[Dialogue] It's Good to Be the Richest of the Rich

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by Truthdig <http://www.truthdig.com>


It's Good to Be the Richest of the Rich 

by Molly Ivins

 

Oh, goody. According to the White House press office, President Bush will
spend much of the next two weeks discussing what a swell economy we have.
Did you know that the Dow Jones industrial average is at its highest point
EVER? And the NASDAQ, ditto. Wow, breathtaking, huh? But the Dow is not a
good indicator of how thing are really going for the majority of Americans. 

I just love listening to the Bushies play with numbers. When Bush took over
in 2001, he predicted a surplus of $516 billion for fiscal year 2006. Last
week, the administration announced a 2006 deficit of $248 billion, missing
its projection for this year by $764 billion. Bush said the numbers are
"proof that pro-growth economic policies work" and are "an example of sound
fiscal policies here in Washington." 

This is highly reminiscent of Dick Cheney's recent observation about the
Iraqi government, "If you look at the general, overall situation, they're
doing remarkably well." 

Bush's main talking point on the budget is that he "cut the deficit in
half"-that would be from 2004, the year the White House inflated the
projected deficit for political reasons. Even conservatives disagree. Brian
Riedl of the Heritage Foundation said, "The White House has a track record
of projecting budget numbers to be a lot worse than they end up, which
therefore helps them defeat the gloomy expectations and declare victory." If
Bush does manage to make the tax cuts permanent, he will add more than $3
trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. The federal budget would be
virtually in balance if there had been no tax cuts. 

Bush's version of "doing remarkably well" includes a trade gap-now a record
$69.9 billion-up 2.7 percent since July. "Short of a big correction in
consumer spending, the best we can hope for is that the trade deficit
stabilizes," Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital, told
Bloomberg.com. 

Meanwhile, what we see in the economy as a whole is an immense shift of
wealth from the poor and middle class to the very rich. It seems a little
painful to have to point this out yet again after six solid years of it, but
these are lies, damn lies and statistics. 

Just to give you an idea of how dependable the Bush numbers are, the
Department of Health and Human Services put out a press release a few weeks
ago telling senior citizens they will have "new options with low costs" and
that monthly premiums in '07 will be the same as in '06. 

"The Medicare prescription drug benefit ... just keeps getting better,"
burbled HHS. They seem to have been taking too much in the way of
prescription drugs. Rep. Henry Waxman, one of the most singularly useful
members of Congress, found that average premiums will actually increase by
over 10 percent next year. And for the lowest-priced plans, average premiums
will be up over 44 percent. "It is not merely confusing arithmetic, it is
deceptive advertising," said Waxman. 

While lightening the tax burden for the rich, other parts of the Bush
economic program continue to undermine the middle class in this country. As
you may recall, in 2005 the credit industry successfully rammed a
disgraceful bankruptcy reform bill through Congress. It's working out just
the way we expected it to: Middle-class families are borrowing more than
ever to make ends meet. Most families go under if: (a) they lose a job or
(b) they have a health emergency crisis. 

One attorney sums up the legislation's impact: "It's designed to make life
miserable for anybody who owes money. It's a help-the-banks,
squish-the-little-guy law." 

Bush's remarkably good economy is good only for the richest; for the rest of
us, incomes are stagnant and education and healthcare costs are
skyrocketing. The Republican Congress blindly rubber-stamps policies
designed to help only a few. Are you better off than you were six years ago?


Copyright C 2006 Truthdig, L.L.C. 

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