Facts Tell The True Story

The republicans in congress and their cohorts, including the right wing neocon journalists are once again playing the blame game since President Obama became President.  Lets look at the facts.

 

What the Clinton Administration bequeathed to President George W. Bush:

 

1. A government in the black with balanced federal budgets and record surpluses.

 

2. Paid down over $450 billion on the public debt.

 

3. The longest economic expansion in U.S. history.

 

4. Over 22.7 million new jobs created, a record with over 91% coming from the private sector.

 

5. Lowest unemployment rate in 30 years with five of those months in his last year in office at 3.9%.  Unemployment rate went from 7.3% when he took office to 4.2% when he left. a decrease of 3.1%.

 

6. The unemployment rate never exceeded the high when he took office.

 

7. A yearly average price of a barrel of oil of $23.88.

 

8. A safe America. 

 

For those reasons, Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating.  The highest approval rating in modern times.

 

What the Bush administration bequeathed to President Obama:

 

1. Eight straight years of record federal deficit spending and debt.  The results of the first 7 years of deficit spending was $2.13 trillion.  Mr. Bush's final fiscal year budget will end Sept. 30, 2009 and is projected by the CBO to come in at over $1 trillion.  That will bring his total deficit spending to over $3 trillion.

 

2. An economic recession.

3. A doubling of the national debt.

4. Over 4 million jobs lost in Bush's last 13 months in office.

 

5. One of the weakest job creation in the last 40 years.

 

6. An increase in the unemployment rate from 4.2% when he took office to 7.6% when he left.  A

 

7. The economic price paid by the consumer for the record oil and gasoline prices.  The average yearly price of a barrel of oil was $50.80.

 

8. Record home foreclosures.

 

9. A calamity with the collapse of the financial industry.  That caused the President to recommend and then sign into law a $700 billion rescue package.

 

It should be noted the very first budget which ended fiscal Sept. 30, 2002 was in deficit to the tune of $157.8 billion and by Bush's own admission had not decided to go to war with Iraq so the war played no part in that reversal of fortune for the American people. 

 

At this point we do not know what President Obama will bequeath to his successor, but time will tell.  Those who are opposed to the Presidents policies will not wait.  But after the last eight years of failed policies President Obama should be given a chance to make his policies work. 

What Might Have Been

Just think what might have been had President Bush followed President Clinton's lead with sound fiscal policies.  The national debt would have been paid off, budget surpluses would have continued and our nation would be in a better position to face any problem that came along.

 

For the past eight years an opportunity was missed big time to have the means to do necessary things with out creating more new debt but just the opposite happened.  And now we are told because of the current economic problems we are looking at more deficits and more debt for future generations that could have been avoided.

 

If President Obama is really serious about going back to balanced budgets, it can be accomplished with less pain than predicted.  It can also be accomplished in a reasonable time frame.  We know the republicans in congress would like to see the President fail in this regard because they have no record themselves of balancing the federal budget.

 

One of the first thing members of congress should do is show lobbyist and special interest groups the door.  The lobby system can be broken by refusing to meet with them.  Meet only with businesses employers and only on the same basis as they meet with the average Joe.  If its good for the average Joe, it should be good enough for business.  All it takes is the political will and courage to do it.

 

Reexamine our foreign policy that has thousands of American troops still stationed in Europe, South Korea and around the globe and bring most of them home.  It can be done without harming our national security.  The savings would be tremendous in dollars.  I will have more to say why this can be accomplished in a future post.

The Real AIG Story

Every one is up set about the recent announcement by AIG that they will distribute millions of dollars in bonus money to their executives.  Every one should be up set, but not because AIG is receiving the benefit of taxpayers dollars in the form of federal bail out money.  Although that is a good reason, it does not address the real problem that has existed for to many years.

 

The real problem is the systematic transfer of wealth from the average workers to their CEO's and executives in the form of exorbitant bonuses, stock options and other financial rewards that the average worker helped create.  They should have a stake in that wealth.  This massive transfer of wealth is happening while the companies say they are loosing billions of dollars.  It is also happening at the same time the average workers are seeing a decrease in their health insurance coverage, loss of retirement benefits and a shorter work week with less pay.

 

Many of those who are opposed to the AIG bonuses are the same ones who supported them over the last 20 years and actually defended those bonuses all through those years as the "free enterprise system."  Our country and its people are going through tough economic times and it is past time our leaders recognize the real problem with corporate greed and take a stand once and for all that the status quo is unacceptable.  Anything less is a betrayal of the American working men and women who give so much.