December 02, 2007

IMPEACH BUSH

IMPEACH CHENEY

GOP FIELD IGNORES ECONOMIC REALITY

When you listen to the GOP presidential candidates you hear the same old formula that has created massive deficits and put the U. S. economy into a perilous condition. It's mostly about tax cuts for the rich, slashing domestic spending, a huge military, an unending presence in Iraq, ignoring our crumbling infrastructure, ignoring our health care crisis, ignoring global climate change, ignoring the disintegration of the middle class, and pretending that everything is fine and dandy. This article by Robert Borosage is at www.tompaine.com:

The Republican CNN/YouTube debate lasted over two hours Wednesday night. But once more, we learned nothing about what the candidates would do about the economic straits we are in.

Not a word about the housing crisis—the rising tide of foreclosures, plummeting housing prices and sales—and the credit crunch that now roils banks across the globe.

Not a word about the recession that Wall Street is now betting on.
Not a word about the stagnant wages and rising costs of food and gas and college that had two-thirds of Americans thinking we were in a recession or near it when the Bush economy was at its best.
We learned nothing about what Republican candidates would do about our broken health care system. Nothing about what they’d do about gas prices, energy dependence, global warming or trade deficits that have made our economy dependent on the kindness of strangers—primarily Chinese and Japanese central bankers and Arab princes.

We learned only that these candidates can repeat the conservative gospel. All (except Duncan Hunter in an "emergency") vow not to raise any single tax while in office, not even the shameless tax break that has billionaire private equity barracudas taxed at half the rate of their secretaries.

With the economy slowing, all would slash domestic spending. Mitt Romney calls for capping and cutting by 1 percent a year, and promises to "go at something like our entitlements." Fred Thompson mumbles about his plan to "save Social Security," which does so by slashing benefits nearly in half over 60 years. Rudy Giuliani calls for "5 to 10 percent" across-the-board cuts, and cutting the federal workforce—already near record lows—by 25 percent through retirements. If the one guy named Bob who is tasked with testing toys for the Consumer Product Safety Commission retires, Giuliani will just leave it up to the Chinese to keep the lead out. John McCain fulminates about vetoing any pork-barrel spending, a Titan boasting of squashing a gnat. Ron Paul at least knows where the money is, pledging to bring the boys home and save billions out of the military budget.

No one—not one—gave any indication that cutting spending—and jobs—as the economy slows might not be such a good idea. These guys have been in campaign bubbles for so long they don’t have a clue about what is happening around them.