The Occasional Observer

1 comments:

SheaHeyKid said...

All I can say is, people will get what they ask for. When they elect a Dem prez and overwhelmingly Dem congress, they will get the "change" they so desperately seek: in the form of substantially increased taxes and spending, and weaker national security.

Speaking of taxes, there is a really interesting article in WSJ today. Check out the figure that shows that the federal revenues as a % of GDP have stayed constant for decades, regardless of top tax bracket. Since GDP goes up with lower taxes, this argues for lowering taxes to increase revenues.

At the end of the day I think Bush made three critical mistakes that are unforgivable to American people. First, he failed to understand and/or accurately portray what would happen in post-war Iraq. Surely someone in a policy position must've known that a period of retribution and civil war would occur after Saddam's dictatorial restraints were lifted. Had they been more honest with themselves and Americans about this, it might've been more tolerable. Second, his spending was out of control and simply unacceptable in the name of the conservative party. This one must be reigned in. Third, he refused to even pay lip service to rising oil prices. I am well aware of the complexity of influences leading to higher oil prices, and the fact that there is really nothing he can do in the short term to alleviate the pain. But he could have been more public in acknowledging the difficulty it is causing average Americans, and laying out plans to reduce our dependence on foreign oil to make it look like he was taking some action.

5/20/2008 8:29 AM