DNC: Bush Economy Benefits His Friends But Leaves the Rest Behind

[MaineDem]

For Immediate Release
January 6, 2006
Contact: Karen Finney - 202-863-8148

Bush Economy Benefits His Friends But Leaves the Rest Behind

Washington, DC - President Bush today launched a new effort to paint a rosy
picture of the nation's economic outlook. Unfortunately, the American people
can already see that the picture presented by the President stands in stark
contrast to the harsh economic realities facing most Americans. While the
President's policies have benefited special interests and his friends in a few
favored industries, working Americans are falling further and further behind
and the President's disastrous fiscal policies have produced record deficits as
far as the eye can see. This explains why recent polls show that 59% of
Americans disapprove of the job President Bush is doing on the economy.


In addition to President Bush's speech in Chicago, today the Vice President,
the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the
Treasury all gave speeches across the country to try to convince Americans that
the economy is rolling.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following
statement:

"President Bush is working hard to push a rosy economic outlook that simply
does not match the harsh realities confronting the American people. Every time
working Americans sit down to pay the bills and balance their checkbooks, they
can see that wages have fallen, while home heating bills, health insurance
premiums, and college tuition are all skyrocketing. Instead of helping American
families confront these challenges, President Bush has been busy putting the
American economy to work for his millionaire friends in the oil and gas
industry.

"Worse still, the President's reckless fiscal policies have produced record
deficits as far as the eye can see. Instead of restoring the fiscally
responsible policies pursued by Democrats and seeking tax fairness for the
middle class, President Bush is insisting on extending his irresponsible tax
cuts and corporate giveaways for his special interest friends.

"Together, America can do better. Democrats are committed to doing everything
we can to increase wages for America's workers, cut out of control health care
costs, give every American the opportunity to get a college education, help
Americans heat their homes this winter, and end the culture of corruption that
for too long has kept the government from helping Americans confront these
challenges. The time has come for President Bush and the Republicans in
Washington to join Democrats in putting the economy back to work for the
American people."

The Bush Economy Rolls for a Few...

Oil Companies Recorded Enormous 3rd Quarter Profits. Exxon Mobil Corp.'s 2005
third quarter earnings climbed 75% from the third quarter of 2004 to $10
billion. Exxon's profit was the highest in the company's history, surpassing
the record it set in the 2004 fourth quarter. Meanwhile profits at
ConocoPhillips (the third-largest U.S. oil producer) jumped 89%, profits at
Amerada Hess rose 53% to $272 million, BP reported a 34 percent rise in
quarterly profit, and Kerr-McGee enjoyed at 48-fold increase in quarterly
profits.

Big Oil Has Recorded $34 Billion in Profits Since Bush Took Office. Record
gasoline prices cost the American consumer a net of over $25 billion during
Bush's first term in office, money that went directly from consumers
pocketbooks into the hands of oil companies and oil producers, including OPEC.
The big three oil companies in America have profited $33.6 billion over the
past three years alone. ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips Company Financial Reports]

As Ordinary Workers Struggle, Oil CEOs Make Record Salaries. According to the
Associated Press, Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman and chief executive Lee R. Raymond
received a $38 million compensation package in 2004, including $7.5 million in
salary and bonus and restricted stock worth $28 million.
ChevronTexaco Corp. Chief Executive David O'Reilly was paid $9.98 million Angeles Times, 3/22/05; Securities and Exchange Commission, ChevronTexaco Proxy
Statement]

Halliburton Still Pays Cheney Three Time the Average Household Income. While
the average American household income has fallen below $44,000 under the
Bush/Cheney Administration, Vice President Cheney continues to receive
approximately $150,000 a year in deferred income from Halliburton. 10/25/03]

...Leaves The Rest In The Dust.

Health Care Premiums Up More Than 50% Since Bush Took Office. The cost of
family health insurance has skyrocketed 57% since President Bush took office.
The typical American family must now pay $9,950 per year for health insurance
compared with $6,348 in 2000.

Number of Uninsured Americans Has Increased Each Year. Almost 46 million
Americans are living without health insurance. After decreasing at the end of
the 1990s, the number of Americans without health insurance has increased from
39.8 million in 2000 to 45.8 million in 2004.

Winter Heating Costs Have Risen by $438, or 79%. The cost of heating fuels has
skyrocketed, leaving American families unprepared to deal with unprecedented
increases in heating bills. The cost of heating a home for the winter has
increased by $438, or 79%, since the winter of 2001-2002. Administration, Short Term Energy Outlook, 12/6/05]

College Tuition On The Rise. Tuition and fees at four-year private universities
have increased by almost $1,200 or 5.9% in 2005 and 32 percent since 2001. The
increase has been even more dramatic at four-year public universities, where
tuition and fees increased by 7.1% this past year and 57% since President Bush
took office.

While Working Families Work Harder, Their Wages Continue to Decline. Working
families are working harder and earning less today than they were at the start
of this Administration. Average household income for working families when
adjusted for inflation was $46,058 in 2000 and has declined to $44,389 today.
At the same time Americans have seen their real wages decline, the productivity
of the American worker is up 13.5%. Americans have worked harder - and better -
over the past five years and received none of the benefits for their hard work.


Bush Economy Bleeding Manufacturing Jobs. The manufacturing sector, often the
source of jobs with good pay and benefits, has lost almost 3 million jobs since
the beginning of 2001. This lack of job growth is particularly troubling given
that we are so far into the economic recovery. Boom That Wasn't, 12/19/05.]

More American Families and Children Live in Poverty. The number of Americans
who are living in poverty has increased each year President Bush has been in
office and is nearly 20% higher today than in 2000. 37 million Americans were
living in poverty at the end of 2004 - an increase of 5.4 million over the 2000
level.

###

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.
org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.

[mom cat]

1. Bookmarked for future use.

[neoblues]

2. Just building his Aristocracy...

The Bush Economy (there's a contradiction there somewhere), is merely the evidence of his policies designed to move us closer to a formal Aristocracy. The wealthy already basically rule the place, and it's just getting worse. The privileged are all the more privileged and the ranks of the have nots is growing (consequently, those with just enough (middle class) are becoming an endangered species). The astronomical Public Debt this bunch of cronies has burdened us with has permanently damaged our future. Our children's children will probably still be working to pay it back. Generations of Americans will suffer for this, within a potentially devastated economy.

One of the phrases that caught my eye was: "Bush is insisting on extending his irresponsible tax cuts and corporate giveaways for his special interest friends."...

True enough, but the Tax Cuts are infinitely worse and more malignant that just "irresponsible", and the Corporate Giveaways are likewise far more egregious, even criminal--involving what should be considered outright theft of the people's money (tax revenues), and calling them merely a "giveaway" is just so... kind. I wonder if more inflamatory language isn't called for. A spade just deserves to be called a spade, unless it's necessary to be strategically diplomatic.

True Justice, would require that Bush, Cheney and the leading Republicans must be stripped of their wealth and permanently forced to live at or below the poverty line (that measure is a joke in and of itself--since one can hardly live and support a family on such wages). That is, a Special Tax should be applied to these people at the rate of 100% for all income above that level. I guess that'd mean no "ivy league" college for their kids... (though I question the notion of punishing the offspring for the sins of the father--then again, maybe they ought to face the same world the rest of America does). Can you imagine them having to budget to make it from paycheck to paycheck? An appealing thought, anyway. Of course, that's just what would be required to bring fairness for their economic sins alone--for other activities, to approach Justice would likely require rather long prison terms (or worse--how does one make up/pay for torturing people, destroying lives and causing thousands upon thousands of deaths).

We should be considering committing ourselves to the proposal that we will never allow America to become a true "Aristocracy", and that we'd be willing to do whatever it takes to preserve the America and the ideals we've held dear, no matter what the cost.