Bush: U.S. Economy Remains 'Envy of World'

[Rose Siding]

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- President Bush, in Russia for a meeting of the world's economic powers, on Saturday credited his "pro-growth policies" for new U.S. budget deficit figures that are lower than earlier estimates.

"By pursuing pro-growth policies and restraining government spending, we will keep our economy the envy of the world," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
...
Higher oil prices pulled stocks sharply lower for a third straight day Friday, causing the Dow Jones industrial average to shed nearly 400 points over the period.

Bush did not mention the Mideast violence in the radio address. Focused on the budget, he said the economic growth that followed various tax cuts has helped send revenue soaring, in turn filling government coffers.

"When the economy grows, businesses grow with it, people earn more money, and they pay taxes on this new income," he said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bush-radio,0,4938540.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[tanyev]

1. Everybody clap your hands and yell, "I believe!"

[sakabatou]

41. Ramen!

[wtmusic]

2. Again, just turn whatever he says upside-down

and you won't be far off the mark

[ladjf]

29. Yes. He actually always tells the truth if you understand that you

have to reverse the meaning of what ever he says.

[madame defarge]

3. Clearly he doesn't read the news...

Wall Street: Desperately seeking relief
Soaring oil prices and Mideast violence swamped stocks. Can the onslaught of earnings change the tide?
By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
July 15 2006: 10:41 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Record oil prices. Escalating violence in the Mideast. The nail-biter over interest rates. A consumer trying to hang in despite a slowing economy.

Who needs summer action movies? Wall Street's been serving up more drama than most investors crave.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/15/markets/sun_lookahead/index.htm?cnn=yes

[Amonester]

7. They don't have funny animals' images in The News - eom

[grannylib]

40. "Ah read the front page, and Ah hear the voices, but Ah'm the Decider..."

At least, he SAYS he reads the front page...bet he has someone read it TO him, if anything...
I'm not at all sure he's literate.

He sure as shit hasn't read the Constitution...or the Bible...
or maybe he has, and he just doesn't get it.

[rodeodance]

4. yes, for the top teir peoples it is.

[BulletproofLandshark]

5. "Prosperity is just around the corner!"

[chookie]

35. There is an old song from the Depression....

...from the Hoover adminstration, that goes, "Prosperity is just around the corner! The trouble is, which corner?"

[Eugene]

6. ...restraining government spending?

We have surely passed through the looking glass!

Celebrating BushCo's "lower" deficit figures is like
calling $2.85/gal gas an improvement over $3.50/gal gas.
Things are still in much worse shape than before Bush
took over. Who does Bush think he's fooling?

When people are borrowing just to make ends meet in this
growing economy, we have a problem.

[teryang]

8. Really!

Reduce government spending. That would be laughable if the money weren't being used to kill people and build a police state.

Did they ever see a defense contactor request they didn't approve.

[genieroze]

33. When people are borrowing just to make ends meet in this growing economy

we have a problem. Nope, just as the neo cons planned to turn us into a third world debtor nation. Middle class terminated, mission accomplished!

[jwirr]

9. Since our role in the world is as consumer and we borrow 2

billion dollars a day to continue this spending spree I suppose that as long as China will continue to borrow us the money we are doing okay.

What is not okay is the uneven balance in trade and the accompanying lower wage for workers. Most of the rest of the world, including Russia and EU still have good strong industrial bases. We have lost most of our industrial base to outsourcing, especially the vital necessities of life, thus we are importing most of it.

We are very vulnerable and dependent on the rest of the world. Instead of fighting losing battles in the ME we should be reinventing our industrial base around alternative energy. Therein lies our strength.

[daleo]

31. Every debt comes due, sooner or later

This one is bound to come due as well. If nothing else, it will mean the ongoing reduction in the U.S. dollar, and therefore in U.S. influence. It seems very reminiscent of the British experience of the late 19th and early 20th century.

[HughBeaumont]

46. But they don't think that.

I've always asked Repukes who's going to pay this massive deficit/debt off and I've NEVER gotten anything except the standard Cheneyism: "Deficits don't matter, businesses will invest benevolently and it will fall. You'll see." STILL waiting for that benevolence, Repukes. Or could it be that they don't want to admit it's their kids and grandkid's problems, not theirs?

Maybe magical debt faeries will wave a wand - *all gone*!

[liberal N proud]

10. For bu$h and his "base" the uber rich - things are great

For the rest of America, they don't give a shit how we are doing.

Does this sound like a great economy?

Economic Week in Review: July 10–14, 2006
Events in the Middle East overshadowed the relatively light economic news this week. Americans added to their revolving debt load in May, pushing consumer credit higher overall. Rising energy prices contributed to a wider U.S. trade deficit for the month. Business inventories rose at a higher-than-expected rate, and June’s retail sales fell, due largely to weaker auto sales. For the week, the S&P 500 Index fell 2.3% to 1,236. The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury note declined 8 basis points to 5.06%.

A surge in revolving credit, which includes debt such as credit cards, pushed consumer credit $4.4 billion higher in May, for an annualized increase of 2.4%. Revolving credit increased $6.7 billion from April, the category’s biggest dollar jump since October 2004 and an annualized gain of 9.9%. Nonrevolving credit, such as education and auto loans, fell $2.2 billion, its first decrease since November 2005.

Exports climbed $2.7 billion in May but imports increased even more, widening the U.S. trade deficit to $63.8 billion. The deficit figure, which was within analysts’ expectations, was slightly higher than the revised $63.3 billion figure for April. Imports rose $3.2 billion in May, due largely to soaring prices for energy products. Petroleum imports registered $27.9 billion in the month, compared with $18.6 billion in May 2005. The goods deficit with China also widened, from $17.0 billion in April to $17.7 billion in May.

Retail sales in June dipped 0.1%, counter to expectations. The decrease was due almost entirely to auto-related sales, which fell 1.4%. Excluding the auto category, retail sales increased 0.3%, led by strong furniture and home furnishing sales. Gasoline sales jumped 1.1%, reflecting higher gas prices in the month, and were 20.4% higher than in June 2005. Excluding both gas and auto sales, retail sales gained 0.1%.

Slowing auto and parts sales contributed to a 1.6% jump in retail inventories in May, leading to a higher-than-expected 0.8% gain in total business inventories. Auto-related inventories grew 3.2% for the month, while stock on clothing retailers’ shelves climbed 1.1%. Manufacturers’ inventories were flat. Total business sales rose 1.4% for the month, with manufacturer sales growing 2.2%.

http://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/VanguardViewsArticle?ArticleJSP=/freshness/News_and_Views/news_ALL_econ_07142006_ALL.jsp

[gratuitous]

11. The envy of Bush's world, maybe

Envious Bush Worlder: "Gee, sure wish we had a multi-trillion dollar national treasury to loot like Bush and his cronies have."

Bush Worlder: "Hey, Ahmed! Is that last year's yacht? Ha, ha!"

[Mountainman]

12. In the bush world you don't pay attention to reality because the 32% base

doesn't need to. Part of that base is made up of the wealthy who are getting richer off this economy and the rest are the stupid freepers who are getting fucked just like we are but they refuse to admit it.

[LostinVA]

13. Oh my gawd... he is cracked

Tell that to Canada, most of the EU countries, etc.

[Skittles]

14. that man is in serious need of a mental health check

he is becoming more delusional each day

[rhett o rick]

49. He has nothing to check. nm

[TAPat]

15. To * I say: "With all due... no wait... I mean, ZERO respect,

bite me!" :nuke:

[UpInArms]

16. The world is envies the myth only

this country is more heavily in debt than any other nation.

[lumpy]

17. Worshiping the BUCK

Bow down, money will buy you happiness, peace and contentment. Have another ice cream cone.

[yorkiemommie1]

18. and I'm the queen of England

n/t

[Corgigal]

22. speaking of the Queen Of England

my teenager is visiting England and I'm paying 1.88 for every dollar she spends.

Oh yeah,,,I'm happy. Good ole USA.

[yorkiemommie1]

44. I hope she is having a lovely time!

Cute corgi! I had a corgi that I loved dearly.

[HughBeaumont]

47. Meanwhile, the British and Europe in general

can shop here and make out like gangbusters, thanks to the playpen value of our Reichdollar.

[truth2power]

19. Step away from the bong, Georgie! n/t

[IndianaGreen]

20. Bong? Heck, I think Bush is eating poisonous mushrooms

and having mystical conversations with the brujo Don Juan.

[grannylib]

21. OMG, how on earth has this moran survived as long as he has, being so

STUPID?????
The economy is in the TOILET for everyone but those at the top of the economic ladder; for the average American, there is no way to stretch a dollar as far as it needs to go: gas prices, rising health care costs, wages that are nowhere CLOSE to keeping pace with inflation, regressive taxation...

You can't fool all the people all the time, but I guess you can sure fool yourself pretty consistently, if you're GW Chimp.

[chookie]

37. Those of us old enough to remember the Cold War...

During the Cold War and the tense standoff between the US and USSR, I had an enjoyable hobby: I loved to listen to Soviet "news" broadcasts on my shortwave radio! Best comedy on the airways! Guaranteed belly laughs!

They would go on and on and on, about how tractor manufacturing has increased by 172% since last year, that grain production had skyrocketed by 85%, and they would interview deleriously happy peasants who were experiencing extreme prosperity and comfort. They would broadcast reports of massive rallies that expressed gratitude to Soviet leaders. It made my head spin!!

This was also how "Pravda", the newspaper of note, packaged "news" to Soviet citizens -- just like the Limbaughs and Malkins of the world desire for the US, it only printed the "good news" about Mother Russia. Every Soviet knew it was pure bullshit (except diehard Bolshies, the Russian equivalent of our cherished freepers and TFMs), and there came to be a method of determining what was really happening by cracking the code of happy stories.

Isn't it remarkable how we are morphing into our old enemies? We traded the freedom of the first amendment for Soviet censorship, and a democracy for a Saddam-style dictatorship!

[tanyev]

23. And this just in.....

Foreign Companies Buy U.S. Roads, Bridges
Roads and bridges built by U.S. taxpayers are starting to be sold off, and so far foreign-owned companies are doing the buying.

On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.

Few people know that the tolls from the U.S. side of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, go to a subsidiary of an Australian company _ which also owns a bridge in Alabama.

Some experts welcome the trend. Robert Poole, transportation director for the conservative think tank Reason Foundation, said private investors can raise more money than politicians to build new roads because these kind of owners are willing to raise tolls.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1640916

[Joe Bacon]

51. That's just the start!

The Republicans are DELIBERATELY out to bankrupt us. That's why they're letting the red ink flow like water. When they bankrupt us with debt, Wofowitz and his pals at the IMF will move in and order the liquidation of all assets.

First on the list will be Social Security and second will be Medicare. Both will be terminated. Once again Bush gets his faith based way and he'll force people to go to churches against their will, and liars like LIEberman and his fellow "Democratic" Quislings will sell us all out!

[Heewack]

24. He's right on that.

Of the economically developed countries we are the envy. The statistics are quite easy to read.

[Trajan]

25. Oh Look Everybody .....

I thought I would shit my pants 100 times this year ...

But I only shit my pants 98 times ! ....

Arent I wonderful ? ...

Love me ... please ? ....

:sarcasm:

It is laughable that the GOP would attempt to attribute the increased tax revenues to their ridiculous top-heavy economic policies .... The 'Clinton Tax Increases' lead to HIGHER growth, HIGHER profits, a HIGHER equities marketplace, and HIGHER measures of satisfaction for families in ALL economic strata ..... Not to mention a government operating in the BLACK for the first time since ..... hell ... since the 60's ? ....

These assholes are driving OUR nation into a fucking DITCH, and they mockingly take credit for miniscule reductions in governmental deficits ..... as the REST of the economy starts tanking before our eyes ....

THEY arent feeling any fucking pain .... no matter what happens ....

FUCK these liars ....

[progressivebydesign]

26. If I wasn't so stressed about money, I'd fall down laughing. n/t

[VegasWolf]

27. Well, that is what the YES men tell BUBBLE-BOY. nt

:nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke:

[ladjf]

28. Yeah, and Iraq is a great democratic role model.

[City Lights]

30. He needs to get over himself.

Truly a delusional little man.

[BenDavid]

32. Is this the

road map to peace this butthead was so proud of back several years ago... Damn fella, you describing the water and the world is drowning...

[chookie]

34. Is he on LSD?

Does he think WE are all on LSD?

We are pursuing pro-growth policies -- in China. My view is that the emerging Chinese economy is the envy of the world.

Who's earning "more money" that His Chimperial Highness mentions? Wages have been frozen for years; it takes two working adults in a household to even aspire to membership in the middle class. People work two and three jobs to get by (remember, when a lady told him she worked 3 jobs, he said "only in America is there that kind of job opportunity!!") Maybe he's not talking about America -- India, maybe?

We've just, as a nation, turned a blind eye to poverty -- but it still exists.

Dear God, this monkey lies and lies and lies and lies.

[VegasWolf]

36. Bush points barbecued baby back rib at the US economy as an example

for the rest of the world.


:nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke::nuke:

[Demeter]

38. More Stand-Up Comedy From Bush?

Did he have his doppelganger with him? And applause signs?

[fob]

39. Color me amazed too. That our economy has been somewhat able to

withstand this legacy MBA having asshole's "economic policies" makes it truly deserving envy.

[truthisfreedom]

42. after putting us through the ringer robbing the tax coffers we're crawling

back slowly to where we used to be when the Clenis ruled the nation, and now he's going to dump us in the sh*tter again.

[sutz12]

43. J: Have you had a CAT scan lately?

:rofl:

[nealmhughes]

45. What about Finland?

Don't they have the strongest economy and the highest employment rate and gdp in all of Europe?

[HughBeaumont]

48. Econ 101 talking points can't mask Reality 102, King George!

The only ones making out hand over fist in this economy are the country club set. Real wages have been stagnant to barely moving since the 70s. We're earning only slightly more than our 70s counterparts while working longer hours on average since both earning household members have to work just to make ends meet. Our taxes go no place except in a Pentagon/Big Business/Big Defense black hole, the debt is the same amount as our economy is worth, our dollar is weak and towns across America are seeing their tax base in the form of well-paying industrial jobs leave for good and never coming back.

There's another thing, King Richard: What do you say to people like my cousin, who works at Packard (who's hand in hand with GM, I believe) and after August he has to take a buyout, which will last him only so long, or risk getting laid off for good because the plant will close? He has nothing other than a high school diploma. It's naive to think that at 35, he and his SO can just go to community college and start over. What would they do? Where would they get the money, go into more debt? Where would the experience come from?

They didn't used to have to worry about this sort of thing before. It used to be that we were able to gainfully employ people who aren't meant for college; these people were our industrial and manufacturing base and they built the quality products we used and bought. A strong economy should be capable of employing EVERYone at a fair wage regardless of education level, and when you cannot do that, all the talking points in the world aint'a gonna mask the reality that you do NOT have any such economy on your watch.

You still have Ohio (and all other states) littered with weed-infested ghost towns, big abandoned buildings that used to employ thousands, their wages replaced by low-paying, crap benefit service jobs. This leads to drug use, alcoholism, broken homes, shoddy schools, towns that couldn't get businesses to come there to save their lives, higher taxes, plummeting real-estate values, etc.

Sell that horseshit to the 32%ers, King Dick Almighty. You and Queen Pickles live well in your hallucenogenic, sociopathic slumber. Life is always easier when you have no reason to be emphathize.

[Vinca]

50. I'm so sick and tired of the BS and lies.

Even bona fide Republicans cringe thinking about Bushonomics. Maybe I run with a poorer-than-average crowd, but I don't know a single person who feels the economy is doing well. Everyone's struggling and there's no relief in sight. In fact, with gas prices likely to be more "4-ish" than "3-ish" before long, the cost of everything is going to increase and make life even harder. I've noticed the cost of groceries rising at a pretty good clip. Everyone who can live without groceries, raise a hand (unless you're too weak). Will someone wake the monkey up and try to explain how real people live?

[area51]

52. "Envy of World"?

If you want to call the 2nd Great Depression, with jobs few, far between, & mostly low-paying, no benefit, part-time only or contract-only, the "envy of the world"...

If you want to call an economy that somehow "can't" find a way to wisely use our tax dollars to pay for universal healthcare like the civilized country have ...

Bush is a sociopathic version of Marie Antoinette.