McCain On The Economy: Four More Years
Posted by Kombiz Lavasany on January 31, 2008 at 12:00 PM
At last night's debate John McCain took tried to claim the Bush mantle on the economy. Unfortunately for McCain he's not very familiar with the economy - he defers to Phil Gramm on the economic issues - and he ended up stumbling over economic ideas trying to defend the Bush administrations horrible economic policies (PDF).
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THE SUPPLY-SIDE SCAM
George Bush’s $3 trillion dollar tax giveaway to the rich over the past 7 years has been a disaster for average Americans. Supply-side (trickle-down) economics is a bogus theory promoted by those who benefit from it. In a mature capitalist system, supply side never rules, it’s always the demand side of the equation that governs growth and well-being. Think about the 1930s Depression, General Motors had plenty of supply, but demand evaporated.
Past U.S. economic downturns have been cured with only $200-300 billion in tax cuts targeted to the middle class, because the consumer (the great middle class and 2/3rds of the economy) spends that tax cut and primes the economic pump. But over 7 years Bush has raised the debt that our children and grandchildren will pay from $6 trillion to over $9 trillion for current economic growth (i.e. we all get trickled on, as the rich spend some small fraction of their gains). Unfortunately, this growth is largely and uniquely without wage gains, and so has shrunk the middle class that makes America strong and great. Also, this growth has already over ($3 trillion flushed down the toilet and gone!), as the FED has had to cut interest rates because recession is looming. Massive debt has led to a weak dollar, which is now at record lows vs. other major currencies because of FED interest rate cuts. In turn, the record low dollar has produced record oil prices ($100/barrel); and any additional needed FED interest rate cuts could cause a free fall in the value of the dollar, guaranteeing recession or worse, stagflation.
The middle class is slowly being tapped out, as home values (most of their net worth and the credit card of last resort) are falling in price, and a considerable number of homeowners are heading for foreclosure. With the rich-poor divide increasing, we’re headed toward previous shining examples of trickle-down economics: South America of the recent past and feudalism in the Middle Ages. SUPPY-SIDE ECONOMICS IS NEW FEUDALISM AND SERFDOM!
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