What Reagan Started, Bush Is Finishing
By David Martin
10/26/05 "ICH" -- -- In recent weeks, every morning’s newspaper seems to carry another headline documenting the accelerating tailspin of George Bush’s administration into disastrous fiasco. Political pundits may attribute the ongoing self-immolation of George Bush to the general ineptitude of the Mayberry Machiavellis with whom he has surrounded himself.
But there is another, more historically correct explanation for the current presidential unraveling: the disaster that is George Bush is the inevitable culmination of the “revolution” wrought by Ronald Reagan.
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The bright and shining “morning in America” that Reagan touted has turned into a cold, gray dusk as the sun rapidly sets on the American dream. In the 25 years since Reagan was sworn into office, the middle class is shrinking and the gap between wealthy and poor is reaching Grand Canyon proportions. During this period the average after-tax income of the lowest fifth of Americans has increased by 5%, the middle fifth by 15%, and the top fifth by 48%. The income of the top 1% of Americans, in contrast, has more than doubled, growing from $298,900 to $631,700, an increase of 111%.1
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Politicians and their supporters love to wax romantic about the legacy they leave behind. Here’s the Reagan/Bush legacy: failed wars, support of terrorists, environmental degradation, the income distribution of a banana republic, a credit rating a third world country would be ashamed of, falling health standards, the disappearance of guaranteed retirement pensions, and corporate malfeasance on an unprecedented scale.
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