http://www.newsforreal.com/We demand of those we put in the White House only two things:
1) Keep the nation safe
and
2) Don't screw up the economy.
I charge the Bush administration with dereliction of duty in both regards. And, if it please the court, would like to submit evidence to support this charge.
Count 1
US Economy:
Your Honors, when George W. Bush, et al, took office in 2000, the economy was indeed heading south. Bush blamed his predecessor, Bill Clinton. “Clinton left us with a recession,” he whined.
But, I submit, how do the defendants explain the billions of dollars in budget surpluses Clinton left behind? And how do they explain that Clinton had not only balanced the budget but begun to shrink the national debt by paying it off at an astronomical rate?
“Oh that was just the effect of the dot.com boom,” the Bushies retorted. “It was just a phony bubble, not a real, sustainable economic accomplishment.”
Your Honors, I agree, the dot.com bubble was indeed unsustainable. All bubbles are. But at least Clinton had the sense to make hay while the sun was shinning, to wit, he taxed that hot money, assuring the government got it's share.
Now, let's look at Bush's bubble – the housing bubble.
Skyrocketing housing prices and easy credit fueled much of the economic activity underlying the Bush economy. But instead of making sure the government got a share of the housing bubble booty, Bush slashed taxes by $1.6 trillion.
So here's the difference: Clinton raised taxes on the wealth during the dot.com bubble and created surpluses,
Bush slashed taxes on the wealthy during the real estate bubble and created deficits.
Clinton paid down the national debt with some of that hot bubble money.
Bush let the rich keep most of it and deficits and the national debt has exploded.
But wait, there's more.
Because Bush failed to assure the government got enough in taxes to fund it's obligations, existing and anticipated, he issued IOUs by selling bonds to other countries. But just as anyone who has charged their VISA over its limit, the end has arrived.
MUCH MORE WORTH A READ!