I do not think anyone on JoeUser has had more criticism then me. I believe most of these comments were a way of trying to deny the truth of what I have been saying. Below are a series of statements that accurately describes how the major issues facing America have changed since January 2001. Every one on these issues has been a MAJOR thrust of GWB and the factual summary I have included below can be easily verified from various official government agencies.
Budget - We went from a balanced annual budget in 2000 to an annual deficit of as much as $600 billion in a single year. We took the National Debt from $5.7 Trillion to just over $9 Trillion. That is an average of $470 Billion per year.
Trade deficit - We took the annual trade deficit from just under $400 Billion to over $800 billion. We have lost 3 million manufacturing jobs and the majority of the newly created jobs is in the service and retail areas with salaries and benefits far below the manufacturing jobs that have been lost.
Foreign Policy – We went from no major wars in 2000 to two major wars that have not gone well and that have brought our ground military close to the breaking point. We have less support from other countries and the level of distrust of America is far greater then ever. The danger from Islamic terrorists is greater today then ever and is growing.
Energy – We are MORE dependent of foreign oil then in 2001 and the price of oil has more then doubled. This despite the fact that Bush and Cheney were former oil executives.
Education – Test scored K-12 have not shown any significant improvement, graduation rates are far too low and SAT scores have declined during the past three years.
Immigration – Over 3 million illegals were able to cross our borders despite the attack on 9/11. We are NOT enforcing our existing laws to protect our borders or deal with illegal immigrants.
Social Security – We have not moved any closer to being able to pay the Baby Boomers their retirement. The Bush plan took us further from being able to fund the Boomers and was soundly rejected by the voters and Congress.
Medicare – We have added the largest new entitlement program to Medicare and brought it to the tipping point in 2007. Next year, for the first time, the expected Medicare tax will not cover the Medicare benefits. The acceleration of this situation is because we did not fund the new Prescription Drug Plan. We made a bad situation worse.