The U.S. economy is in the news yet again with many economists and business leaders predicting a recession in the near future. Some say it will be short lived; others say it will be deep and prolonged. The candidates who are running for their party's nomination have already put their two cents in.
If a recession does occur, it will be the second one on this President's watch. The first occurred in 2001. That leads to the question, which party's President, in the last 28 years, has had the best economic policy for the economy and its people? The undisputed answer and fact is the Clinton Administration. That is one of the main reasons Clinton left office with an approval rating of 65%, the highest approval rating of any President in modern times. One could go back 40 years and the Clinton economy would still come out on top.
Reagan-Bush served 12 years, Clinton 8 years and G.W. Bush 8 years. Those 3 republican presidents served a total of 20 years. Reagan was the first of the neocons who championed an ideology that claimed the GOP was best at balancing the budget, creating jobs, lowering unemployment, cutting the budget, managing the economy, and lowering crime. But sadly, those 3 republican presidents were reckless with the people's money and (1) Failed to keep their promises to the country and its people; (2) Betrayed the voters; (3) Created massive debt for our children and grandchildren; (4) Placed in jeopardy our democracy by being in bed with Corporate America, and (5) Deliberately tried to put the U.S. government's financial situation in jeopardy with debt in order to bankrupt social security, medicare, and other social services on which millions of Americans depend.
One will not have to be a deep thinker to absorb the facts. The actual numbers will tell the story because they are already written in the history books. There are those who have lived through the 28 years and will still not believe the facts. They have a right to believe what they want to believe, but they do not have a right to call those 3 republican presidents fiscal conservatives, nor do they have a right to call liberals big spenders. The facts will show just the opposite.
George Bush said the tax cuts of 2001 and the stimulus package that was passed by Congress ended the recession of 2001. Now he is talking about another stimulus for the predicted recession to come soon. The reader needs to keep in mind the republican problem. They have, through the years, a tax cutting policy but not an economic policy. They believe in the trickle down theory. On the other hand president Clinton had an economic policy to deal with the 12 year fiscal mess Reagan-Bush left the country in.
An economic policy is lasting and covers a broad spectrum while a stimulus package does not answer the real problem and, in fact, comes after the fact. Ditto for the tax cuts that the republicans propose because they favor the most wealthy people. Simply put it: trickle down economics is a fairytale.
Ron Paul is the only republican candidate running for president who has spoken about fiscal responsibility, while the other republicans have talked about emulating Reagan and Bush. Senator Clinton is the only democratic candidate for president who talks about getting back to fiscal responsibility as the best way to deal with the economy and our other problems.
Sadly, the massive spending and debt the republicans have put the country in is never discussed by the journalists in the news media. Stay tuned because part II will deal with the Reagan-Bush years and part III with the Clinton and Bush years.
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