Is Bush the Worst President in American History?

Parent Cafe
81

<p>Xiggi, the term “prestidigitation” refers to the art of sleight of hand - and is accomplished by distracting the audience with a flashy object or gesture which causes them to track the decoy while the magician is doing something covert with the other hand - like picking the rube’s pocket. In polite magic shows the wallet is then returned to the chagrined but amused audience volunteer.</p>

<p>In politics the flashy napkin is a welfare mother in a Cadillac, or a prison guard trying to work the system - frequently at least somewhat accurately reflecting an actual person, but still - just a decoy, used to deflect the audience’s attention from the pocket-picking part.</p>

<p>Your assessement of the prison guard may be correct - but that doesn’t mean our pocket’s aren’t being picked. Don’t be distracted by flashy decoys.</p>

82

<p>Someone with an income of $50-60K IS poor in SF or NYC or Boston. Forget two cars and a $500K house. Can’t even find a rental with that salary.</p>

<p>There are a lot of places in America where a family might be able to live a middle class lifestyle on that amount of money, but not in or near a major city. And it has nothing to do with extravagance. It’s pure reality that it is outragrously expensive in certain parts of the country.</p>

83

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=105963[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=105963&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Kerry Morning, 47, and his wife Gina, 45, saw their income plummet last year when Kerry Morning was injured at his job as an Alameda County probation officer. His $65,000 annual salary – $5,417 a month – was replaced by a little under $3,500 a month in taxable disability payments. </p>

<p>To keep up with the $3,000-a-month mortgage and taxes on the house they bought for $598,000 in Richmond in 2002, as well as their car payment and utility bills, Gina Morning turned the odd jobs she used to do for extra cash into a business. She now makes about $20,000 a year staging children’s birthday parties, driving students to school, caring for kids during the summer and sewing costumes and clothes with African-style prints.</p>

84

<p>I’d question the “taxable” portion of disability, Xig. The unions would be all over this if the benefit is taxable, especially with a OTJ injury. But I am not familiar with Ca’s laws.</p>

85

<p>Xiggi - the county recorder’s records show that Kerry Morning sold his house last week, after tax delinquencies were recorded in 2005. I don’t know what the price was, or where Mr. & Mrs. Morning and their three kids moved to. </p>

<p>(And by the way, a probation officer is very far from a “glorified prison guard.”)</p>

86

<p>Pretty good critique of the original article. I think mine was more succinct, but this is pretty good.</p>

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87

<p>Reading an earlier post by originaloog, I was reminded of Clinton’s speech at the Democratic convention, along these lines (not an exact quote):</p>

<p>'The Republicans were pretty mean to me when I was in office, but now that I’m making money they are being real good to me. They could have spent more money inspecting containers at the ports, but they wanted to protect my tax break…etc. etc. etc." It was hilarious and dead on. </p>

<p>If only those who were fooled about their tax refund pittance, those who believed it was more important to worry about gay marriage versus keeping their job, those who lost their jobs to accelarated outsourcing, and many other successfully-duped groups, had listened to Clinton when he essentially told them “they’re going to pick your pocket - wise up now.”</p>

<p>At least there is hope, since the fig leaves keep burning or falling off - the unattractive sight of the Republican Party with its collective pants down - seems to be finally convincing the late-blooming-thinkers that it was a very, very bad idea to re-elect You-Know-Who. (Thank you Ministry of Magic, for the euphemism).</p>

88

<p>Yup, things are really, really bad and we should have learned our lesson:

</p>

<p><a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060428/bs_afp/useconomygrowth;_ylt=AoCgyOxWEZwZ9NlRdTTXVKayBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--[/url]”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060428/bs_afp/useconomygrowth;_ylt=AoCgyOxWEZwZ9NlRdTTXVKayBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But, the fact that you think things are terrible is a testament to the efficacy of the Dem’s doom and gloom propaganda machine. Or perhaps you are a cog in that machine?</p>

89

<p>Fundingfather, I appreciate that post. Your logic and reasoning crumbles the foundation of liberal propaganda. Praise, praise the Lord!</p>

90

<p>

So, a post-Katrina rebound that brings the last six month’s economy almost to normal and all that icky stuff about WMD’s and Iraq and corruption and incompetence and the increasing gap between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else is just fine and dandy now, right? Praise the Lord!</p>

91

<p>Any notion of how much growth we’ll need (% per year, and # of years) to ‘grow our way out’ of this incredible debt-- considering the appalling rate that we’re still defecit spending?</p>

92

<p>Here is a sobbering exerpt from an article in todays KC Star. The fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Nazism, the Russian and French revolutions were all bred by economic crises. It would be foolish to think that it could not happen to us. I have a profound saddness witnessing what is happening to our country and the implications for future generations.</p>

<p>Debt is cheating our children’s future
By Isabel Sawhill
Special to The Star
Now that we have all gone through the painful process of paying income taxes, let’s stop and think what tax-paying — and the federal fiscal environment — may be like 25 years from now.</p>

<p>If we think we have it bad, our children and grandchildren face potential tax and financial burdens that will be crippling if nothing is done to reduce our nation’s growing debt.</p>

<p>A recent AARP Bulletin, belying the stereotype of the greedy senior, put two naked toddlers on its cover and superimposed on their backs the grim headline “$156,000 in debt.” That’s the amount that every American child already owes, on behalf of his or her country, if you add our $8.3 trillion national debt, plus unfunded commitments to Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs.</p>

<p>That’s nearly three times the average household’s net worth and about four times the average American’s annual income.</p>

<p>And it’s all because of our fiscal profligacy — or should we say immorality?</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/14406626.htm[/url]”>http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/14406626.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

93

<p>FF said, “But, the fact that you think things are terrible is a testament to the efficacy of the Dem’s doom and gloom propaganda machine.”</p>

<p>Silly me, I thought George Bush and the Republican congress was to blame.
I feel so much better knowing we Dems have such a powerful influence. Imagine that - the power to actually lead people to believe something is true when it’s not. Hmmm.</p>

94

<p>fundingfather, my constitution is strong, but definitely not equal to the stresses of being a politician.</p>

<p>A cog…your question was, am I a cog in the ‘doom and gloom propaganda machine?’ Well, in the mind of Chief Bromden, we are all cogs in the machinery of The Combine, and if his notions of reality are true, then yes, I am a cog, but so are you. As far as financial matters go, as a wage-earning member of the upper middle class, my overall financial situation has deteriorated due to the policies of this regime, even though (lucky me) my wages have risen. </p>

<p>Republicans have followed the same basic path for the past 30-odd years - seeking to lower wages (more profit for “My base - the haves and the have mores!”), to lower taxes (benefitting the have-mores), to raise defense spending, to raise oil prices (look at what happened when You-Know-Who’s father came into office), to gut environmental regulations, to go to war (perfect excuse for more defense spending and works wonderfully well for keeping the populace worried and fearful), to gut the middle class (too dangerous - they might get uppity), to intimidate other nations, and to pressure everyone to wave the flag and thump the Bible. </p>

<p>Big yawn - or it would be, it is so transparent, predictable, and typical - if so much damage had not been done to the working person. All those profits you mention do not trickle down to lower the cost of living or provide real growth in spending power for most citizens. Running twice as fast to stay in one place is the best most people are able to achieve.</p>

<p>Add to this everyday mess the major risks of continual wars, the seizure of Presidential power (such as sealing records that would put Bush and Cheney behind bars for insider trading), suspension of constitutional rights, and attempts to exert more governmental control (e.g., forcing women to have babies) and you get the classic setup for fascism. Strong alliances between governing bodies and corporations is a signature condition - we sure got that! </p>

<p>And wasn’t it Rove who said “Forget the facts - we make our own reality.” World as fantasy projection - means you can manipulate the people any way that is expedient and not even feel guilty about it. And why should you? Most of them (technically speaking) are damned anyway - what are the rights of the damned?</p>

<p>Carpetbaggers. That’s the succinct descriptive term. The country is being run by carpetbaggers, for their own benefit, and the fox is polishing off the chickens in the coop.</p>

<p>[I really must be careful - when the concentration camps in Texas are open for guests, they may read this CC post and haul me off - guess I’ll see some of you there.]</p>

95

<p>The argument that there is a widening gap between the richest and the poorest is the silliest thing I hear these days. </p>

<p>Since the incomes of top people (such as Bill Gates, Oprah, etc) in the US will always go higher (no way to legally stop that) and the incomes of the lowest will always be very low (since the lowest includes those with no income $0 or very low income ) the gap will always grow no matter what political party is in office!!! The argument is just meaningless!</p>

96

<p>Uhh I think everyone’s income has gone up, really. Compared to say 40s, 60s, etc…Are we not more wealthy and have better standards of living?</p>

97

<p>Actually, jlauer and w1cked, the income of the most wealthy and that of the various income strata have been tracked since the beginning of the 20th century. Until about 1980 all strata moved more or less together; as the wealthy got wealthier, the poor got less poor. From the 40’s or 60’s to the 80’s everyone’s income went up. That is, the wealthy were always wealthier, but the ratio of wealth of, say the top 1% to that of the bottom 20% remained pretty constant. Around 1980 the income growth began to diverge. The increase in the wealth of the wealthiest began to accellerate, while that of those at the lower end of the economic scale stalled. Since then, the average increase in people’s wealth has been, on average, directly proportionate to how wealthy you are. The poor earn no more now (adjusted for inflation) than they did in 1980. The income of the top 10% has gone up; the income of the top 1% has gone up by a greater percentage than that of the top 10%; the income of the top .1% has gone up faster than the income of the top 1%.</p>

<p>Don’t take my word for it; check it out for yourselves.</p>

98

<p>By all means provide a reliable source.</p>

99

<p>Do you consider the data generated by the last two U.S. censuses to be “reliable”? Or the Department of Labor statistics from the past five years? Or compresensive studies on the widening income gap by the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities or the Economic Policy Institute? Pardon me, but one would have to be nothing short of brain dead to not know that the income gap in widening. Or a die-hard Republican.</p>

100

<p>w1cked, On post #63 I provided a link to a spreadsheet provided by the IRS which sets forth, among other things, the percentage of total AGI which was received by the top 1%, top 10%, top 75%, and top 50% from 1986 to 2003. If you can do some simple arithmetic you can figure out what was left for the bottom 50%. There are a variety of other conclusions you can draw by analyzing the data as well, if you are so inclined. On post 70, I “borrowed” a cite from the Financial times which is a little more thorough. There is a wealth of data (pardon the pun.) It’s not a secret. It’s just that there’s nobody out there who stands to make a lot of money by publicizing it, and pounding it into your consciousness by the force of sheer repetition.</p>