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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DavesM who wrote (307450)	10/11/2002 2:33:38 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

A partial and incomplete list, I know: During the first Bush administration, the gross national product (GNP), the total annual output of a nation's goods and services, increased at its slowest rate since the 1930s—0.7 percent a year. At the same time, the federal government had to bailout the failed savings and loan industry. The cost of this rescue effort reached $130 billion in 1992 (over $700 B. by now, and still counting... bonds will be interest bearing for 50 years), and many Americans felt that the nation was simply adrift. Median income did not rise, but the gap between the richest Americans and the poorest increased. Poverty rates increased. And Bush offered no program to address the problem. One conservative political analyst characterized Bush's handling of the economy as little more than "dithering," an approach to issues that attracted "Washington vultures" to the "death watch" of his administration. In his 1992 campaign for reelection, Bush appeared weak and unfocused, surprised that his Persian Gulf War victory seemed not to matter to the electorate. American voters, angry with Bush for not having cut the budget deficit, for not following through on the Gulf War to eliminate Saddam Hussein, and for not dealing with the recession, turned to Bill Clinton and third party candidate Ross Perot, with Clinton winning handily over Bush. Clinton presided over the longest economic expansion in american history after inheriting the largest Federal budget deficit in history from Bush... Clinton left with the largest budget surplus in history ($230bn.), the lowest unemployment rate in more than 40 years, the fastest growth in real wages for more than two decades, and the biggest drop in welfare rolls seen during any administration, and over 300 trade agreements negotiated. ipl.org --------------------------------------------------------- And on to the new Bush (same as it ever was): Bush is turning out to be one of the biggest budget busters in history - on par with LBJ - and Clinton is looking positively FRUGAL: * President Clinton led the fight to pass GATT, which lowers tariffs worldwide by $744 billion over ten years -- THE LARGEST INTERNATIONAL TAX CUT IN HISTORY. GATT cuts tariffs on manufactured goods by more than one-third overall and eliminates tariffs in major markets in a number of sectors in which the U.S. is particularly competitive. Dubya has only raised tariffs/taxes: TARIFFS ARE TAXES! * As part of the 1993 Economic Plan, President Clinton cut taxes on 15 million low-income families (Earned Income Tax Credit cut taxes of 15 million working families with incomes of $27,000 or less) and made tax cuts available to 90 percent of small businesses, while raising taxes on just 1.2 percent of the wealthiest taxpayers. Passed without one Republican vote, many Republicans predicted exploding deficits and a tanking economy... instead the greatest addition of jobs, and the largest deficit reductions since WW II resulted: * President Clinton signed into law the largest deficit reduction plan in history, resulting in over $600 billion in deficit reduction. The deficit went down for 3 years in a row for the first time since Harry Truman was President.