Almost everything a President does or does not do has a substantial effect on the economy
Really? Let's take "everything the President does" apart regarding economy:
His tax cut
(1) As the dividends received by corporations and tax-free pension plans were already exempt from dividend tax, this plan favors the rich who did pay dividend tax in other accounts.
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that the wealthiest 1 percent of all taxpayers could capture as much as 42 percent of the benefits of a dividend exclusion.
washingtonpost.com
The top 1 percent of taxpayers, those with incomes of $374,000 or more, would get 28.3 percent of Bush's tax cut, for an average savings of $24,428, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. The 20 percent of Americans in the middle, earning $29,000 to $46,000, would get 6.1 percent of the benefits from Bush's plan, an average tax saving of $265.
kansascity.com
(2) The tax-cut will NOT help the economy, because the rich are NOT going to increase their spending just because their get more dividends a year from now. Since the goal is "economic stimulus", it should have increased the income of the lower income groups that live hand to mouth, who would then consume more.
His Homeland Defense initiative and his Iraq initiative; His spending on the Iraq offensive;
Are you under the impression that huge defense spendings are good for a country's economy? That is very strange.
How about you look at it this way - America was already on the brink of recession at 9/11 and thanks to the costs associated with the disaster AND the pumped up defense spending since then, has fallen deep into it. Face it - Bush Administration's lavish spending on defense is an economic disaster AND Americans are no safer than they were a day after 9/11.
His budget cuts and his budget spending
Oh and you think he has done something really commendable there? How interesting. And here is the whole financial community thinking there is no way we will see a budget surplus in the next two years, indeed expecting the USD 237 bn budget surplus he inherited to turn to USD 275 bn budget DEFICIT this year, thanks to his "He tried to kill my daddy!") vendetta on Iraq and the costs of the tax cuts. Budget DEFICIT will be a RECORD USD 325 bn in 2004.
Yeah. I real economic achievement on the budget...
His leadership in Congress on economic matters
Got examples? Because, frankly, I don't see anything positive there.
His actions and failure to act on corporate corruption
... especially in regards to his own insider trading of his oil company. Still, I don't see anything commendable there.
Yes a President does have an economic policy and does have his hands on the economy.
Of course a President does have influence on the economy of a country. My point was more like THIS PRESIDENT has not done anything to merit half the country approving his handling of the economy.
. Yes a President does have an economic policy and does have his hands on the economy. |
