MTP Deconstruction: CEO Bush on the economy

[Taeger]

CEO Bush and the Economy


Russert: Let me turn to the economy.

President Bush: Yes.

Russert: And this is one of my charts that I would like to show you.
President Bush: I was hoping to see one of them.

Russert: The Bush Cheney first three years, the unemployment rate has gone up 33 percent, there has been a loss of 2.2 million jobs. We've gone from a $281 billion surplus to a $521 billion deficit. The debt has gone from 5.7 trillion, to $7 trillion up 23 percent.
Based on that record, why should the American people rehire you as CEO?

President Bush: Sure, because I have been the President during a time of tremendous stress on our economy and made the decisions necessary to lead that would enhance recovery. We’ll review the bidding here. The stock market started to decline in March of 2000. That was the first sign that things were troubled. The recession started upon my arrival. It could have been some say February, some say March, some speculate maybe earlier it started, but nevertheless it happened as we showed up here.

The attacks on our country affected our economy. Corporate scandals affected the confidence of people and therefore affected the economy. My decision on Iraq, this kind of march to war, affected the economy, but we have been through a lot. And what those numbers show is the fact we have been through a lot.

But what the people must understand is that instead of wondering what to do, I acted, and I acted by cutting the taxes on individuals and small businesses, primarily. And that, itself, has led to this recovery.

So, you show that the numbers kind of I'm not suggesting the chart only shows the bad numbers, but how about the fact that we are now increasing jobs or the fact that unemployment is now down to 5.6 percent? There was a winter recession and unemployment went up, and now it's heading in the right direction.

The economic stimulus plan that I passed, or I asked the Congress to pass, and I worked with Congress to pass, is making a big difference.

Russert: But when you proposed your first tax cut in 2001, you said this was going to generate 800,000 new jobs. Your tax cut of 2003, create a million new jobs. That has not happened.

President Bush: Well, it's happening. It's happening. And there is good momentum when it comes to the creation of new jobs.

Again, we have been through a lot. This economy has been through a lot, which is why I'm so optimistic about the future because I know what we have been through.

And I look forward to debate on the economy because I think one of those things that's very important is that the entrepreneurial spirit of this country be strong and the small business sector be strong. And the policies I have laid out enhance entrepreneurship, they encourage small business creation, and I think this economy is coming around just right, frankly.

Russert: The General Accounting Office, which are the nation's auditors

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: have done a study of our finances.

President Bush: Um hmm.

Russert: And this is what your legacy will be to the next generation. It says that our “current fiscal policy is unsustainable.” They did a computer simulation that shows that balancing the budget in 2040 could require either cutting total Federal spending in half or doubling Federal taxes.
President Bush: Um hmm.

Russert: How why, as a fiscal conservative as you like to call yourself, would you allow a $500 billion deficit and this kind of deficit disaster?

President Bush: Sure. The budget I just proposed to the Congress cuts the deficit in half in five years.
Now, I don't know what the assumptions are in the GAO report, but I do know that if Congress is wise with the people's money, we can cut the deficit in half. And at that point in time, as a percentage of GDP, the deficit will be relatively low.

I agree with the assessment that we've got some long term financial issues we must look at, and that's one reason I asked Congress to deal with Medicare. I strongly felt that if we didn't have an element of competition, that if we weren't modern with the Medicare program, if we didn't incorporate what's called "health savings accounts" to encourage Americans to take more control over their healthcare decisions, we would have even a worse financial picture in the long run.

I believe Medicare is going to not only make the system work better for seniors but is going to help the fiscal situation of our long term projection.

We got to deal with Social Security as well. As you know, these entitlement programs need to be dealt with.
We are dealing with some entitlement programs right now in the Congress. The highway bill. It's going to be an interesting test of fiscal discipline on both sides of the aisle. The Senate's is about $370, as I understand, $370 billion; the House is at less than that but over $300 billion. And as you know, the budget I propose is about $256 billion.

[madrchsod]

1. the highway bill is an

entitlement? did this guy pass econonmics 101 in college?

[Taeger]

2. How many jobs ???

The economic stimulus plan that I passed, or I asked the Congress to pass, and I worked with Congress to pass, is making a big difference.

Russert: But when you proposed your first tax cut in 2001, you said this was going to generate 800,000 new jobs. Your tax cut of 2003, create a million new jobs. That has not happened.

President Bush: Well, it's happening. It's happening. And there is good momentum when it comes to the creation of new jobs.

Again, we have been through a lot. This economy has been through a lot, which is why I'm so optimistic about the future because I know what we have been through.


So, you promised 1.8 million new jobs and delivered about 300,000. At the same time, 3 million jobs have been lost.

So your economic "stimulus" plans generated a net increase of -2.7 million jobs. Good work doofus.

I really want to see Clark tackle Bush on his nonsense language. He was an economics professor at West Point. Clark would smash Bush to little ity bits!!!!!