers.
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-108-1-408President Bush's Record of Economic and Budget Failure
November 24, 2003
The economy entered recession in March of 2001, two months after President Bush was inaugurated. During the spring of 2001, the Administration claimed that its economic plan was the answer to our economic troubles and the President's tax cut proposals would strengthen a struggling economy. President Bush's economic plan was enacted soon after the recession began and now has been in place for two and a half years.
The Administration and congressional Republicans predicted that the President's tax cut plan would turn the economy around. Those predictions proved false - instead of a quick economic turnaround, the country still has fewer jobs than it did when the recession began. At 31 months, this matches the recession of the early 1990s, under the first President Bush, as the longest period of job losses since the Great Depression.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a82eq0PQMhZI&refer=home In the book, scheduled for release today, Greenspan, 81, wrote that he was dismayed to find soon after Bush took office in January 2001 that politics, not thoughtful policy making, drove the new president's economic agenda.
`Open-Handed Spending'
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20060126Sluggish private job growth indicates failure of tax cuts
Changes in tax law since 2001 reduced federal government revenue by $870 billion through September 2005. Supporters of these tax cuts have touted them as great contributors to growth in jobs and pay. But, in reality, private-sector job growth since 2001 has been disappointing, and a closer look at the new jobs created shows that federal spending—not tax cuts—are responsible for the jobs created in the past five years.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/02/b1425171.htmlBush's Tax and Budget Policies Fail to Promote Economic Growth
By John S. Irons
February 16, 2006
Bush’s Tax and Budget Policies Fail to Promote Economic Growth
Joint report from the Center for American Progress and the Economic Policy Institute.
The economic evidence is clear: the president’s tax changes have not worked to improve the health of the economy. Business investment, employment, and wages have all underperformed past recoveries. Furthermore, the choices made in the president’s budget put at risk the future health of the nation by running massive deficits and by cutting back on important national investments in education, science, and energy.
Bush's tax cuts were ``unmatched by decreased spending, and, in the wake of September 11, still more open-handed spending,'' he wrote. ``Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences.''
The federal budget went from a $128 billion surplus in 2001, when Bush took office, to a record deficit of $413 billion in fiscal 2004. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit will narrow to $158 billion this year.
The administration took issue with Greenspan's characterizations. ``We're not going to apologize for increased spending to protect our national security,'' administration spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Republicans in Congress were no better, according to Greenspan, as they ``seemed readily inclined to loosen the federal purse strings any time it might help add a few more seats to the Republican majority,'' he wrote.
http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2004/10/05/nobel-laureate-stiglitz-discusses-recent-economic-failures/Nobel Laureate Stiglitz discusses recent economic failures
...Although Stiglitz largely stuck to verifiable facts, it was clear that he is disenchanted with the Bush economic plan. He expressed worry that America's recent budget deficits have been caused by undisciplined government spending (and tax cuts) and will have repercussions for future generations. The argument for the creation of deficits is that they stimulate the economy, but such stimulation has not occurred. Along with finding fault in our recent economic policy (or lack thereof), Stiglitz offered suggestions for the future such as increasing unemployment insurance and making the production of greenhouse gases a taxable action. This would create a focus on conservation and would also reduce demand for oil.
http://money.cnn.com/2002/08/08/news/economy/bush_forum/index.htmBush forum unlikely to change much
Economic forum will bolster president's image, assure investors -- but produce little policy.
August 12, 2002: 12:06 PM EDT
By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money Staff Writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - President Bush and 240 of his closest friends will gather Tuesday in Texas to discuss the economy, in an effort to demonstrate that Bush is paying attention to it -- though the talks aren't likely to produce much new policy.
Bush forum unlikely to change much
Economic forum will bolster president's image, assure investors -- but produce little policy.
August 12, 2002: 12:06 PM EDT
By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money Staff Writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - President Bush and 240 of his closest friends will gather Tuesday in Texas to discuss the economy, in an effort to demonstrate that Bush is paying attention to it -- though the talks aren't likely to produce much new policy.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2004/12/12_400.htmlNeoconomy
News: The Bush economic policy amounts to a huge gamble based on a few radical economic assumptions. If these assumptions aren't vindicated, we're in big trouble.
Daniel Altman
Interviewed By Bradford Plumer
December 27, 2004
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002006779_williams17.htmlBush's tax-cut policies put economy in the tank
By Walter Williams
http://www.now.org/press/08-04/08-27.htmlBush's Economic Failure Weakens Middle Class, Deepens Poverty and Harms Women and Families
August 27, 2004
"Yesterday's Census Bureau report—that for the third year in a row poverty in the U.S. has deepened—is a strong indicator of that we have a larger problem: we have a phantom economic recovery," said NOW Vice President for Action Olga Vives. "Despite the Bush administration's rhetoric that an economic recovery is underway, there are abundant signs that for most working families their situations are no better—and in many cases are far worse."
http://www.cbpp.org/4-14-04tax-sum.htmTAX RETURNS
A Comprehensive Assessment of the
Bush Administration’s Record on Cutting Taxes
...The early returns on the effects of the tax cuts have not been good.
The Bush tax cuts have contributed to revenues dropping in 2004 to the lowest level as a share of the economy since 1950, and have been a major contributor to the dramatic shift from large projected budget surpluses to projected deficits as far as the eye can see.
The tax cuts have conferred the most benefits, by far, on the highest-income households — those least in need of additional resources — at a time when income already is exceptionally concentrated at the top of the income spectrum.
The design of these tax cuts was ill-conceived, resulting in significantly less economic stimulus than could have been accomplished for the same budgetary cost. In part because the tax cuts were not as effective as alternative measures would have been, job creation during this recovery has been notably worse than in any other recovery since the end of World War II.
If the Administration’s latest tax proposals — which would make permanent most of the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 and establish new tax cuts on top of that — are enacted, the long-term results are likely to be even more troubling. Over the next 10 years, total tax-cut costs will equal $3.9 trillion, reaching nearly $600 billion or 3.3 percent of the economy in 2014 alone. (These calculations include the effects of the higher interest payments caused by the tax cuts.) The resulting higher deficits will slow future economic growth, saddle future generations with sizable interest payments, and leave the nation ill-prepared not only for the retirement of baby boomers but also for responding to potential future crises — from security matters to natural or environmental disasters — the particulars of which are unknown today.
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20051026Economy pays price for Bush's tax cuts
Since 2001, changes in tax law have cost the federal government $929 billion, including $860 billion in direct cost and $69 billion in interest.1 Proponents of these tax cuts promised stronger economic gains than were typical of the past, but that did not occur.2 Unfortunately for most Americans, almost every broad measure of economic activity—GDP, jobs, personal income, and business investment, among others—has fared worse over the last four years than in past business cycles.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/17/news/economy/bush_agenda/index.htmBush economic agenda may be in trouble
Social Security overhaul is stalled, tax fix has been delayed. Will the reforms happen -- ever?
June 17, 2005: 2:25 PM EDT
By Krysten Crawford, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Two months isn't a long time, but President Bush's decision to delay tax reform until the fall, at the earliest, may be a sign that his second-term economic agenda is in trouble.
Bush used the political capital from his re-election to push for two major domestic reforms: overhauling Social Security, and the federal income tax code. But Social Security reform has stalled in the face of mounting opposition to a Bush proposal to allow workers to divert part of their payroll taxes into individual accounts.
Then on Thursday Bush pushed back the deadline for a bipartisan panel of tax experts to issue its recommendation for simplifying the tax code.
Meanwhile, the White House is also caught up in efforts to get Congress to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a potentially crucial trade deal, and to pass the president's controversial 2006 budget.
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=sr-109-2-1The Bush Economy in 2005: Middle-Class Squeezed, Future Prospects Undermined
January 10, 2006
At the start of a new year, Americans take stock of the past year and look forward to the year ahead. For too many Americans, 2005 was another year of stagnant wages, higher costs, and the continued failure by the Bush White House and the Republican Congress to address the priorities of working Americans. While there have been some positive economic developments, middle-class families’ incomes have failed to keep up with rising prices for everything from health care to energy to college tuition. Washington Republicans have not only failed to address the real needs of the middle class, their policies have made matters worse. The Republican focus on large tax breaks for special interests and the wealthy, and the resulting record deficits, have undermined the nation’s future economic security. Middle-class families continue to pay the price for special interest giveaways and the Republican culture of corruption in Washington.
http://colgene.joeuser.com/index.asp?c=1&aid=73105 Failure of Bush Economic Policy documented by Labor Dept.
Data shows 80% of Americans with less weekly income in past year!
By COL Gene
Posted Sunday, April 24, 2005 on Bush Truth
Discussion: Politics
This week the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the average weekly wage data for blue-collar and non-supervisory white-collar workers. This group constitutes 80% of the American workforce and over the past 12 months, from March 2004 until March 2005, the average weekly wage for this 80% has dropped.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/crisis/tradedeficit/2005/03highprice.htmHigh Price of the Cheap Dollar
In 2000 the Bush administration inherited a $240bn budget surplus. By 2001 the recession, which reduced tax receipts, plus massive tax cuts voted by a Republican Congress (on the grounds that surpluses were now a permanent part of the economic landscape), and a sharp increase in defence and homeland security expenditure turned a substantial surplus into a huge deficit ($412bn in 2004, 3.6% of GNP). The trade deficit steadily increased over three years, reaching a record $618bn (5.3% of GNP) in 2004 - a 24.4% increase over 2003.
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3067/1/371Economy and Jobs Watch: Continuing Bad News for Americans
Last month's economic news has been far from encouraging for most Americans, with a continuation of an uneven and unpredictable job market, rising consumer prices, and declining earnings. Yet, despite the grim realities faced by most working families in the U.S. the recovery period has been very good to business, with corporate profits up over 15 percent since it began. A survey of indicators shows the Bush administration's economic policies, specifically how they value profits for corporations over the bottom line for average Americans, have further eroded the country's economic health.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_11/b3924034_mz007.htmBush's Worrisome Weak-Dollar Policy
Budget and trade deficits invite a dollar crash, followed by recession
The gap between the Bush Administration's expansive geopolitical goals and its relinquishing of financial stewardship is becoming unsustainable. On Feb. 22 one line in a report by the Bank of Korea referring to diversification of its currency holdings away from the dollar created a brief panic in financial markets. While the markets have recovered -- for now -- it was a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of the dollar and the precarious position of the U.S.
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/exportingamerica/upload/bushrecord_jobsoverseas.pdfThe Bush Record on
Shipping Jobs Overseas
Introduction
Since George W. Bush took office in January 2001,
America’s workers have lost 2.7 million manufacturing
jobs and nearly 900,000 professional service
and information sector jobs. A significant number
of these lost jobs have gone overseas.
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