George, old buddy, you’re too good to me. Week after week, you’ve continually given me a topic for my articles due to your numerous stupid actions and sayings. Whether it was about your war on terrorism, international relations or the stammer problem, there was always something to write about.
Since your administration is desperately trying hard to get Americans to think of something else besides the reconstruction in Iraq, it was clear that you would finally focus on the domestic agenda.
I have to commend President Bush for getting his tax cut passed; it’s really an extraordinary feat considering how detrimental his “little bitty” tax cut is for the country and that almost no economist supports the plan.
Although Bush and his persistent nature have ruined the economy for a considerable amount of time, at least one good thing will come out of it: Bush will continue to prove himself a fool. His blunders with the second tax cut have been exceptional, and it makes me wonder how any rational person takes him seriously.
I’m convinced Bush is trying to imitate Bill Clinton by not using his speechwriters and talking on the fly. This would explain some of his illogical comments – I would be stunned if his speechwriters actually wrote some of his explanations.
Bush has blamed the Sept. 11 attacks for the continuation of the recession. However, economic reports show the economy started growing weeks after the terrorist strike. Bush has also blamed the war for the poor economic environment. It’s true we have increased our deficit because of our huge military budget, but wars increase spending and bring a country out of a recession, not keep it in one.
Just about every legitimate economist outside the President’s circle has agreed that the recent tax plan makes no sense at all and is “voodoo economics” in the purest form. However, Bush doesn’t care what economic gurus think. Why should he care? He wanted something that would make him look good to ignorant Americans.
Bush has signaled in an era where we will live with the largest deficits in U.S. history. Obviously the war on terrorism accounts for a portion of this deficit. If Bush wants to spend more money to fight terrorists, fine by me. However, this means that he should be more fiscally responsible. Any student who has taken a basic economics class can tell you that a large deficit will only cause interest rates to rise. Of course, high interest rates will hinder any recovery.
Even Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has repeatedly said that a tax cut without reductions in federal spending would send our deficit into a tailspin. Bush needs to wake up and realize he not only has a duty to the American people to be fiscally responsible, but to the rest of world. Our financial situation is very important in the global economy and if we start to waver, it could have a disastrous global impact.
Let’s be naïve and pretend that Bush honestly wants to jump-start the economy, and his tax cut wasn’t just a campaign ploy. There are so many different ways to help the economy without spending hoards of cash. Bush could stop Republican House leaders from removing a clause that prevents the government from giving off-shore companies government deals.
In the last year, the government gavee more than $1 billion worth of business to off-shore companies. A majority of these companies are based in the United States but incorporate themselves in countries with cheaper tax rates. These companies swindle the government out of billions of dollars, but Bush hasn’t done anything.
Fanatic right wing nuts are trying hard to convince the public that the Democrats were against the tax cut because they don’t care enough about the public. In fact, next year when it’s shown this tax cut was a failure, it’s likely Republicans will blame the Democrats for not supporting a larger tax cut. In reality, critics of the cut saved the U.S. economy from even more damage.
It seems like Bush wants to outdo Ronald Reagan in every aspect when it comes to ruining the health of our economy. Bush prioritized his tax cut over saving Social Security or helping out Medicare. It’s tragic that the president doesn’t seem to care about the long-term effects of his actions. Although his first tax cut was a failure, his ignorance and inability to learn from mistakes didn’t stop him from wounding a fragile economy.
Vijay Ramanavarapu is a sophomore in business. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
