Census Report Shows Bush Economic Legacy Is Failure On Every Measurement

The Atlantic:

Thursday's annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau's principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush.

It's not a record many Republicans are likely to point to with pride.

Read the whole story: The Atlantic

Comments

[BulwerLytton]

06:48 PM on 09/14/2009

Here's an interesting little historical tidbit: Prior to the Bush presidency, historians and social scientists had pretty much agreed that one of the worst, if not THE worst president in American history was Franklin Pierce. He is ranked in the bottom quartile of EVERY significant poll of historians, economists, journalists, and politicians. Only three other presidents have had this dubious distinction -- Harding, Fillmore, and Buchanan.

Here's where it gets interesting: Barbara Bush's maiden name was (drum roll please) PIERCE. She is the 4th cousin of Franklin Pierce.

Must be something to this genetics stuff after all.

[BK1717]

04:14 PM on 09/14/2009

And now you know why some members of the GOP (Michele Bachmann, Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg) are so eager to eliminate the census...

[20090120]

03:59 PM on 09/14/2009

What a great article with facts to back up the fact that the Bush administration and his GOParty of NO was indeed the worst in US history.

[wingsabre]

03:49 PM on 09/14/2009

In terms of health care reform, this is ample evidence to support reform. One can look at the numbers and see that wages have remain stagnant, even though employers are paying more to employ employees. A large portion of this cost is attributed to health care cost. If the cost is contained in anyway, fit or form, it would essentially lead to a wage increase for average Americans. People who see that they may not benefit from current reforms, but see that they'll be earning more money simply because their employers are not spending more to pay for inflated health insurance cost.

[Jlong]

03:15 PM on 09/14/2009

This should be the death knell to Reagonomics, trickle-down, tax breaks for the rich, nonsense that we've been living under for 30 years. Clinton was successful because he did two things, increase government revenues with a sensible tax policy and increasing government spending in key social areas. Increasing the incomes of the rich in the hopes that the rest of the people will have the opportunity to increase their standards of living with the scraps that fall from the tables of the rich (trickle-down) DID NOT WORK. Therefore, any Republicans offering that economic model as a solution for anything should be voted out of office as purveyors of failed ideas.

[BoudainKing]

02:59 PM on 09/14/2009

Obama liked the Bush deficit so much, he tripled it! Spend mo money O-man, dig a hole we can never get out of!

[1izzard]

03:11 PM on 09/14/2009

I don't know where you are getting your info?! Links please or it isn't real...

[gretcheno]

07:51 PM on 09/14/2009

He LIE!!

[wingsabre]

03:54 PM on 09/14/2009

Yeah, sure, he tripled the Bush deficit by simply reporting the cost of both the Iraq war, and the Afganistan War. Both of these values were not accounted in the Bush Budgets. They were all part of emergency cost. It's easy to increase the budget by reporting things that weren't reported in the first place. Additionally, Obama allocated money for emergency expenditures in his budget. Something past presidents neglected to do. In other words, he sorted out money for hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters that are inevitable. These almost never get added to the budget before they occur, but instead are tacked on after the fact.

[midbikecrisis]

02:49 PM on 09/14/2009

Does anyone think this was done by accident..?

[neocon666]

06:52 PM on 09/14/2009

David Stockman, budget director under Ronald Reagan, admitted that Reagan's military buildup -the largest peacetime military build up in history -was done with the specific purpose of using the deficit it created as an excuse to cut social programs. That practice has continued with the republicans until the present day.

[Niet]

02:33 PM on 09/14/2009

Like we need a "study" to tell us that.

[clutchkill]

02:21 PM on 09/14/2009

the "no duh" headline of the day..

[colaman52]

02:17 PM on 09/14/2009

After reading this article and feeling vindicated about my serious problems with the Bush administration and the Republican party's continued insistence on maintaining its failed republican policies , I sent this article to my son and this is what he wrote back to me, which I think captures my sentiments perfectly.

This could be the best article I have ever read! Axelrod and Emanuel need to get a copy of this to every democrat and require them to memorize it. Then they need to go on every talk show, every town hall meeting, and spread this message. The republicans love to use the CBO study that determined that there would be no savings from Obama’s health care. Well now the Democrats have a Census study that tears apart their flawed platforms. I say go on the offensive and use the strategy they use which is scare tactics. These statistics need to be known. I printed the article and highlighted it…I am even considering framing it!

[democracy7]

02:11 PM on 09/14/2009

This article comes as no surprise to anyone with a thinking brain, and one who is able to see the rules of cause and effect. Trickle down economics did not work under Regan, and why they thought it would work under the shrub is beyond me.
Rethuglicans can only spout off on conservative family values, never mind the fact that those same values are the antithesis of what would be of true value to Christs teachings, or what would be a more just system. Lower taxes on the wealthy raise taxes on the middle class, only serves to eliminate the middle class.
The income gap keeps growing and everyone except the wealthy keep getting poorer. Great plan if you truly wish to decimate the middle class and consolidate power for the upper class./

[gretcheno]

01:56 PM on 09/14/2009

I just emailed this to Keith Olberman, Rachel Maddow, Ed Shultz and Michael Baisden maybe they will talk about this.

[colaman52]

02:26 PM on 09/14/2009

Good! They should really talk this up and get as many Republican politicians to respond to this.

[gretcheno]

02:32 PM on 09/14/2009

You just gave me an idea I will send it to all the congressmen/women and senators. Heck this is going to take all day. lol

[stop7997]

01:38 PM on 09/14/2009

And yet Obama continues using Bush's economic team to perpetuate a failed economic agenda. Go figure.

[Willow207]

01:41 PM on 09/14/2009

What "team members" are you referring to? Names and departments...

[Willow207]

01:37 PM on 09/14/2009

From a recent op/ed in the New York Times, Glenn Hubbard give Pres. Bush an economic demonstration that was beyond Bush's ability to grasp--Hubbard resigned his job in frustration and returned to his job as Dean of Columbia Business School:

"As the Council of Economic Advisers chairman in 2002, I tried to make this very point to President Bush. In the Oval Office, I showed him two $1 bills and asked: “If one of these dollars is invested in bonds and the other in stocks, what is the present value of either today?” The answer, I told him, is $1. The higher return on stocks reflects greater risk than investments like bonds, and investors cannot be as confident about the outcome of their investments."

[neocon666]

07:08 PM on 09/14/2009

John Dean highlighted the fact that George W. Bush never had actual staff meetings in one of his books: the attendees were literally given scripts to read to him.

[Mike169]

01:34 PM on 09/14/2009

This is a surprise?