Voodoo Economics: The Final Report Card On Bush’s Epic Failure
The annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care came out late last week and it brought only more bad news for the Bush legacy project. In every single measurable statistic, the numbers were worse after eight years of George W. Bush then at the end of the Clinton Presidency. Household median income decreased, the number of people living in poverty increased and access to health care dramatically decreased.
The actual numbers are pretty striking. Over 8 million more people were living in poverty at the end of Bush’s term. 26% higher than it was under Clinton. This is accented by the statistics for children living in poverty which rose more than 21%. Also, Median income declined over 4%. This is the first time that income has declined during a two term presidential cycle in over 40 years. If the poverty and income numbers weren’t bad enough, 8 million more people were left without health care by the end of 2008. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. When broken down into smaller demographic segments there are still no positive trends. Worse for Bush is the fact that all of these statistics went up during the eight years of the Clinton Presidency.
The pillar of conservative economic policy is that tax cuts for the wealthy benefit all members of society from the top all the way down. The critics call it “trickle down” economics. George Bush Sr. called it “voodoo economics” when he ran against Reagan in the 1980 primaries and he still new better. It has become their answer to everything from a sluggish economy to universal health care. Tax cuts are verse 1, chapter 1 of the conservative economic playbook. If that doesn’t work they really don’t have anything else.
Bush made tax cuts the centerpiece of his Presidency and stuck with his plan even after he pushed us into two wars that could not be paid for by current tax revenues. The result was huge deficits and a massive increase in the national debt. This is after tax increases helped Bill Clinton balance the budget and provide the country with a deficit surplus. So, tax cuts under George W. Bush equals more poverty, less income, more people without healthcare and higher Federal deficits and debt. Seems to me, it is case closed on “trickle down” economics.
Which begs the question; what is going to be their party’s economic platform in 2012? How do they, in good conscience, sell the same old, broken down wheelbarrow full of crap to the American public? Especially if these statistics start to get better during Obama’s first term. Bush said in 2000 “On principle, no one in America should have to pay more than a third of their income to the federal government”. I believe that most conservatives truly believe that. But a tax code that is cemented into place by “principle” needlessly ignores changing economic circumstances and leaves no room for an honest analysis of its full effect. My guess is the Republicans will ignore this report just like they ignore all other evidence or facts that does not fit within their ideology and they will plow straight ahead with their one size fits all economic policy. “Voodoo economics” will become like a Zombie in a low budget horror movie that just keeps coming back again and again.
If you would like to see the full Census Bureau report, you can find it here
