The Seven Deadly Deficits
What the Bush years really cost us, and how President Obama can get the economy back on track.
When president George W. Bush assumed office, most of those disgruntled about the stolen election contented themselves with this thought: Given our system of checks and balances, given the gridlock in Washington, how much damage could be done? Now we know: far more than the worst pessimists could have imagined. From the war in Iraq to the collapse of the credit markets, the financial losses are difficult to fathom. And behind those losses lie even greater missed opportunities.
Put it all together—the money squandered on the war, the money wasted on a housing pyramid scheme that impoverished the nation and enriched a few, and the money lost because of the recession—and the gap between what we could have produced and what we did produce will easily exceed $1.5 trillion. Think what that kind of money could have done to provide health care for the uninsured, to improve our education system, to build green technology...The list is endless.
And the true cost of our missed opportunities is likely even greater. Consider the war: First there are the funds directly allocated to it by the government (an estimated $12 billion a month even according to the misleading accounting of the Bush administration). Much larger, as the Kennedy School's Linda Bilmes and I documented in The Three Trillion Dollar War, are the indirect costs: the salaries not earned by those wounded or killed, the economic activity displaced (from, say, spending on American hospitals to spending on Nepalese security contractors). Such social and macroeconomic factors may account for more than $2 trillion of the war's overall cost.
There is a silver lining in these clouds. If we can pull ourselves out of the malaise, if we can think more carefully and less ideologically about how to make our economy stronger and our society better, perhaps we can make progress in addressing some of our long-festering problems. As a road map for where to begin, consider the seven major shortfalls the Bush administration leaves behind.
the values deficit: One of the strengths of America is its diversity, and there has always been a diversity of views even on our fundamental principles—innocent until proven guilty, the writ of habeas corpus, the rule of law. But (so we thought) those who disagreed with these principles were a fringe, easily ignored. We have now learned that the fringe is not so small and includes among its numbers the president and leaders of his party. And this division of values could not have come at a worse time. The realization that we may have less in common than we thought may make it difficult to solve the problems we must address together.
the climate deficit: With the help of corporate accomplices such as ExxonMobil, Bush tried to persuade Americans that global warming was fiction. It is not, and even the administration has finally admitted as much. But for eight years we did nothing, and America pollutes more than ever—a delay that will cost us dearly.
the equality deficit: In the past, even if those at the bottom saw little or any of the gains from economic expansion, life was viewed as a fair lottery. Up-by-your-bootstraps stories are part of America's sense of identity. But today, the promise of the Horatio Alger legend rings false. Upward mobility is becoming increasingly difficult. Growing divisions in income and wealth are reinforced by a tax code that rewards those who have lucked out in the globalization sweepstakes. As that realization sinks in, it will be even harder to find common cause.
the accountability deficit: The moguls of American finance justified their astronomical compensation by their ingenuity and the great benefits it supposedly bestowed upon the country. Now the emperors have been shown to have no clothes. They did not know how to manage risk; rather, their actions exacerbated risk. Capital was not well allocated; hundreds of billions were misspent, a level of inefficiency much greater than what people typically attribute to government. Yet the moguls walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars while taxpayers, workers, and the economy as a whole were stuck with the tab.
the trade deficit: Over the past decade, the nation has been borrowing massively abroad—some $739 billion in 2007 alone. And it is easy to see why: With the government running up huge debts, and with Americans' household savings close to zero, there was nowhere else to turn. America has been living on borrowed money and borrowed time, and the day of reckoning had to come. We used to lecture others about what good economic policy meant. Now they are laughing behind our backs, and even occasionally lecturing us. We've had to go begging to the sovereign wealth funds—the excess wealth that other governments have accumulated and can invest outside their borders. We recoil at the idea of our government running a bank. But we seem to accept the notion of foreign governments owning a major share in some of our iconic American banks, institutions that are critical to our economy. (So critical, in fact, we have given the Treasury a blank check to bail them out.)
the budget deficit: Thanks in part to runaway military spending, in just eight short years our national debt has increased by two-thirds, from $5.7 trillion to more than $9.5 trillion. But as dramatic as they are, these numbers vastly understate the problem. Many of the Iraq War bills, including the cost of benefits for injured veterans, have not yet come due, and they could amount to more than $600 billion. The federal deficit this year is likely to add up to another half-trillion to the nation's debt. And all this is before the Social Security and Medicare bills for the baby boomers.
the investment deficit: Government accounting is different from that in the private sector. A firm that borrows to make a good investment will see its balance sheet improved, and its leaders will be applauded. But in the public sector there is no balance sheet, and as a result, too many of us focus too narrowly on the deficit. In reality, wise government investments yield returns far higher than the interest rate the government pays on its debt; in the long run, investments help reduce deficits. To cut them is penny-wise but pound-foolish, as New Orleans' levees and Minneapolis' bridge attest.
There are two hypotheses (besides simple incompetence) about why Republicans paid so little attention to the growing budget shortfall. The first is that they simply trusted in supply-side economics—believing that, somehow, the economy would grow so much better with lower taxes that deficits would be ephemeral. That notion has been shown for the fantasy that it is.
The second theory is that by letting the budget deficit balloon, Bush and his allies hoped to force a reduction in the size of government. Indeed, the fiscal situation has grown so scary that many responsible Democrats are now playing into the hands of these "starve the beast" Republicans and calling for drastic cuts in expenditures. But with Democrats worrying about appearing soft on security—and therefore treating the military budget as sacrosanct—it is hard to cut spending without slashing the investments most important to solving the crisis.
The most urgent task for the new president will be to restore the economy's strength. Given our national debt, it is especially important to do that in ways that maximize the bang for our buck and help address at least one of the major deficits. Tax cuts work—if they work—by increasing consumption, but America's problem is that we have been on a consumption binge; prolonging that binge just postpones dealing with the deeper problems. States and localities are about to face real budget constraints as tax revenues plummet, and unless something is done, they will be forced to cut spending, deepening the downturn. At the federal level, we need to spend more, not less. The economy must be reconfigured to reflect new realities—including global warming. We will need fast trains and more efficient power plants. Such expenditures stimulate the economy while providing the foundation for long-term sustainable growth.
There are only two ways to pay for these investments: raise taxes or cut other expenditures. Upper-income Americans can well afford to pay higher taxes, and many countries in Europe have succeeded because of, not despite, high tax rates—rates that have enabled them to invest and compete in a globalized world.
But needless to say, there will be resistance to tax increases, and so the focus will shift to cuts. But our social expenditures are already so bare-bones that there is little to spare. Indeed, we stand out among the advanced industrial countries in the inadequacy of social protection. The problems with America's health care system, for example, are well recognized; fixing them means not only greater social justice, but greater economic efficiency. (Healthier workers are more productive workers.) That leaves but one major area in which to cut—defense. We account for half of all the world's military expenditures, with 42 percent of tax dollars spent directly or indirectly on defense. Even nonwar military expenditures have soared. With so much money spent on weapons that don't work against enemies that don't exist, there is ample room to increase security at the same time that we cut defense expenditures.
The good news about today's bad economic news is that we're being forced to curb our material consumption. If we do it in the right way, it will help limit global warming and may even force the realization that a truly high standard of living might entail more leisure, not just more material goods.
The laws of nature and the laws of economics are unforgiving. We can abuse our environment, but only for a while. We can spend beyond our means, but only for a while. We can free ride on the investments made in the past, but only for a while. Even the richest country in the world ignores the laws of nature and the laws of economics at its peril.
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You suck, you left wing loony tunes freakin lug nut
You forgot THE LEISURE DEFICIT.
If global warming was a reality - why aren't the sea levels rising ?
Most world economies have gone from Manufacturing, Producing and Innovation to pushing money and paper around on Wallstreet and that in my opinion is why we are in the mess we are in today..
There are two exceptions to this rule in China and India who have continued to manufacture and produce product which they sell to the world which has forgotten about Manufacturing and Production of products..The only production left in the USA is the manufacture of Military weapons..Could it be that the USA is afraid of what would happen if they lost this production and that is why they continue their wars in Iraq and Afganistan..
Wallstreet and other world markets did very well until greed and corruption showed them for what they are..Crooks..
It was then that it was noticed that Manufacturing and Production had moved to China and India where the big corporations in order to help their bottom line on wallsteet had shipped them..
Now China and India are sitting pretty while we have a recession..
You have some balls, Nr. Stiglitz (not to mention a major memory deficit). Of the $52 trillion "mortgage" facing our children and their children, at least $40 trillion can be charged to the accounts of FDR and LBJ (Social Security and Medicare). By comparison, Mr. Bush is a small time player. But you could never admit that could you Joe?
If there is global warming, man influenced or otherwise, why is it cooling since 1998, and going to be a brutal winter this year like last?
A movement should not be based on a lie. CO2 as a "greenhouse" gas is laughable, the physics just isn't there.
We should be looking to alternative energy solutions, conserve all things, etc. But let's get rid of fat algore and his lie, and get to the real issues.
The biggest loss during the recent administration has been the loss of the overwhelming spiritual superiority of the American people and the American government. The drop in the traditional American belief in integrity means that that great strength is no longer available to have us (Canadians are Americans too!) battle the countries that believe in the lie as the wisest route and action.
I hope that Obama will contribute to honesty and integrity and swing the tide in favor of honesty/truth versus the lie. That is one way to interpret his campaign and his win.
Hopefully that is the way and the hope of the future.
Brilliant. I can't understand how some folks are resistant to paying higher taxes and in the same breath say they're concerned about our not funding military spending. Of course this is not a new debate. As for domestic issues and not behaving recklessly with foreign policy, if the new President spends even a third of his time doing more work in the Oval Office to create rather than destroy, he'll be more effective than Bush. Just sayin'.
The Bush Train Wreck
Given enough warning, two trains headed at each other on the same track can avoid hitting. There comes a time however, that the collision is unavoidable; only those with the advantage of perspective can know it prior to this point. The rest of us find out too late, and some won't accept the cause. Is it true that over 25% of Americans think that Bush is doing a good job, and that this financial crisis was caused by Carter and Clinton? Will the difficult times last a decade? I must admit, I'm not optimistic. Too many Americans don't know or don't accept what happened, and are driven by divisive social issues.
"A man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest."
It is regrettable that the author should sully such a fine article with his partisan slant. There is really only ONE party in America today--the RULING Party. To be partisan today-- especially given the bipartisan betrayal the working class received in the form of the Bailout--is to be an ostrich. Wake up, Stiglitz; you write for Mother Jones: Smart, Fearless Journalism.
Obama just ran the most expensive campaign in world history. He betrayed his promise to abide by campaign finance reforms. He is almost entirely the product of political PR. Nothing should have been "above his paygrade" as a U.S. Senator, but the media loves him, so they have softballed him from Harvard till...when? Will he be as skillful in media manipulation as President as he has been as a candidate? Is there enough independent, "smart, fearless" journalism out there to prohibit Obama from spinning incompetence and mediocrity into brilliance and heroism, and accountability into blame-shifting?
The Orwellian view, to which I ascribe, is to view all Democrat and Republican politicians as one Big Brother. Orwell's dystopian nightmare is being (has been?) fulfilled. We have war without end, loss of freedoms, constant surveillance, thought control (e.g., "politically correct" or "un-American"), polical control via fear, an overly powerful executive branch, etc.
The wealth/power elites can easily weather financial panics, especially given that they can indemnify their losses with federal bailout funds. The current Panic & Bailout could even be thought of as a "shot accross the bow" of all upper class wannabees: "you will not defile our holy priesthood, and you WILL pay for our risky investments." The lower-upper class and the upper-middle class will pay for the bailout, while upper-upper class, or Ruling Class, is bailed out. They are forcibly exacting their tribute. Why? To show us that they CAN.
We mistakenly thought the Divine Right of Kings was an idea of the past, gone with the passage of absolute monarchs. Wrong. It was passed on to the nobility, feudal lords, plantation owners, captains of industry, robber barons, and high-tech multi-billionaires in the sacrosanct (and fallacious) American Dream "right" of unlimited individual accumulation of wealth. The Horatio Alger, "rags-to-riches" promises are pure ruling class control myths today. Personal property laws, when concerning vast, mind-boggling accumulations of wealth, are only accessories to the wealth inequality crime. Those laws have no greater unimpeachability than the Divine Right laws did to the downtrodden subjects of any tyrant.
We live in a socio-economic tyranny, a kleptocratic phobocracy. How can Obama, who had to fulfill years of preparation and approval from his ruling class masters, do anything but perform within the model created for his position?
PLEASE cut military spending !!!
What I can't understand is how can this President or any president break the law and the constituion and get away with it and someone ,hungry, steals a loaf of bread and ends up in jail.
Global warming hasn't hit the ice caps yet... most of the melt has been sea ice which doesn't increase sea level. The glacier ice which is disapearing will only raise sea level slightly wait until the greenland sheet disapears and the antarctic ice melt enters the ocean then Manhattan will no longer be an island.
After watching the Auto Bailout outcry and hearing the rationale of making the big "Three"competetive by cutting wages and benefits, I can only come to the conclusion that the Middle Class was enjoying to many of the benefits of the Upper Classes and had to be put in their place. Now we can't give up on NAFTA and Union Busting or adding tariffs to make car prices competetive so we'll just lower auto wages and benefits to that of the third world Nations and everything will turn out fine. No more sweatshops because every job is a sweatshop! You gotta love Republican Thinking!
Right on Tibercio! If we cut military spending, stop selling arms all over the world, and transfer those resources to green sustainable technologies, the world would be a far, far better place.
Mr. Anderson doesn't understand that Social Security is in massive surplus. He needs to do his homework.
Social Security is part of the general fund now, and there is no surplus now. Fortunately, SS was never privatized.
poetrylark - Sea levels are rising, and have been for some time; it's just that the rise has been gradual - so far. If the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melt, it won't continue to be gradual.
This column is so wrong in every way imaginable. It's no wonder our education system is a shambles, with teachers like this.
I am genuinely surprised this man has a nobel prize.
Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) is still alive and well thanks to the talented reporting and inciteful opinons written in Mother Jones.
Please continue to blame everthing on Bush. It is a efficient way to determine which people should not have children.
The fact that mother jones can still operate in the black is proof that capitalism in the U.S. is still alive and well contrary to the handwringing, chicken-little, whining in this publication.
Why doesn't Mr. Stiglitz mention Congress once; the only real decision-making body responsible for everything he blathers about? Is this deflection or
more media deception, you be the judge.
There is a free market in politics too. First we voted for Bush, and then we voted for Obama. We accept the consequences, good an bad. When we voted for bush we were worried about the security of our families. Now we're concerned about other issues real and imagined. When circumstances change we will vote for someone else. Get over it.
Joe, I agree with most of your criticisms, but to blame one person, Bush, is ridiculous. We do have lots of checks and balances and a long history that shows they work. We are just getting the government we deserve. People want more government than they are willing to pay for; they want more goods (and the wrong kind of goods) than they are willing to work for. They say they want to stop climate change, while driving around in their SUVs. They say they want more accountability, while their actions show that they want live beyond their means. You’ve got this all wrong. George Bush and the Republicans are a symptom not a cause.
The accountability deficit is true for everyone, not just the rich. What about all of the people --all classes--who lived above their means--but now want bailed out! What happened to taking responsibility for your own actions before blaming someone else.
He who is without sin, cast the first stone!!!!
Stiglitz is a fraud. Everything he has said here is nonsense. If it weren't for the intellectually dishonest leftists that infest the Nobel Prize Committee, turds like Stiglitz and Krugman wouldn't have a platform from which to launch their Marxist propaganda.
They are! It has been reported by scientists already AND the polar ice caps are melting at an accelerated speed. Wake up!
"the money wasted on a housing pyramid scheme that impoverished the nation and enriched a few"
Please explain. Democrats like Cliinton, Obama, Dodd, Frank are to blame for the housing bubble. Forcing lenders to give money to people who should never have owned a home and who have now defaulted on their mortgages at record levels.
Seriously, what is your point?
Good GOD!! Get over Bush!! As of January 21st 2009 when Obama takes the oath EVERYTHING good and bad will be on his shoulders. Not Bush's!! And everyone knows it so when you write "It's Bush's fault" it screams that you are a idiot fool who can't get the fact that Bush kept the US safe for his term and the economy was just fine for most of it. Thats the fact jack.
I am sure that if we looked hard enough at the Bush presidency we could also find other things to blame on him, it doesn't seem that anything more than hatred is necessary. I believe after reading this article and some of the comments that we should be able to blame his presidency for the failure of the Cubs to win the World Series.
Balls have nothing to do with courage, audacity, or any other human characteristic except to make one male rather than female. This is an ugly, gender-biased expression that intelligent, concientious people should stop using.
Bull Crap The Democrats cause the housing problem by forcing banks to make subprime loans and it started with Clinton
Global Warming is a hoax. Get over it.
Bush isn't responsible for the housing bubble/collapse. Democrats hold most of those cards via the CRA.
This is just more leftist dribble from a rabid socialist.
C
James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
Joseph Stiglitz is not a Johnny-come-lately who describes a train wreck after the fact. He predicted this disaster for years, and we ignore his voice at our peril.
Another voice we ignore at our peril is that of David Walker, the Comptroller General of the United States, who for years has worked hard to inform the public of America’s growing fiscal crisis. His many trips and presentations across America include his “Fiscal Wake-up Tour” of the United States in 2006.
The Comptroller General is America’s chief accountability officer and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). It is his job to report on America’s financial health.
As reported by Walker, there has been explosive growth during Bush’s watch in the gap between future “promised” and “funded “benefits (primarily Social Security and Medicare), as well as tremendous growth in many other federal commitments and contingencies, including veterans’ health care.
This total burden (“Total Burden”), as calculated by the GAO, rose to a staggering $46.4 trillion at the end of the government’s fiscal year 2005, versus “only” $20.4 trillion as of the end of 2000.
Thus the Total Burden far more than doubled in only five years under Bush, and it is continuing to grow rapidly every second of every day.
It is virtually impossible for anyone to comprehend a staggering number like the $46.4 trillion in Total Burden, or “just” the additional $26.0 trillion added to the Total Burden during just the first five years of Bush’s watch. But let’s give the numbers some common sense perspective by calculating how rapidly the Total Burden increased for the average American household. We can do this by evenly spreading the $26.0 trillion (Bush’s 5-year contribution only) over all 113 million American households.
Here’s the bad news:
The rate at which additional Total Burden (Bush’s contribution only) was imposed on American households during the first five years of Bush’s watch is equal to $46,050 per year per household. Incredibly, this is more than the median household income!
In other words, if during the first five years of the Bush regime, 100% of American households had applied 100% of their total household income to reduction of the Total Burden—and thus had not spent one cent for food, shelter, medical care, taxes or anything else—it would not have been enough to cover just the financial burden added during those five years under Bush!
This and much more is discussed in the popular new book “The Bush League of Nations,” by James A. Swanson (2008, CreateSpace Publishing, 448 pages), which you can download for free at www.bushleagueofnations.com.
See in particular Chapter 12, “The GOP’s Bankruptcy of America.”
I ask for nothing in return, except that you consider using the free book to help restore and improve America.
James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com
...and of course President Bush is responsible for people taking out loans that they would not be able to pay for? President Bush is obviously responsible for corporate policies that landed us in this financial mess...President Bush is obviously responsible for "global warming" because he's not pushing the liberals in congress to allow for home-made oil instead of buying oil from "dirtier" countries...
Of course President Bush is responsible for the world hating us....but wait, IN Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, etc...all the conservative parties have been winning lately? Oh but of course THAT little detail is copmletely unrelated to President Bush.
Fact is that idiots are going to pin everything bad on president Bush, and not give him any, or VERY little, credit for all the good he has done.
Thanks Mr. Swanson for the availability to download your book. I am always looking for some useless paper to line the bird cage to collect droppings, the two should go together well. The paranoia of the far left socialists is hysterical, and from the 30 seconds I spent on your website, you are out there. I always think what are people of your ilk going to do once President Bush is out of office, but since you continue to blame Reagan I don't have to worry.
Amen to that. These partisan hacks have agendas that do not conform to any point of view but their own. How is a 600,000,000 dollar campaign anything other than grotesque? Left or right?
I agree, talk radio was complaining about Dodd and the housing bubble over a year ago. To blame everything on Bush is just silly. Another reason the left wants to silence talk radio. Besides, the mainstream media is just setting all of this up so when ( and if) Obama fails, they will just say, "Bush left him too many problems."
What nonsense are you talking. How can you credit deficits to FDR and JFK? Senior Bush left Clinton a deficit and he handed over a surplus to W. Now he created a deficit again, and you blame all our ancestors for that! some rediculous defense by neocons.
Paul Anderson, what nonsense are you talking. How can you credit deficits to FDR and JFK? Senior Bush left Clinton a deficit and he handed over a surplus to W. Now he created a deficit again, and you blame all our ancestors for that! some rediculous defense by neocons.
What this article leaves out is all the things we are dealing with that was leftovers of the Clinton administration. The financial crisis we see today are, in part, a side effect of NAFTA. Furthermore, the melt down in Detroit can be directly related to the fact that foreign automakers are getting more bang for their buck, even from American workers. GM = app. $70 per hour per employee Toyota USA = app. $40 per hour per employee. Big difference there.
Hey Joseph,
Bush did not start the program to lend to borrowers unable to pay back their loans, which subsequently kicked off the whole credit crisis. That was a Dem baby from the beginning. Is your memory that selective? I would expect more from a professional. Shame of you. You should give back that Nobel Prize dimwit.
The problem is not the fault of just one party..it's both. Easy money from the fed is the cause of the current problems. Greenspan is getting off the hook here...
Stiglitz is a partisan hack fraud. Don't confuse him with the fact that since Bush enacted his tax cuts, federal revenues have NEVER been higher. Spending has run wild....and not just military spending. That's a drop in the bucket compared with the entitlement issue. We've got huge problems, and they won't be cured unless the disease is diagnosed properly.
Disband the fed!
We can ignore the markets, but not for long.
The article begins by stating Bush 'stole' the election. Should we now be able to complain how Obama 'bought' one? Regardless it shows how biased this author is. As for climate change--we are now in a cooling trend, even the Ipcc acknowledges, yet their models from the year before, the current ones, didn't predict that. Arctic sea ice is diminishing--but it's more from wind patterns than heat gain. Antartic sea ice is above average. What should I wake up to? If man-made CO2 is the primary climate change driver, how can it be cooling if it is still increasing?
Mr. Stiglitz, you have several ridiculous assumptions when you write that there is so much that we've lost in the Bush years. Please remember that Congress was largely an obstructionist body and dominated by liberals most of Bush's years and that the Senate was never conservative in nature. Democrats obstructed the judicial appointment process from the very first day Bush got into office, and they have prevented justice from being meted out.
You mention that we could have spent $1.5 trillion on health care for the uninsured. What rresponsibility do uninsured people have to provide for themselves? Why do they have a right, using the force of the federal government, to pick my pocket for health care costs instead of working for it on their own?
You talk about a values deficit--I would say there is a fairness deficit. It's not fair for illegal immigrants to pick my pocket and to have benefits here for healthcare and social security that I have to pay for. We have an honesty deficit when it comes to the obfuscation of the rule of law. Illegals openly flaunt our laws and are never punished for it.
Climate issues---over 31000 real scientists (not Algore) have documented that any changes to our climate are not man made, and I'd trust them any day over the opinions of Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore and Algore. There is no climate change without the significant impact of the sun, which we do not control in any way. Climate change is not a crisis, and to go around trying to force communist and liberal socialist agendas on everyone because you want to claim a crisis doesn't make it a crisis. Man cannot and will not ever significantly affect the climate. Not even nuclear war can change the sunspots.
Equality deficit--where in the Constitution does it say that people have to be equal? Maybe our sorry federalized education system and the trillions of dollars we have poured into public education are the real problem. We spend billions annually on public education programs, yet it's never enough for you liberals. We could spend the entire value of our annual GDP, and you'd say it wasn't enough. When will liberals learn that we need to challenge our kids, not dumb them down? If public education in the USA were a private corporation, the failures would have been so badly pronounced that the board or directors would have gone the way of Enron and been fired long ago. Public education, for the most part, is a colossal failure of huge proportions. That's why we need vouchers and school choice.
You want to talk about accountability and the deficit there, but when will you mention that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, public institutions, failed to do their job? Will you mention Franklin Raines, an Osama Obama supporter? Will you mention that ACORN, Osama's right hand "community activist" organization, strong armed Fannie and Freddie and pressured them and other banking institutions into extending loans to minorities and others who could not afford to own their own home? My my, the ACORN never falls far from the tree. Will you mention that Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd prevented an full accounting and review of Fannie and Freddie when Senator McCain attempted it back in 2004?
We do have a trade deficit, but we're sending over $700 billion to the Middle East every year due to a lack of supply of oil and gas products over here. We could unlock our own supply and keep the money and jobs in the USA, but liberals have blocked and filibustered against opening up our own supplies from day 1 and only now it's coming back to haunt us.
I will give you this one on the budget deficit, but have Democrats in Congress ever submitted a balanced budget? Not in my lifetime have they done this. If you want to criticize the war, then pick up a weapon and stand at post instead of paying our military to protect us. I do believe that it is entirely realistic for Iraq to start to pay us back using their vast oil revenue for all of the billions we've spent there. However, you cannot trade our safety here (remember, no attacks on US soil since 911) for money we've spent abroad.
Investment deficits? What the hell is that? There is no problem with New Orleans except that is has been a liberal haven for decades. The entire state of Louisiana has been run by Democrats for generations, and Mayor Willie Ray Nagin has had his "chocolate city" restored. You'd literally have to be a fool to want to go back to New Orleans and live in a city that's below sea level. What idiots would knowingly do this? So you're saying that the "investments" in things like public education, social security, housing issues and other wasted government programs are so good and worthwhile? What a joke.
I'm impressed by the ingnorance displayed in many of the comments to this article.
Of course Bush isn't the cause of all your problems. His actions has just made it blatantly obvious that something is wrong with your system. The cure I do not have, but the root of the problem is that you are spending money you don't have. When consumerism is based largely on credit/loans and someone pulls the plug, everything of course will collapse.
I have no doubt the US will get back on it's feet eventually and I wish y'all good luck.
Look to Norway :)
