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100% of Bush's economic plan (such as it is) has been directed toward fattening the rich so that they will in turn prop up the admittedly inflated Dow. This has happened nicely. If you think the Dow is the whole economy, or even a major part of it, then the economy is booming again.
If, however, you realize that 2/3 of the economy is consumer driven, then you get a completely different picture. This country is in serious trouble, with more people thrown out of skilled and semiskilled work every week and nothing but low paid, dead end jobs opening up. People who don't have money to spend and who are maxed out on their credit cards are not likely to contribute to the consumer economy. There is no reason for employers to add jobs, as the customers for goods and services are simply not there.
The problem is a difference of opinion on how the economy works. Most people on the left (and most classical economists) believe the money pump works from the bottom up. Feed consumers a little discretionary income, and they will spend it. The rich get richer on the profits. Neoclassical economists (the neocons and most economics majors under 45) think it is from the top down. Feed the rich and they'll start more businesses and employ the rest of us, their rising tide of wealth will lift our rowboats along with their yachts and trickle down will rain gold upon us all.
I leave it to you to figure out which is the correct view, given the economic history of the past 40 years.
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