from AlterNet's PEEK:
Bushwacked -- the Sequel: Jobs Down, Unemployment Up
Posted by Daniel DiRito,
The All Spin Zone at 1:22 PM on April 4, 2008.
Two Bush presidencies is more than enough. John McCain's would be a third.By all accounts, George W. Bush was determined to win reelection and thus avoid a repeat of his father’s embarrassing defeat. Unfortunately, they say the sins of the father shall be visited upon the son. If true, the declining economy at the close of this Bush administration may well be a revisiting of his father’s misfortune. While George W. Bush may have charted a different course than his father, he appears to be arriving at the same destination.
While the promise of the senior Bush to enact no new taxes is thought to have been a key component of his downfall; the cutting of taxes by his son was touted as the ultimate economic elixir. Given the economic status at the end of both Bush administrations, it seems to have been a difference without a distinction.
It’s likely that the slow slog towards recession has now become a snowball racing rapidly down a slippery slope; headed for an unknown destination. Despite the repeated assurances from the Bush administration that a sound economy underlies the current downturn, the ride to the bottom may be a long one and it may end with a thunderous thud. When it’s all said and done, the consequences of this Bush administration may mirror the misfortunes that befell the GOP in the wake of the prior Bush administration.
From Reuters:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Employers cut payrolls for a third month in a row in March and the unemployment rate jumped to a 2-1/2 year high, more evidence that a housing downturn and credit crisis may have pushed the economy into a recession.
The Labor Department on Friday reported that March non-farm payrolls fell 80,000, biggest decline in five years.
It also said the March unemployment rate jumped to 5.1% from 4.8%, highest since a matching rate in September 2005.
Adding to the bleak picture, the department revised the first two months of the year’s job losses to a total of 152,000 from a previous estimate of 85,000.
The March job report was more bleak than expected. Economists had forecast a decline of 60,000 in non-farm payrolls and a rise in the unemployment rate to 5%.
“There doesn’t appear to be any silver lining. It shows that we’re right in the middle of a recession that will probably take a while,” said Carl Lantz, U.S. interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York.
“Our expectation is that it will be a longer recession than the last two and we’re just in the beginning,” Lantz added.
It has taken George W. Bush two terms to reach an endpoint that will undoubtedly be seen as very similar to that of his father’s presidency. Both men watched as the economy tanked…unaware of the plight of the working class. The first Bush didn’t know the price of milk - the second seemed oblivious to the rising cost of gas. During their presidencies, both men invaded Iraq - the first Bush having the good sense to limit the scope of the incursion - the second determined to one-up daddy regardless of the cost.
In 1988, when Anne Richards spoke her oft quoted words about the senior Bush, “Poor George. He can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth”; little did we know how prescient her observation would be with regards to the second Bush. In recalling the expression, “The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree”, one could also argue that the electorate bears responsibility for succumbing to another well known idiom…the one that posits, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”. ......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/81393/ 
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