The Meltdown’s True Villain

[kpete]

George W. Bush ran up $6.4 trillion. That’s nearly half—44.7 percent—of the $14.3 trillion total. We all know what did it—two massive tax cuts geared toward the rich (along with other similar measures, like slashing the capital gains and inheritance taxes), the off-the-books wars, the unfunded Medicare expansion, and so on. But the number is staggering and worth dwelling on. In a history covering 30 years, nearly half the debt was run up in eight. Even the allegedly socialist Obama at his most allegedly wanton doesn’t compare to Dubya; and Obama’s debt numbers, if he’s reelected, will surely not double or even come close as we gambol down Austerity Lane.





................................

I can only laugh when I hear Tea Party conservatives avow today, with all the credibility of Larry Craig explaining his wide stance, that they have no love for Bush.

It is truly an incredible record when you stack it up. First, the party fought tooth and nail against every single move Clinton made that ended up putting us in surplus. Then it got power—and let’s not get into how that happened—and ran up completely unprecedented debts and deficits. Then it put the foxes in command of the henhouses at the SEC and OTC and brought the world to the very brink of total economic collapse. (The economic “growth” rate in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to recently revised Commerce Department figures, was negative 8.9 percent; even during the Depression rates were typically higher.) Then a guy from the other party got back in, tried to do what the vast majority of economists would say should be done in such a situation (the government should spend money while the private sector couldn’t), and they fought him tooth and nail. And now they’ve forced him into a deal (which he should not have agreed to) that will help ensure that the economy remains stuck in neutral until, oh, November 2012, to pick a date out of the air. Next, that guy will identify tax cuts to spur job growth, and they will invent reasons to oppose these measures, just as they once invented reasons why “deficits don’t matter."

A football coach with a similar record would be selling cars. A movie director with one would be lucky to be making instructional videos. A bank president would likely be in jail. But here we are. It just goes to show what you can accomplish when the richest 1 percent of the country pays you (and pays you, and pays you) to lie, and to believe fairy tales. But it’s hard luck for the rest of us.

the rest:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/05/economic-meltdown-villain-george-w-bush-s-staggering-debt-numbers.html

[malaise]

1. MUST READ

K & R

[RKP5637]

4. We could read this to the teabaggers all day long, everyday, year after year and they

will never get it, their brains just are not capable of processing this information.

[Chimichurri]

2. The Republican/Tea Bagger amnesia is astounding. Great article!

[RKP5637]

3. It's the way they think. The reasoning portion of their brain just does not

allow them to see factual evidence and adjust accordingly. There have been studies posted on this ... that, is what we are dealing with.

[Chimichurri]

5. Interesting. That would be considered a mental disorder, no?

[RKP5637]

6. IMO yes, a compulsively rigid mind. If you Google a bit you should be able to find the studies.

There is a portion of the brain that is quite active in those with unshakable beliefs ... such as, religion and ideologies. No matter how much evidence to the contrary they will not, can not, change their minds. We've all met them and wonder WTF.

I used to come across them in my corp. days, just unshakable beliefs. At the CEO level, for example, it can be disastrous for the future of a company. All of us have this to a certain extent, but we adjust to new information, and can reason. Some people just can't adjust to new information, their beliefs are just unshakable. I don't think it's been classified as a condition, the studies I saw were recent.