2.10.2004
The White House Lacking Key Intelligence
I didn't catch Mr Bush on Tim Russert's "Meet the Press". Thanks to an eye- opening post at The Gunther Concept I was made aware of his "performance" and had the links handy to look into the Russert/Bush dialogue, plus Gunther's own linguistic analysis.
Just reading the transcript was disheartening. The man selected to lead the free world lacking both truth and an ability to express himself in standard english makes us a laughingstock in the international community. Remember, this gentleman had the advantage of elite schooling his whole life, including degrees from Yale and Harvard.
The Center for American Progress can help dissect Mr Bush's statements on national TV.
This.pdf from the DNC "Meet the Truth" will also shed light on Bush mis-statements.
Over at American Samizdat I came across this link, a transcript of the show with pertinent hyperlinks in the text. A tip of the cursor to Benedict.
I've been sick, I'm a bit behind, what can I say.
2/10/2004
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Is Bleeding America of Jobs Good?
Mr Bush says that outsourcing is good for America. Perhaps if you are a big money "Bush Pioneer", but what if you are a working person?
"Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade," said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, which prepared the report. "More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that's a good thing."
"We the People" sell our labor when we are employed. No job, no sale. The Times of India highlights this tidbit from the "Economic Report of the President.
Specifically referring to India as an example of an outsourcing destination, the Bush report says "when a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than to make or provide it domestically."
I grew up when "Buy American" was an honored phrase. It meant putting Americans to work. The income from these jobs then circulates through the community as it is spent.
A coalition of 22 US manufacturing associations representing 17000 companies and 1.1 million working folks is calling for
a moratorium on government approval of "free trade" agreements."We are extremely alarmed at the rapid disintegration of our manufacturing base resulting in part from past trade liberalisation agreements and legislation,? the coalition said in a statement.
"This moratorium should extend until our trade policy and past trade liberalisation legislation are fully comprehended and amended to result in balanced trade that benefits our national welfare in a manner that is clearly visible to the American worker and American manufacturers."
Mr Bush's economics minions state that some 2.4 million jobs will be created this coming year. Last year the claim was 1.7 million- 53,000 were lost. So the projection was, what, oh, 1.6 million jobs off.
Business Week says "Corporate Profits Roar". It looks like double digit profit growth, triple digit even, for corporations.
The Economic Policy Institue offers figures a bit different for the working folks that make up Mr Bush's constituents.
In the 25 months since the recession ended, total wage and salary income is up only 0.4%. It should be emphasized that this is growth after the recession ended and does not include income losses incurred while the economy was contracting. This is the slowest wage and salary growth of any recession since 1959, the first year in which monthly data on total wage and salary income is consistently available.
2/10/2004
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