Here’s a depressing thought from the folks over at The Slate: George Walker Hoover? - President Bush is on track to match Herbert Hoover’s record of job destruction. By Daniel Gross.
Now that the war with Iraq is over, President Bush is focusing on passing his proposed tax cut—optimistically dubbed the “Jobs and Growth Plan,” rather than the more accurate “Deficits and Deficits Plan.”
The Treasury Department is putting out word that accelerating the planned reduction of marginal tax rates, cutting taxes on dividends, and otherwise tinkering with the tax code will create more than 1 million jobs by the end of 2004. The Council of Economic Advisers is more sanguine, estimating the Bush plan will create 1.4 million new jobs by the end of 2004.
But 1.4 million jobs in 18 months isn’t many jobs, and it isn’t much growth. By historical standards, when it comes to job creation, Bush is shaping up to be more like Herbert Hoover than Ronald Reagan. He stands to preside over the first presidency since Hoover’s in which the American economy lost jobs.
I’m still waiting for someone to explain to me how drastically cutting taxes while submitting all-time record breaking spending budgets makes any sense whatsoever. My co-worker, H, swears it’s possible, but I think his wife has been slipping him crack instead of his usual daily vitamin. The above news isn’t surprising, but it is depressing.
Posted on 05/01/2003 at 07:24 AM 
I have a theory about some things. Republicans are for small government, right? So they force the deficits, which means government needs to be trimmed back.
What goes? Everything that they oppose, of course. Social programs, the works.
The problem is, the deficits are beyond control.