BUSH LIES got him re-elected

Published on February 12, 2005 By COL Gene In Politics

There are a number of ways of being untruthful. One is to outright lie like President Clinton did about having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Another way is to mask your true intentions. It is clear from the choices President Bush has made in his new budget that he has chosen to lie to the American people by hiding his real intentions.

First, the farm subsidy cuts are going over in the red states like a “lead balloon”. Group after group of farmers, who are responsible for reelecting George W. Bush, feel betrayed by his proposal to cut subsidies. Cotton and corn and wheat growers plan to fight the President.

His cuts in education, police, funding for the poor to heat their homes and pay for medical care have alienated other groups. His cuts in prescription drug funding for our veterans and his proposed changes in Social Security are opposed by veterans and many other groups across America. The most recent poll shows 54% disapprove of the president's job performance. There is an old saying, “be careful what you ask for”. Such is clearly the case in the election of 2004. As time passes, more and more Americans are going to realize what they got by re-electing Bush is not what they WANTED!

If George W. Bush had been honest during the election of 2004, he would be in Crawford, Texas today working on the ranch.

Comments (Page 1)

whoman69

on Feb 12, 2005

I think most people heard what they wanted to hear. A poll taken shortly before the election showed that most Bush supporters still believed that Saddam had ties to 9/11.

Moderateman

on Feb 12, 2005

ok here we go..... YOU cry to have bush balance the budget, stop deficit spending, when he tries to, you cry.. when he does'nt, you cry,when he breathes you cry, the truth is if he cuts back on anything someone will be effected somewhere. Do you have any sane alternatives? maybe cut back on defense huh? let the troops fight naked, that will save money, how about stopping payment of social security? they are old anyway and will die soon, this will just help them die faster.Maybe cut pell grants, if there parents cannot afford to send them to school, they do not deserve a higher education. maybe fill high school down with one teacher for every 1000 students, that will save money.

Daiwa

on Feb 12, 2005

1. You know current farm subsidies are irrational holdovers from Democrat Congresses. The farmers may fight, but they will fight the subsidy cuts, not the President. They'd fight them if God himself proposed them.

2. The VA has been absolutely overwhelmed by seniors who have seen their HMO's, which used generous drug benefits to lure them, pull the rug out from under them by dropping drug coverage. Bush has not cut drug funding for the VA - he's proposed larger copayments to soften the overwhelming demand that has mushroomed over the past 3-4 years. Since the seniors are using the VA for no purpose other than obtaining their drugs and must be seen by VA physicians to have their prescriptions written and filled by the VA, they are creating a huge problem for veterans who actually depend on the VA for all of their medical care, not just drugs. The appointment books are getting overwhelmed with these "I just want my drugs, Doc." visits while vets in need of care are finding it more difficult to obtain timely care.

Cheers,
Daiwa

COL Gene

on Feb 12, 2005

Moderateman Here are my suggestions:

Suggested policy changes for the second Bush term, Four More For George W?

Spending

Review discretionary non defense expenditures including “pork barrel” spending to cut our budget. Change legislative procedures to end tacking non related expenditures to bills and require all appropriations to go through the normal process. Any emergency appropriations should be dealt with as stand alone bills

Taxes

Restore the tax rates on the top two income tax brackets to the pre-2000 levels.

Restore tax rates on capital gains and dividends to pre- 2000 levels.

Make permanent the increased child credit, elimination of the marriage penalty, the 10% bracket and increase the level of income that triggers the alternate tax. That increased level should then be indexed to cost-of-living each year so that the threshold for the alternate tax remains constant after inflation.

Retain the federal estate tax with the following changes:

Provide a $2 million exemption per person and increase that exemption each year by the cost-of-living.

Provide deferment of any federal estate tax on family farms or family business so long as they pass to members of the immediate family – children, grandchildren or siblings. If the family business or farm is later sold to a non-family entity, the tax in the amount due at passing would be paid upon sale.

Close corporate loopholes that allow avoiding corporate income taxes by moving off shore. Provide surtax on companies that export American jobs to other countries and provide tax credits to companies who create or restore jobs from overseas to the United States. Insure corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

Consider new ways to help small businesses compete and to fund employee health insurance.

Simplify the progressive tax system by eliminating most of the existing loop holes in the tax code.

Deficit

Establish the objective to bring our general fund expenses and revenues into balance by 2008.

Begin generating a budget surplus of $200 billion annually starting with fiscal year 2009. This annual surplus would be directly applied each year to reduce the overall federal deficit.

Below is a process that should be considered to achieve the fiscal discipline outlined above namely to balance revenues and expenditures by 2008 and generate a fiscal surplus of $200 billion starting in 2009:

Evaluate tax incentives and or expenditures that would increase the growth rate (GDP) in an effort to generate more jobs and create additional federal revenue. Areas to consider should include tax incentives to stimulate such things as alternate energy sources and higher auto, SUV and truck gas mileage. Invest federal tax dollars to begin rebuilding the infrastructure of our country. These expenditures would be paid to private companies to complete the necessary reconstruction projects in order to create jobs and corporate profits.

If the added revenue from the increased GDP growth together with expenditure reductions does not achieve the overall objectives of balancing the budget and then creating a fiscal surplus, the tax structure needs to be examined for additional revenue sources. In no event, other than national emergency or declared war, should the United States spend more than it collects in revenue after 2008. In addition, we need to generate and apply the $200 Billion annual surplus to the repayment of the national debt until it is repaid, (approximately 30 years).

Failure to achieve this objective will have a devastating impact on our needs in the future. Issues such as additional funding for Social Security and Medicare, national defense, education and the rebuilding of our infrastructure make it essential that we end the practice of charging to the future the things that we need for our society.

Gideon MacLeish

on Feb 12, 2005

First, we should not balance the budget by increasing taxes. On ANYONE. PERIOD.

When the annual budget comes at a cost of over $8500 per person, there is no way in any estimation that that could not be considered grossly excessive. There are expenses and pork that need to be eliminated...badly.

Cotton subsidies are yet another example of ridiculously overlegislative government. I am increasingly disgusted with the government's insistence on placing barriers to self sufficiency in front of homesteaders; cotton is yet another example (you can't grow cotton without government permission, and you can't grow hemp for cloth, leaving only certain livestock as options for the homesteader). The government needs to get OUT of the farming business. That was never intended to be the role of the federal government, and it SHOULDN'T be.

Meanwhile, as long as you and other liberals insist on funding the budget with tax increases, I will persist in opposing it.

thatoneguyinslc

on Feb 12, 2005

Gid,

I agree with you on not raising taxes for the most part. But i think reversing a few things dubya has cut (IE: tax cuts for the top 3%) would be a good start.
Cutting pork is always good. Wether it's military, bogus and outdated subsidations, or wasteful spending in general.

I do think there is a lot of merit in what Gene is saying here....Good post!

COL Gene

on Feb 12, 2005

Gideon MacLeish

There is no combination of cuts that the majority of Americans will accept that will balance the budget. If you take a look at the budget, you will realize it will take spending cuts, higher GDP growth and added tax revenue. We need a shift of $600 billion per year to balance the budget and generate a real surplus to pay down the National Debt. Those that claim the tax rate on the wealthy was too high prior to the Bush tax cuts are wrong. The group that did better than any other during the boom of the 1990's were the wealthy after paying the highet tax rates. We simply can not afford the revenue loss created by the tax cuts to the top 5%! I am a Republican that believe we must pay as we GO. NO more CHARGE AND SPEND!

Gideon MacLeish

on Feb 12, 2005

I agree with you on not raising taxes for the most part. But i think reversing a few things dubya has cut (IE: tax cuts for the top 3%) would be a good start.

See, I really don't see why someone who has worked hard to make a good living for their family OWES up to 50% of their income. To me, that's counter-productive. When I look at the numbers and see how seriously we've gotten off track (I HAVE to go back to that $8500 figure...when I worked that out, my response was, basically "HOLY S&^*"...that would work out to a $60,000 liability PER YEAR for my family).

I don't feel that the wealthiest should get off scot free, but when you realize that the unscrupulous TRULY wealth can (and often do) simply emigrate to a Caribbean island and reduce their taxes, taking their revenue away from America, we DO need to consider the fact that they need tax reform as badly as we do.

COL Gene

on Feb 12, 2005

WE do need to prevent individuals and corporations from not paying their share of taxes. My point remains that the tax rates prior to 2000 were not opressive to the wealthy and we need that revenue to have any chance to balance the budget!

messybuu

on Feb 12, 2005

I think most people heard what they wanted to hear. A poll taken shortly before the election showed that most Bush supporters still believed that Saddam had ties to 9/11.

Yes, and I think this applies to everybody on both sides of the spectrum.

COL Gene

on Feb 12, 2005

Yes many people hear only what they want to hear. They are able to ignore facts that do not support what they want to believe. There will come a time when they will no longer be able to ignore the reality of the policies we are following and the debt we are emassing.

Moderateman

on Feb 12, 2005

raising taxes seems to be the war cry of the left... if not for the recent tax cuts the recession would be on us.

I hate pork from any point of view... it sucks and the biggest porkman is robert byrd.. check your stats.

COL Gene

on Feb 12, 2005

Moderateman

The growth in the GDP from the Tax cuts have not even replaced the lost revenue from the tax cuts. CBO estimated that of the $420 Billion deficit in 04, 270 was caused by the tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts do not concentrate on demand but supply. The investment from the tax cuts to the wealthy have not created jobs or caused GDP to grow fast enough to balance the budget.

drmiler

on Feb 12, 2005

Look in the mirror on this one. You'll see yourself!

COL Gene

on Feb 12, 2005

I look at the facts to see what is taking place. If you believe going from a surplus of 125 Billion to a deficit of 420 billion is seeing what anyone wants you have lost your mind. If you think an all time high in the trade deficit which is now 600 billion is what anyone wants, think again. These are facts that the Bush supporters want to make believe do not exist. Guess What? They DO! They are the results of the policies we are following.

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