Krugman - the corrupt Bush family - NY Review of Books

[fiorello]

I would not have thought it possible to lower my opinion of GW Bush still further, but this did it. Excerpts:

In any previous administration—at least any administration of the past seventy years—this sort of incestuous relationship among foreign governments, private businesses, and the personal fortunes of people in or close to the US government would have been considered unusual and prima facie scandalous. What we learn from Kevin Phillips's new book, however, is that this kind of intertwining of public policy and personal self-interest has been standard operating procedure not just for George W. Bush, but for his entire family.

(Phillips') American Dynasty and Ron Suskind's new book, The Price of Loyalty, can be seen as a second wave of Bush critiques. The first wave, exemplified by Molly Ivins's Bushwhacked, Joe Conason's Big Lies, and David Corn's The Lies of George W. Bush, described what Bush has been doing these past three years. But they offered only scant explanations of how and why the Bush administration does what it does.
....
The new books go deeper into the agonizing question of what is happening to our country. Ron Suskind—an investigative reporter with a knack for getting insiders to tell what they know —offers a detailed, deeply disturbing look at how the Bush administration makes policy. Kevin Phillips—a former Republican strategist who feels that his party has betrayed the principles he supported—investigates the history of the Bush clan, and argues that this family history provides the key to understanding George W.'s motives and even his technique of governing.
....
George W. Bush, as the scion of this dynasty, is the first president to, in effect, inherit the office. For four generations the Bush family has thrived by exploiting its political connections, especially in the secret world of intelligence, to get ahead in business, as well as exploiting its business connections, especially in finance and oil, to get ahead in politics. And whatever the public and the pundits may have thought about the 2000 election, for the Bushes it was a royal restoration.
....
Still, the fundamental question isn't what motivates the Bush family and its retainers. It's how such a self-interested clan, with little by way of a redeeming record of public service, could have come to such a position of power.

What emerges from Suskind's book is a picture of an entirely cynical administration—much more cynical than Nixon's, in which the corruption was localized, and large parts of the policy process continued to be run by serious, even idealistic people.

For the full article:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16911

[berry]

1. Thanks for posting this

It is a clear summary of what's wrong. Very useful. I never miss a NYT Krugman column, but I might have missed this.

[teryang]

2. Again getting to the heart of the issue

...is a problem.

<As someone once pointed out, it's a lot easier to document links between the bin Laden family and the Bushes than it is to document links between the bin Ladens and Saddam Hussein.>

Also as pointed out to me by an astute observer, the BFEE is the handmaiden to the immensely wealthy and powerful families who are the center of power in America today. The Bushes and Cheney are poverty stricken by comparison. For what reason, have the most elite families chosen to go with this mode of completely corrupt government?

The model for this government is most accurately depicted in The Discourses rather than in the Prince. The creation of the foreign enemy to rally the masses to what is an inequitable tyranny is both the core deception and manipulation of this regime. Not that the machinations in the Prince don't find a place in the Rove policy book. The use of religion expression to dupe the masses, for example.

Ultimately, it is the absolute unchecked power of this group that defines its corruption and its appeal. In the eighties, they stole hundreds of billions of dollars from the nations savings and loans devastating middle class tax payers with a huge additional tax burden on top of an already outrageous national debt. They trafficked in dope destroying a generation, raised secret armies and carried out illegal wars, and tortured and blew up their perceived enemies abroad.

This group of felons and murderers by and large went unpunished and now they are in power again. There basically isn't a Bush who hasn't stolen or defrauded millions from someone. Who empowered this group? Who in their right mind would promote them or push them back into power? The real aristocracy who appreciate the favorable legislation, kickbacks and distraction from the corporate looting that goes on daily in America, the land of lost opportunity. Apparently, they feel they have a use for lying, stealing, murdering carpet baggers looting the country. They aren't leading the country, they are just looting it. The corporate ultra rich respect that, they must give the devil his due.

[Merlin]

3. Thanks, sanfo. It's an excellent piece. n/t

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