The catastrophic financial consequences of Bush's illegal war and occupation of Iraq are seemingly unfathomable to an entitled President still in denial and his equally entitled heir apparent John McCain ~ it is truly the blind following the blind: Allen L Roland
With 70% of Americans rightfully giving failing grades to Bush's handling of the economy ~ don't expect any improvement with a McCain administration.
The American Progress Report summarizes how stagnant our economy has become over the past two decades " wherein average income fell by 2.5 percent for people in the bottom fifth of income earners and 1.3 percent for those in the middle fifth but rose nine percent for people in the top fifth "
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/04/16.html
FALLING INTO THE GAP
American Progress Report
April 15.2008
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2008/04/pr20080415
" In January's State of the Union address, Bush claimed, "In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth."
He has also repeatedly attempted to tie his tax cuts and the Iraq war to economic growth. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll released this tax day finds that seven in 10 Americans "now give negative ratings to the president's stewardship of the sinking U.S. economy."
American families are facing a "perfect storm" of "massive amounts of debt, falling house prices, disappearing jobs, flat wages, lower benefits, and skyrocketing costs for the most important consumer items." This devastating economic situation has been exacerbated by the Bush administration's policies.
A recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that the "gap between the richest and poorest families, and between the richest and middle-income families, grew significantly in most states over the past two decades."
Average income fell by 2.5 percent for people in the bottom fifth of income earners and 1.3 percent for those in the middle fifth but rose nine percent for people in the top fifth.
Seventy-nine percent of respondents in a new Pew Research Center poll say "it is more difficult now than five years ago for people in the middle class to maintain their standard of living."
As for what is John McCain's econimic agenda ~ it's more of the same Bush ' strong economic underpinnings ' rubbish but with no surplus to work with ~ as George W Bush originally had.
The American Prospect asked the same question recently and here's an excerpt of their answer~ http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=what_is_mccains_economic_agenda
" In a recent interview in The Wall Street Journal, McCain was unaware that his Web site endorsed a different plan regarding Social Security than the one he was touting to the interviewer. It's hard to imagine a discrepancy like that regarding the war.
He missed the current downturn ~ though he's far from alone on that count ~ by a long shot, stressing the strengths of the economy's "fundamentals" as recently as January (now he apparently believes we're in or headed for a recession but still can't resist the "strong fundamentals" nonsense).
McCain's answers to questions regarding the policy responses to the current downturn are way off base, far worse than you'd get from say, Secretary Paulson or even Bush. In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, when asked what measures would best deal with the current downturn, he touted making the Bush tax cuts permanent in 2010 and cutting corporate tax rates. Other than Larry Kudlow and The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, I can't imagine many folks would be inspired by that plan. "
It's truly the blind following the blind and the American people cannot afford even the possibility of a McCain presidency in 2009.
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/04/16.html
Freelance Online columnist and recognized therapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
