Hello Bob,   
      
    LL>> Romney's snake oil.  His sales pitch was that he was going   
    LL>> to give everybody a $5 trillion tax cut, and also increase   
    LL>> military spending by $2 trillion.  All without raising   
    LL>> taxes.   
      
    BK>> Bush did it. Of course that doubled the national debt, but so   
    BK>> what. Deficits don't matter. (Dick Cheney)   
      
    LL>> GWB was only doing what we hired him to do.  I mean, really.   
    LL>> Isn't the proper role of government to spend as much of our   
    LL>> money as possible in the shortest period of time?  Think   
      
   BK>Not in the shortest possible time, but in the most effective   
   BK>manner.   
      
   The most effective manner would be for the president to declare   
   martial law and then rule by decree.  The manner that is normally   
   used is very cumbersome and ineffective, the president constantly   
   having to make deals with the Congress.  Even Lyndon Johnson, whose   
   party also had control of both houses of Congress and the Supreme   
   Court, had to use strong-arm tactics in order to get needed   
   legislation passed.   
      
   BK>If he had rebuilt infrastructure and educated the young   
   BK>it would have paid off in spades. Spending on war is pure   
   BK>economic waste.   
      
   We can cut defense spending in half and still have more arms   
   than the rest of the world combined.  But what would happen if   
   we were to take an isolationist approach, defend ourselves only,   
   and say the hell with the rest of the world?  Would we be safer,   
   or less safe?   
      
    LL>> about it.  Bill Clinton left office with a surplus.  Within   
    LL>> eight months of taking office, and one month before the   
    LL>> terror attacks of 9-11, GWB managed to spend our way into a   
    LL>> deficit.   
      
   BK>The 9-11 attacks were a blip on the economic radar. It was the   
   BK>follow up wars that brought this country down. Had he not turned   
   BK>to invading Iraq even that would not have happened.   
      
   The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy was the first step that got us   
   into the fine mess we are in today.  It was compounded by the events   
   of 9-11, which came *after* GWB had squandered the surplus.  While   
   the events of 9-11 were nothing more than "a blip on the economic   
   radar" there were other factors that did much more damage.  Such   
   as the unfunded leave no child behind act, the unfunded wars in   
   Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the unfunded prescription drug   
   program for seniors.  How did Americans pay for all that?  We didn't.   
   GWB borrowed those funds against future generations.  We could have   
   our cake and eat it too.  Meanwhile, our kids and grandkids won't   
   get any cake at all, as it will be all gone by the time they grow   
   up and realize what we did.   
      
   BK>Pat Buchanan is wrong about a lot of things, but he was right   
   BK>about one thing. He said, "Perpetual war destroys democracies".   
      
   Buchanan was also right about another thing - we need to make more   
   babies.  Not really sure what his solution is for how to care for those   
   babies once we are gone.  But then, folks who make babies really aren't   
   concerned about how those babies are going to take care of themselves   
   when they are actually making those babies ...   
      
    LL>> And eight years later, when GWB finally left   
    LL>> office, this country was so much in debt that it took a   
    LL>> Democrat to quadruple our spending in order to keep us from   
    LL>> going into another Great Depression.  And now, having won a   
      
   BK>Spending went up to almost 25% of GDP under Bush. The deficit   
   BK>went up to $1.6Trillion under Bush. Obama did not quadruple   
   BK>that, he didn't increase it much if at all.   
      
   Of course spending went up.  There was a war going on.  Actually,   
   there were two wars going on.  And then Bush lost an American city.   
   The residents of America's Atlantis had to relocate.  Some of them   
   to a military installation in Utah.  Not many black folks in Utah.   
   Until after Katrina.  :)   
      
    LL>> second term, that same Democrat wants to do it again, thus   
    LL>> leading this country to even greater heights than ever   
    LL>> before...   
      
   BK>All he has to do is get unemployment below 5% *real*. That is   
   BK>also what he absolutely must do.   
      
   FDR created projects so people could get back to work.   
   GWB let God do the work, sending FEMA to clean up the mess.   
   Obama had a better idea, with his stimulus bill, cash for   
   clunkers program, free phones for the homeless, and affordable   
   (i.e. free) health care act.  For an encore, I expect Obama to   
   make everything free, not just healthcare.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)