The House of Representatives Democratic Caucus released the below summary table to the press. This economic summary on the major economic indicators of the last 7 years deserves reposting. That said, the title should read Corporate lobbyists policy and legislation, the real Economic performance. One must note that Democratic leadership is pushing for more bad trade deals, more guest worker Visas and enabling more offshore outsourcing as well. If you notice in the Presidential campaigns, a dramatic and much needed strategic change in trade, fiscal and labor policy is not discussed. One might get the token "labor and environmental standards" sound bytes without nary a question on the reality those cannot be enforced in other nations. Both administrations in the last 15 years had bubble economies, the dot con and now the housing bubble. Now the drum beats for further ripping of social safety nets in the United States (with a Karl Rove twist to give a negative connotation, entitlements) while the DoD budget is still sacrosanct, never to be mentioned.
Paul Farrell reports bubble economies. We need trade policy which strategically incentives exports, finished goods, not glorified global labor arbitrage agreements. We need fiscal policy and regulation that does not enable out of control economic bubbles.
From The Next bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash, Eric Janszen predicts:
There will and must be many more such booms, for without them the United States can no longer function. The bubble cycle has replaced the business cycle
What is the definition of insanity from a famous self help group? Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
THE LEGACY OF GEORGE W. BUSH’S PRESIDENCY
The Country He Inherited, The Country He Leaves Behind
|
THE ECONOMY |
JANUARY 20, 2001 |
TODAY UNDER BUSH |
|
REAL GDP GROWTH1 |
4.09% Over Prior 8 Years |
2.65% Over Prior 7 Years |
|
NATIONAL DEBT2 |
$5.7 Trillion |
$9.2 Trillion |
|
BUDGET DEFICIT/SURPLUS3 |
$431 Billion Surplus over the Previous Three Budget Years |
$734 Billion Deficit over the Previous Three Budget Years |
|
NEW PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS CREATED4 |
1.76 Million Jobs Per Year Over Previous 8 Years |
369,000 Jobs Per Year Over Previous 7 Years |
|
AMERICANS IN POVERTY 5 |
31.6 Million |
36.5 Million |
|
QUALITY OF LIFE |
JANUARY 20, 2001 |
TODAY UNDER BUSH |
|
AMERICANS UNINSURED & CHANGE IN UNINSURED LEVEL6 |
38 Million Uninsured 4.5 Million Less in 2 Years |
47 Million Uninsured 8.5 Million More in 6 Years |
|
ANNUAL TOTAL PREMIUM COST7 |
$6,230 for Family Premium |
$12,106 for Family Premium |
|
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME & CHANGE IN MEDIAN INCOME8 |
$49,163 $6,000 Increase in 8 Years |
$48,023 $1,100 Decrease in 6 Years |
|
PRICE OF GAS9 |
$1.39/Gallon |
$3.07/Gallon |
|
COST OF COLLEGE10 |
$3,164 per year |
$5,192 per year |
|
PERSONAL SAVINGS RATE11 |
+2.3% |
-0.5% |
|
CONSUMER CREDIT DEBT12 |
$7.65 Trillion |
$12.8 Trillion |
|
UNITED STATES & THE WORLD |
JANUARY 20, 2001 |
TODAY UNDER BUSH |
|
|
$380 Billion |
$759 Billion |
|
STRENGTH OF U.S. DOLLAR14 |
1.07 Euros per Dollar |
0.68 Euros Per Dollar |
|
COMBAT READINESS15 |
All Active Duty Army Divisions Were Rated At The Highest Readiness Levels |
Not A Single Active Duty Or Reserve Brigade In The |
|
FOREIGN OIL DEPENDENCY16 |
52.75% of U.S. Liquid Fuel Consumption is Imported |
60.38% of U.S. Liquid Fuel Consumption is Imported |
|
VIEW OF PEW POLL OF TEN NATIONS |
58.3% Viewed |
39.2% Viewed |
|
|
83% Favorable |
56% Favorable |
|
|
75% Favorable |
30% Favorable |
|
|
52% Favorable |
12% Favorable |
|
|
78% Favorable |
37% Favorable |
1 Bureau of Economic Analysis
2 Department of Treasury
3 Congressional Budget Office
4 Bureau of Labor Statistics
5
6
7 Kaiser Study of Employer Health Care Benefits
8
9 Energy Information Administration
10 Higher Education Coordinating Board of
11 Bureau of Economic Analysis
12 Insurance Information Institute
13
14 OANDA.com: The Currency Website
15 Speaker of the House Fact Sheet, 11/29/07
16 Energy Information Administration
17 Testimony of Andrew Kohut; President,
Comments
This does not count "borrowed" Social Security money?
Am I correct in assuming that this does not count around $600 billion taken from the Social Security surplus? I would like to hear more about how that money is counted or not.
"$734 Billion Deficit over the
Previous Three Budget Years"
Seven years of surplus used to pay for misguided tax cuts and war without end. Doesn't that add yp to about 1.5 trillion more dollars that we paid in to the retirement system. Money that made this system solvent until 2040. Now bush the liar and thief is saying it is broke in 2017. If he was in the private sector jail time would be appropriate I think.
Please if you could give some figures on the "borrowed" surplus it would be appreciated.
good research blog post
Honestly I don't know but it sounds like something you might be able to research out and if you posted your results, I certainly would be grateful. This "fact sheet" I left all of the references on and it's from the Democratic party. Now that you raise that up, I want to know too.
Another discussion item that bothers me that I don't have any answers to is we are constantly hearing how "entitlements" cannot be funded and are 70%, 80% of the total budget but I question that because last I saw the DoD is the biggest part of the overall budget.