Molly Ivins (Truthdig): It’s Good to Be the Richest of the Rich

[Dudley_DUright]

Oh, goody. According to the White House press office, President Bush will spend much of the next two weeks discussing what a swell economy we have. Did you know that the Dow Jones industrial average is at its highest point EVER? And the NASDAQ, ditto. Wow, breathtaking, huh? But the Dow is not a good indicator of how thing are really going for the majority of Americans.

I just love listening to the Bushies play with numbers. When Bush took over in 2001, he predicted a surplus of $516 billion for fiscal year 2006. Last week, the administration announced a 2006 deficit of $248 billion, missing its projection for this year by $764 billion. Bush said the numbers are “proof that pro-growth economic policies work” and are “an example of sound fiscal policies here in Washington.”

This is highly reminiscent of Dick Cheney’s recent observation about the Iraqi government, “If you look at the general, overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.”

Bush’s main talking point on the budget is that he “cut the deficit in half”—that would be from 2004, the year the White House inflated the projected deficit for political reasons. Even conservatives disagree. Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation said, “The White House has a track record of projecting budget numbers to be a lot worse than they end up, which therefore helps them defeat the gloomy expectations and declare victory.” If Bush does manage to make the tax cuts permanent, he will add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. The federal budget would be virtually in balance if there had been no tax cuts.

more...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601023_molly_ivins_richest_of_the_rich/

[twilight_sailing]

1. salient quote

"Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation said, “The White House has a track record of projecting budget numbers to be a lot worse than they end up, which therefore helps them defeat the gloomy expectations and declare victory.” If Bush does manage to make the tax cuts permanent, he will add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. The federal budget would be virtually in balance if there had been no tax cuts."

One more time,
"The federal budget would be virtually in balance if there had been no tax cuts."

[CrispyQ]

2. I'm amazed how many people who got a $300 cut

voted for the jerk. Honestly, would you sell your vote for $300? :eyes:

[twilight_sailing]

3. Not to mention all of the people who will never be affected by

the estate tax. They are all buzzed on Ditto Juice and never stop to think that they will never pay one dime in estate tax.

It's just crazy.

You have to give the Republican propaganda machine credit. They have fooled a lot of the people for a very long time.

[RobertSeattle]

4. And the "Deficit" figure is a crock anyway - Iraq/Katrina are "off budget"

Check the year to year growth in the total national debt - for FY2006 it was 574 Billion - not the $248 billion figure.

09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/29/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~www/opdpen.cgi