"The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush"

Was reading "The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush" by Joseph Stieglitz, in the Dec Vanity Fair. Same stuff we've been talking about on DU since 2000, but he puts it all together in one package. The killer part of the Disaster that is Bush, is that the next President - no matter who - is being handed a steaming pile of shit, and it's going to take decades to repair.... if it's not too late already.
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Some snips....

The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page.

snip..
After almost seven years of this president, the United States is less prepared than ever to face the future. We have not been educating enough engineers and scientists, people with the skills we will need to compete with China and India. We have not been investing in the kinds of basic research that made us the technological powerhouse of the late 20th century. And although the president now understands—or so he says—that we must begin to wean ourselves from oil and coal, we have on his watch become more deeply dependent on both.

snip...
The economic effects of Bush’s presidency are more insidious than those of Hoover, harder to reverse, and likely to be longer-lasting. There is no threat of America’s being displaced from its position as the world’s richest economy. But our grandchildren will still be living with, and struggling with, the economic consequences of Mr. Bush.

snip....
Some portion of the damage done by the Bush administration could be rectified quickly. A large portion will take decades to fix—and that’s assuming the political will to do so exists both in the White House and in Congress. Think of the interest we are paying, year after year, on the almost $4 trillion of increased debt burden—even at 5 percent, that’s an annual payment of $200 billion, two Iraq wars a year forever. Think of the taxes that future governments will have to levy to repay even a fraction of the debt we have accumulated. And think of the widening divide between rich and poor in America, a phenomenon that goes beyond economics and speaks to the very future of the American Dream. In short, there’s a momentum here that will require a generation to reverse.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/bush200712?printable=true¤tPage=all

All he needs to know is we are NOT privatizing anything.

And just look at how backward the religious right is trying to take us. Saying for example the Grand Canyon was caused by the Flood at the time of Noah's Ark...This is just an example of what has been allowed to happen.

The cost of college education has risen out of sight. Students today have no financial aid like they used to. We are becoming a nation of dummies. I am 75 years old..and I know more about American History, Ancient History and the Constitution, along with Geography than a lot of the recent college graduates do today...how come.

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In my Documents file. I was thinking of posting it today, you beat me to it. It is a good article.

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