Checking the Facts, in Advance
Paul Krugman gives us a quick rundown on eight lies that you will likely hear from George W. Bush tonight. Don’t say you weren’t warned….
1) Jobs
Mr. Bush will talk about the 1.7 million jobs created since the summer of 2003, and will say that the economy is “strong and getting stronger.” That’s like boasting about getting a D on your final exam, when you flunked the midterm and needed at least a C to pass the course.
Mr. Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a decline in payroll employment. That’s worse than it sounds because the economy needs around 1.6 million new jobs each year just to keep up with population growth.
2) Unemployment
Mr. Bush will boast about the decline in the unemployment rate from its June 2003 peak. But the employed fraction of the population didn’t rise at all; unemployment declined only because some of those without jobs stopped actively looking for work, and therefore dropped out of the unemployment statistics.
3) The deficit
Mr. Bush will claim that the recession and 9/11 caused record budget deficits. Congressional Budget Office estimates show that tax cuts caused about two-thirds of the 2004 deficit.
4) Tax cuts
Mr. Bush will claim that Senator John Kerry opposed “middle class” tax cuts. But budget office numbers show that most of Mr. Bush’s tax cuts went to the best-off 10 percent of families, and more than a third went to the top 1 percent, whose average income is more than $1 million.
5) The Kerry tax plan
Mr. Bush will claim, once again, that Mr. Kerry plans to raise taxes on many small businesses. In fact, only a tiny percentage would be affected. Moreover, as Mr. Kerry correctly pointed out last week, the administration’s definition of a small-business owner is so broad that in 2001 it included Mr. Bush, who does indeed have a stake in a timber company - a business he’s so little involved with that he apparently forgot about it.
6) Fiscal responsibility
Mr. Bush will claim that Mr. Kerry proposes $2 trillion in new spending. That’s a partisan number and is much higher than independent estimates. Meanwhile, as The Washington Post pointed out after the Republican convention, the administration’s own numbers show that the cost of the agenda Mr. Bush laid out “is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion” and “far eclipses that of the Kerry plan.”
7) Spending
On Friday, Mr. Bush claimed that he had increased nondefense discretionary spending by only 1 percent per year. The actual number is 8 percent, even after adjusting for inflation. Mr. Bush seems to have confused his budget promises - which he keeps on breaking - with reality.
8) Health care
Mr. Bush will claim that Mr. Kerry wants to take medical decisions away from individuals. The Kerry plan would expand Medicaid (which works like Medicare), ensuring that children, in particular, have health insurance. It would protect everyone against catastrophic medical expenses, a particular help to the chronically ill. It would do nothing to restrict patients’ choices.
The problem, of course, is that George W. Bush seems to believe that everything that passes his lips is the Gospel truth. He’s repeated these lies so often that not only does he believe them, he’s convinced about half the voting population, who apparently are too sheep-like to question the veracity of out Prevaricator-in-Chief.
Yes, you will hear numerous lies, half-truths, over-generalizations, and trite talking points/mantras (“He can run, but he can’t hide!”) from the most powerful “C” student in the free world. It would be nice if Americans had the wherewithal to hold him accountable, but George W. Bush’s one skill is telling people what they want to hear.
Hey, why not vote Republican? It sure as hell beats thinking.
