The present state of economic affairs is largely due to the Bush economic policies. The entire Right Wing World is in denial and almost never mentions Bush's name when discussing the economy. Those with Obama Derangement Syndrome use a simple strategy of deception by omission, distraction and distortion. According to the way the right puts it, the unemployment rate should have gotten much better immediately if the President did his job right. That means the use of the failed policies again. Unemployment, economic growth, bankruptcies, and foreclosures as they stand are part of our most recent plummet created by GOP economics. In September of 2008 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll showed that by a 2 to 1 margin, Americans blame Bush for this economic mess. In a more recent poll last Summer by the Quinnipiac Poll, the 2 to 1 margin stands. Clearly, Mr Boutin spends too much of his time watching Fox.
Let's take a look at the only crash worst than Bush's crash and see how they handled it. In the first year after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, when banks imploded due to malfeasance the unemployment rate was around 8%. A year and a half later it was over 16%. What was set in motion in 1929 was like a downhill freight train just like what Bush set in motion with his trickle-down, deregulation religion, and credit card mentality. By 1932 the unemployment rate went above 24%. That year, 43,000 people including 17,000 troops owed money to marched on Washinton, DC. They set up camps but were dispersed by General McArthur's troops using bayonets and tear gas. In 1933 unemployment hit 25%. Four years after the crash of 1929 the unemployment rate began to fall slightly. The unemployment rate then dropped a bit in 1934 to around 22%. The first national general strikle was called in 1934. Not surprising, Alcoholics Anonymous was born at this time. No relief in sight after 5 years.
In 1934 President Roosevelt finally took the economist John Maynard Keynes seriously and created a public works project to put millions back to work. The project included schools, bridges, dams and highways for starters. In 1935 the unemployment rate was still at 20% when in August FDR signed The Revenue Act of 1935. It became known as the Wealth Tax Act because it also taxed high-earning Americans, and closed tax loopholes that the wealthy were using to legally avoid paying tax. Ring a bell? It sharply raised taxes on income over $75,000 with those exceeding $5,000,000 paying 75% instead of 59%. $75,000 was enough to but several small mansions in 1935. Congress also revised corporate tax rates by lowering those on small businesses and raising them on larger ones. During this time there were many strikes and this is when the auto industry recognized the UAW.
By 1937, unemployment had dropped to 14% from the 25% peak. Some sources say as low as 11%. Wages, profits and production had finally returned to 1929 levels! The stimulus was working; the revenue raising was successful and millions were back to work. With great pride, American workers finished the Golden Gate Bridge that year. But then trouble appeared. Conservatives and friends of Wall St. in FDR's cabinet urged spending cuts and a more balanced budget. Ring a bell? What happened was the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was drasticly cut and the Public Works Adminstration (PWA) nearly stalled. The economy dove into a harsh recession, lasting over a year. Unemployment shot back up from 11/14% to 19% and manufacturing dropped 37%. Industrial production plummeted.Three years of growth were lost when FDR caved to the conservative economists demanding much trhe same nonsense that the right wingers demand. FDR shot back with attacks on the monopolists, who were deemed the major cause of the depression and this sudden downturn in 1937. Harry Truman gave 'em hell as the top man in Anti-Trust. So in 1937 FDR sent to Congress another large stimulus spending program to re-fund the WPA, the PWA and other relevant programs. It passed and the economy recovered to its early 1937 levels by the end of 1938.
If they listened to Tont Boutin's on how wrong spending is, they would have never gotten out of the depression nor that serious dip in 1938. Tony tells us that the Stimulus was a failure which is nothing more than a right wing propaganda tool. Most economists say about 2 million jobs were saved or created and we were saved from a serious depression. The truth of the matter is that the stimulus should have been bigger and the reason why we are climbing out of this hole so slowly is because the GOP is obstructing economic success. They keep suggesting the same tactics conservatives demanded in 1937 that reversed the climb out of the depression and sent the nation into another recessionary plunge. Another stimulus is what reversed the conservative economic failures of 37-38. Like FDR, Obama has proposed a jobs bill that would target bridges, schools, and roads but the GOP is obstructing again. Top economists say another 2 million jobs could be created.
Tony says that 81% of Americans are not happy with the direction of the country. He wrongly claims the 81% are anti-Obama and the rest are Obama-lovers. With a 20-30% approval for the Tea Party, around a 10-12% approval for the Congress, a very low approval of the GOP. the numbers suggest that Americans are far more troubled by the obstructionism of the right wingers than they are Obama. Another distortion of the facts that Mr Boutin uses is blaming Obama for the Debt ceiling fiasco. Nothing supports this claim. In a post debt fight CNN+ poll on August 9, 2011, Republicans had a disapproval of 59%. The approval for Democrats increased. Americans blamed the GOP extremists for the downbM the S&P Press Release: "We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. ....Our lowering of the rating was prompted by our view on the rising public debt burden and our perception of greater policymaking uncertainty,.."
Raising revenues is an impossibility as long as the GOP controls the House and that is why our rating was lowered. Thank you Teabaggers. I think its clear America is on the wrong path because of the Tea Party extremists holding Americans hostage.
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