Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Bush's failed right wing agenda is to blame for deteoriating economic security

This is a remarkable moment in the life of our nation...Never has the promise of prosperity been so vivid. But times of plenty, like times of crisis, are tests of American character...Prosperity can be a tool in our hands - used to build and better our country. Or it can be a drug in our system - dulling our sense of urgency, of empathy, of duty.

Our opportunities are too great, our lives too short, to waste this moment.


- George W. Bush, August 3rd, 2000

Eight years, one month, and twelve days ago, George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for President of the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, paying lip service to the great progressive values of empathy, prosperity and opportunity before a nationwide audience of millions.

Since seizing control of the White House (with the help of the Supreme Court) Bush has presided over one of the most disastrous errors in American history, squandering international goodwill abroad, abusing the power of government, rolling back environmental and consumer protections, aiding and abetting corporate tycoons and lawbreakers, violating treaties, illegally rewarding friends, disobeying the Geneva Conventions, assaulting civil liberties, launching a preemptive attack on a nation that posed no threat to us, using fear to scare voters, dismantling regulatory oversight of the private sector, and obscenely wasting America's common wealth through large transfers of money to the richest of the rich.

For nearly a decade, Republicans, led by the former governor of Texas, have been thrashing the health out of the United States of America, tarnishing our nation's image, destroying its promise, and corrupting its capitol.

The wanton destruction of government, the greed, the gluttony, the overconfidence, and the swagger that have defined the Bush presidency have taken an unbelievable toll - a toll that we may not recover from for decades.

The failure of Bush's right wing agenda is painfully apparent on days like these, with the news that two of the nation's largest investment banks will soon cease to exist. One, Lehman Brothers, is filing for bankruptcy; the other, Merrill Lynch, will soon be a division of the mammoth Bank of America conglomerate.

Both firms are faltering as a result of the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis, which has weakened dozens of once mighty American financial giants.

Since the trouble began, Wall Street has looked to the federal government for help. And the Bush administration has obliged, first by assisting J.P. Morgan Chase take over Bear Stearns, then by placing mortgage underwriters Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the management of the United States.

(So much for the "free" market.)

But perhaps deciding they couldn't justify sticking taxpayers with the bill for more of Wall Street's mistakes, Treasury officials refused to provide cover for potential buyers of Lehman Brothers. And so, unable to find a savior, the firm is being forced into bankruptcy and eventual liquidation.

Matthew Yglesias muses:
Can someone remind me what it is that all these financial wizards were getting paid so much money to do? Is there some reason you need to pay top dollar to find someone capable of managing an institution into the ground?
Indeed.

Unfortunately, American economic woes extend far beyond Wall Street. Millions of families are grappling with the United States' deteriorating economic security.

In the last year, eleven commercial banks have closed, most notably California's IndyMac Bank, which controlled nearly $20 billion in deposits. Worse, more closures are seemingly on the horizon:
Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, a research firm, predicts that approximately 110 banks with $850 billion in assets could close by next July. That's out of 8,400 federally insured institutions, he said, which together hold $13 trillion in assets.
Unemployment is at a five year high of 6.1%. It's expected to get worse before the year is over and the next president takes office.

Prices for food and fuel are outstripping wage increases, handing American workers what the New York Times dubs "a de facto pay cut".

Families, meanwhile, are buried under more debt than ever.

And the housing bubble is drastically reducing state government revenues at a time when we need our common wealth to be strong.

This is what the right wing agenda has brought us. For most of this century, Republicans have been in control of all three branches of the federal government. (Democrats are now the majority in Congress, but the Senate Democratic caucus has only a tenuous hold on the chamber and the House Democratic caucus is weak thanks to the presence of Bush Dog Democrats).

Instead of holding Wall Street accountable, Bush and the Republicans have done the bidding of corporate titans eager to expand power and profits.

Instead of working to ensure that markets are fair and constructed for the broadest possible prosperity, Bush and the Republicans have pursued an unwise and thoughtless hands-off approach, deriding government oversight as counterproductive.

Instead of investing the Clinton/Gore surplus into America's future, Bush and the Republicans have engineered tax cuts that transferred our valuable public savings into the private bank accounts of millionaires and billionaires.

Instead of strengthening regulations that could have helped prevent or lessen the crisis we find ourselves in, Bush and the Republicans have tried to erase New Deal economic protections put into place by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Instead of helping American workers help themselves by fostering the growth of collective bargaining, Bush and Republicans have waged an all out war on unions.

Instead of conserving for emergencies, Bush and the Republicans have spent like there's no tomorrow, running up massive deficits.

Instead of embracing government's moral mission to empower people, Bush and the Republicans have carried out privateering (privatization + profiteering) schemes that have hurt all of us, whether we live in a small town or a big city.

Instead of acting to stop criminals like Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling of Enron from defrauding consumers and state governments, Bush and the Republicans cheerfully looked the other way while American citizens were gouged.

Ultimately, however, the names of those in charge don't really matter. What does matter is the deeply flawed conservative moral system they believe in. It is that conservative worldview that is truly to blame for this mess. Bush has just been following the agenda laid out by America's leading conservatives.

And as this right wing agenda has torn our nation asunder, it has become increasingly unpopular. Consequently, many conservatives are trying to distance themselves from Bush - even claiming that Dubya isn't a "true conservative".

But he is. It is his stubborn adherence to the bedrock principles of conservatism (i.e. every disciplined man for himself) that have mired our country in a disastrous quagmire in Iraq and led to a weak economy at home.

This Second Gilded Age cannot continue.

We need a new Progressive Era and leadership that can heal the massive wounds conservatives have inflicted upon our country.

Just a few months from now, on January 20th, 2009, the Bush error will be over - but only if we can win this election.

Should McCain and Palin prevail, the nightmare will simply get worse, for this year's Republican ticket is every bit as right wing as Bush and Cheney.

America's economic and national security are at stake in November. We're in a deep, deep hole with only a pinprick of light at the top.

It's time we quit digging.

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