He will take the credit and shift the blame

The recovery funds really aren't out the door yet, not even the extended unemployment benefits or the $250 boost; certainly not that tax cut for 95% of the people. That first sidewalk hasn't been poured, and no spreading around of trickle sideways dollars has begun so people can buy cars or go out to eat to help the salesmen and busboys. And yet the media have been mildly optimistic recently--have you noticed? Unemployment, which shot up as soon as it was known in the summer that Obama would be the Democratic candidate and most likely the President, has started to level off. The stock market is making a weak recovery--at least that's what our retirement accounts show. This is pure and simple because of the efforts of the American people and their backing off from fear--fear of a collapse, fear of Obama, fear of the steamroller roaring down at us.

But Obamaides will claim victory if it continues even though no ARRA programs have begun to work, and they will blame Bush if they fail. Heads he wins; tails he wins. But he really wins if we let him destroy our economy in the process of "saving" us. All industrialized nations are struggling more than the U.S., have slower growth, higher taxes, more stagnant work force--and why not? Their workers get more generous time off before they really need to look for work. And it's self-fulfilling. Take a vacation; fix the car; read some good books; build a web page, hike in the mountains. Then maybe after 18 months of 90% salary replacement you can dust off the resume. What's the hurry? It's just the economy--it will be there when you get back.

There's only one way to jump start and fuel the economy--reduce taxes and reduce government spending. It works every time. It's just hard to get re-elected if you don't bring home the pork if a Republican, and hard to get reelected if you don't punish the rich if you are a Democrat. It even partially works if you just reduce taxes the way George Bush did--but he threw money at every domestic program he could think of, particularly education--President Bush increased federal education spending 58 percent faster than inflation--instead of dialing back. Democrats who supported him on the war screamed bloody murder about the tax cuts--said it was criminal--but he brought in more money than they ever did--and he spent it too. President Bush became the first President to spend 3 percent of GDP on federal anti-poverty programs, but President Me-Too Obama has already in­creased this spending by 20 percent. He won't be bringing in more tax money the way Bush did and will have to raise taxes. Social spending was out of control during the Bush years. That's another big lie the Democrats love to tell--that Republicans are stingy on DoE, USDA, HHS, HUD. Oh, that it were true, we'd be so much better off with a smaller federal government.

The BushBamBudgets
WaPo graphic
Bush 8 years includes 2 wars