For those who think that Bush handled the economy badly...

[ReiAyanami]

George Soros and Warren Buffet both told Bush to stop giving tax cuts to ppl who don't need them.

Alan Greenspan said eventually the double deficits will have to be fixed or they will drastically hamper the future economy.

LEAVE NO BILLIONAIRE BEHIND!!
Halliburton would be getting a lot more flak if Republicans didn't control Congress.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: EcoLogic
Yea, and last I checked the Government having a projected surplus is a prime example of the fact we were being over taxed.

I can't imagine those who think Bush handled the economy badly even thinking they have a leg to stand on now at all.

Sorta means "overtaxation", but not quite. Part of the error in your statement is that "projected surplusses" are not "actual surplusses", so really they mean nothing. Another problem is that the Taxpayer also had a $6ish Trillion(much higher now) debt before the "Tax Cuts".

What should have happened concerning Tax Cuts and Surplusses is that when a Surplus was realized, then a Tax Cut would be given for a portion of that Surplus. The rest of the Surplus can be divided up to pay for Increases in Costs due to Inflation, Pay down of the Debt, and creating a Slush Fund for unexpected costs(Natural Disasters or other).

A program of Infrastructure Repair/Construction would have been a more stimulative way to spend the money used for the "Tax Cuts". It would also make improvements which would have long-lasting benefits to the Economy and Nation.

 

[XZeroII]

Wow, this got off-topic very fast.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: Ldir

Originally posted by: glugglug

Originally posted by: josphII

the reason we dont import drugs from other countries is because the government cant gaurantee their safety. they are protecting americans by allowing them to buy what is known to be safe.

As far as I can tell, FDA approval has almost nothing to do with drug safety. I would not be surprised at all to find you are much safer importing the cheap Canadian drugs.

Did any of you watch 60 Minutes last night? American drugs and Canadian drugs are usually exactly the same. They come from the same factories and wholesalers. The only difference is price. Canada regulates drug prices. The U.S. does not. In the new Medicare bill, the U.S. prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices. The only reason is to increase drug company profits. We are being ripped off.

That was how I understood it. I don't understand how jobs are going to go to Canada from here when the drugs are already being produced HERE anyway. Its re-importation of drugs really. Considering my father takes a medicine to help shrink a tumor growing by his optic nerve that costs $600 a bottle I would like to see the prices as low as possible. (Thank god my father has insurance, something a lot of Americas are forgoing lately.)

No appreciable number of jobs will go to Canada. What they really mean is American pharmaceuticals won't be able to profiteer as richly if they lost their monopoly in the U.S. market.

I really enjoy watching the proponents of globalization do a 180 when consumers get a chance to turn the tables. It's OK for American companies to save money by buying labor overseas. That's good for profits. It's an outrage when consumers want to save money by buying goods from other countries. "That's not fair," they whine. "The poor drug companies will go out of business," they weep. All it really means is they may have to cut back on their wall-to-wall TV ads pushing drugs we don't need.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Wow, this got off-topic very fast.

did you expect much less - everything here gets turned into a Bush bashing contest

CkG

 

[razor2025]

Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Wow, this got off-topic very fast.

did you expect much less - everything here gets turned into a Bush bashing contest

CkG

LOL, like you can actually add anything useful to the conversation CAD. Btw, surprised by the REAL job numbers lately? Whatever happened to the 80k new jobs that was suppose to exist? My! how can a positive number suddenly turn negative?

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: razor2025

Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Wow, this got off-topic very fast.

did you expect much less - everything here gets turned into a Bush bashing contest

CkG

LOL, like you can actually add anything useful to the conversation CAD. Btw, surprised by the REAL job numbers lately? Whatever happened to the 80k new jobs that was suppose to exist? My! how can a positive number suddenly turn negative?

LOL, as if you add something useful to the conversation besides some halfassed swipe at me or the economy? Right...

CkG

 

[LordMagnusKain]

what should he have done?

hit greenspan over the head with a shovel and allowed the recession to play its way through instead of artificially getting us out of it.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain

what should he have done?

hit greenspan over the head with a shovel and allowed the recession to play its way through instead of artificially getting us out of it.

It has been our policy since 1929 to actively try to fix recession. Are you saying that every president who did anything to help the economy in the past (via monetary or fiscal policy) was wrong?

 

[NesuD]

Originally posted by: conjur
Agree with DanJ but, to be honest, I'd have kept taxes where they were before the cuts. Bush was trying to stimulate an economy that was greatly affected by the trickle down effect from the dot-com bust. He was pissing into the ocean.

Reducing wasteful spending and keeping taxes as they were (Clinton managed over $200billion in budget surplus his last year in office, something was working that Bush broke.)

That is stupidly innaccurate. We were in a recession 3 months before Clinton left office. Bush had to live with Bills last budget til Sept of 2001. If the Surplus hadn't yet evaporated by then it certainly was damn close to gone and we all know what happened in Sept 2001. 9-11 itself had a very chilling effect on the recovery delaying it by at least a year. Had Bill still been president he would also be running a deficit. We are not running a deficit because of lower taxes or even increased spending as much as because of lower economic activity and the resultant drop in revenue. Personally I think the tax cuts were the right thing to do but the spending increases were ill advised. But thats what happens when you try to compromise with the Libs.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Wow, this got off-topic very fast.

did you expect much less - everything here gets turned into a Bush bashing contest

CkG

... because that's so unexpected in a thread titled For those who think that Bush handled the economy badly....

 

[Wolfdog]

A few things I would have done:

1) Put a plug on the energy crunch. Natural gas prices have climbed upwards of 70%, while gas prices have gone up for a third time during his presidency. Keep the price of gas low using any means necessary. There would be none of this $2 a gallon feces.

2) Shore up the tax breaks for businesses moving jobs overseas. While offering incentives for businesses that keep jobs here. While helping businesses afford the hikes in healthcare that has contributed to the massive layoffs.

3) Give the businesses that were at ground zero during 9/11 monetary help to rebuild thier businesses.

4) Cut taxes for the people with low income and wean them off the welfare system. I would even support a 0% tax bracket for those making minimum wage. Taking out nothing in state or federal taxes out of thier paycheck.

5) Creation of a 0% tax bracket for those that make under $30k a year. Paying only for SS.

5.5) Creation of a 5% tax bracket for those who make between 30-100k a year. While raising the tax rates for those that serve the country via the congress, senate, and oval office.

6) Not giving myself a 200k+ payraise while taking the office.

7) Not allowing the senate or congress to give themselves a pay raise.

8) Not wasting 80+ billion going into iraq when a bomb we as tax payers have already paid for would have worked just as good.

9) Cutting off all the work visas to tech workers. Thus opening up hundreds of thousands of jobs to more qualified American workers.

10) Making sure that the business scandals were taken care of in a quietly and orderly fashion, such that the general population doesn't become disenfranchised.

11) Cutting down and restructuring the Federal governmnet to diminish the overhead due to the Administrative tasks(the multitude of managers with very few workers), while providing for expansion at the worker level. Thus keeping the wait lines as short as possible when you visit the DMV, etc.


The list goes on.

 

[fjord]

Resigned (in shame, of course).

 

[mosco]

I am going to go with medicare bill that actually did what it was supposed to do. Lower drug prices. A major incentive for sending jobs overseas is healthcare costs for employers. It can be thousands per employee savings. Both sides are guilty at this in a way.

And I am also going to go with not cutting taxes for the rich, which causes the state, local, and property taxes of everyone else to go up and forcing states to cut valuable programs in the process.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Wolfdog
A few things I would have done:

1) Put a plug on the energy crunch. Natural gas prices have climbed upwards of 70%, while gas prices have gone up for a third time during his presidency. Keep the price of gas low using any means necessary. There would be none of this $2 a gallon feces.

2) Shore up the tax breaks for businesses moving jobs overseas. While offering incentives for businesses that keep jobs here. While helping businesses afford the hikes in healthcare that has contributed to the massive layoffs.

3) Give the businesses that were at ground zero during 9/11 monetary help to rebuild thier businesses.

4) Cut taxes for the people with low income and wean them off the welfare system. I would even support a 0% tax bracket for those making minimum wage. Taking out nothing in state or federal taxes out of thier paycheck.

5) Creation of a 0% tax bracket for those that make under $30k a year. Paying only for SS.

5.5) Creation of a 5% tax bracket for those who make between 30-100k a year. While raising the tax rates for those that serve the country via the congress, senate, and oval office.

6) Not giving myself a 200k+ payraise while taking the office.

7) Not allowing the senate or congress to give themselves a pay raise.

8) Not wasting 80+ billion going into iraq when a bomb we as tax payers have already paid for would have worked just as good.

9) Cutting off all the work visas to tech workers. Thus opening up hundreds of thousands of jobs to more qualified American workers.

10) Making sure that the business scandals were taken care of in a quietly and orderly fashion, such that the general population doesn't become disenfranchised.

11) Cutting down and restructuring the Federal governmnet to diminish the overhead due to the Administrative tasks(the multitude of managers with very few workers), while providing for expansion at the worker level. Thus keeping the wait lines as short as possible when you visit the DMV, etc.


The list goes on.

Wolfdog for President!