t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Wednesday 06 February 2008
On January 28, 2008, President Bush gave his final State of the Union Address in which he was long on articulating issues and problems facing America but short on real solutions. He talked about difficult decisions between peace and war, keeping America competitive in the global economy, providing healthcare for all Americans and the overall welfare of American citizens. Unfortunately, very little, if anything that the President has done or proposed has made the average American safer, more competitive, or improved their long term health and financial well being.
The President said "All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people’s business." What people is he referring to? It has not been in the best interest of "the people" to create the fictional "War on Terror" unless "the people" in question happen to be Haliburton, The Carlyle Group, and other defense contractors. According to a report just released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), "War funding, which averaged about $93 billion a year from 2003 through 2005, rose to $120 billion in 2006 and $171 billion in 2007… Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Congress has written checks for $691 billion to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and such related activities as Iraq reconstruction…"
What is the President’s solution to this spending problem? He has asked Congress for $193 billion in 2008. How will this be paid for? Certainly, not with proceeds from the free-flowing Iraqi oil as he and Cheney promised. According to the CBO, "All of the Iraq and Afghanistan war money - about $11 billion a month - is effectively being put on a government credit card… Interest payments on the debt will total an estimated $2.7 trillion over the next decade."
Bush went on to say, "Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas." What is his plan for lowering gas prices? According to ABC News, President Bush went to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and begged him to increase production. What was the King’s response? One hour after President Bush’s public plea, the Saudi oil minister announced the country would increase production "when the market justifies it." That’s a very nice way of saying, "Go pound sand!" How did other OPEC oil ministers respond to this request? According to Bloomberg News, Galo Chiriboga, the energy minister for Ecuador, OPEC's newest member, said "We don't think there are much changes to do." There's "no need for additional barrels," Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, the OPEC governor for Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer, said. Oil ministers from Qatar and the U.A.E. said that the market is "well balanced." "I don't see the need for more" OPEC oil, Qatar's Abdullah bin Hamad al- Attiyah, said in an interview. The world is saying no! Other countries are now extracting their pound of flesh for American arrogance, hubris, and imperialism.
It is true; wages may be up in some sectors but it will take another article for me to fully address the impact that the outsourcing of jobs overseas has had on the American economy. Bush did not discuss the impact that the increased cost of prescription drugs (with cheaper products available in Canada) are having on the average American’s budget. He failed to discuss how his push to deregulate the American financial institutions has contributed to the current American financial crisis.
The President went on to say, "In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth." I ask again, which Americans is he referring to? He can not be referring to the 2.2 million American homes that received foreclosure-related warnings last year. According to RealtyTrac, Foreclosure filings rose 75 percent from the previous year to 2.2 million. More than 1 percent of all U.S. households were in some phase of the foreclosure process last year, up from about half a percent in 2006. In December alone, foreclosure filings soared 97 percent from the same month a year earlier to 215,749. It was the fifth consecutive month in which foreclosure filings topped more than 200,000. RealtyTrac estimates the pace of foreclosure filings will remain steady during the first half of 2008. For most Americans, home ownership has been a source of long term economic stability. That is no longer true.
According to the Commerce Department, the sale of new homes plunged and prices have posted the weakest showing in 16 years. New home sales dropped by 26.4 percent last year. People with homes are losing them at record rates. Builders must now carry huge backlogs of unsold homes since last year was the worst sales year on record.
According to the Associated Press, "Wall Street moved perilously closer to a bear market Wednesday, falling sharply yet again as dejected investors bet that a recession in the United States is inevitable. Each of the major indexes at times were down more than 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrials, which fell more than 320 points before regaining some ground." This problem isn’t just confined to the U.S. Global stock markets have fallen dramatically as this American financial crisis continues to grow. All President Bush can do is go around the world and beg OPEC to increase oil production.
What is at the heart of the President’s solution to this looming economic crisis that some are already calling a recession? An "economic stimulus" package or tax refund of $600 to $1,200 to each household, more if the family has children. The President is betting that this money will be used to buy goods and services, thus "stimulating" the economy. The problem with that is, if my home is in foreclosure, how is spending $1,200 or $1,500 going to stop that process? If my assembly line job at Ford or GM went to Mexico, how is this stimulus package going to help me keep my family out of bankruptcy? The answer is, it won’t! Lest we forget, the President tried this once before; look where we are today?
The President said, "The people’s trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks." The people’s trust in their government has really been undermined by President Bush’s misstatements regarding H.R. 976, the Children’s Health Insurance bill, failure to act when hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Region, misstatements regarding funding levels in the Temporary Assistance of Needy Families legislation (TANF), and his top administration officials making hundreds of false statements about Iraq.
According to the Center for public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism, 935 false statements were made by President Bush and key members of his administration such as VP Cheney, Dr. Rice, and General Powell in the two years after September 11, 2001. The President led the deception with 259 false statements with General Powell close behind with 244 statements. Remember, there were no WMD’s, no relationship between Saddam and Osama, and no attempt to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger. These actions, coupled with the Democratic led Congress's inaction are what impacted the people's trust in government.
At the end of the day, it’s up to the people, the real people, not Haliburton, The Carlyle Group, and defense contractors to extract from their government the real solutions to the structural and inherent problems facing America today.
© 2008 InfoWave Commuications, LLC.
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