For Baitrunner, Icebuster, and the rest of you that believe Bush. If you are really going to vote read the entire comparison below, between the truth and what Bush says. One part I like , Kerry’s proposed spending- $2 trillion – Bushes’ proposed budget $3- trillion. After you read the entire column then we can have an intelligent discussion comparing the two candidates economic policy, or you could just keep repeating things Bush says that are untrue. Cheer up, your guy will probably win, but we can see from the FACTS that the United States will be the big loser.

And Icebuster, read the truth about how Kerry's tax cuts will hurt small business.


Checking the Facts, in Advance
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: October 12, 2004


It's not hard to predict what President Bush, who sounds increasingly desperate, will say tomorrow. Here are eight lies or distortions you'll hear, and the truth about each:

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. The past year's job gains, while better news than earlier job losses, barely met this requirement, and they did little to close the huge gap between the number of jobs the country needs and the number actually available.

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. The labor force participation rate - the fraction of the population either working or actively looking for work - has fallen sharply under Mr. Bush; if it had stayed at its January 2001 level, the official unemployment rate would be 7.4 percent.

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.

The 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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

By singling out Mr. Bush's lies and misrepresentations, am I saying that Mr. Kerry isn't equally at fault? Yes.

Mr. Kerry sometimes uses verbal shorthand that offers nitpickers things to complain about. He talks of 1.6 million lost jobs; that's the private-sector loss, partly offset by increased government employment. But the job record is indeed awful. He talks of the $200 billion cost of the Iraq war; actual spending is only $120 billion so far. But nobody doubts that the war will cost at least another $80 billion. The point is that Mr. Kerry can, at most, be accused of using loose language; the thrust of his statements is correct.

Mr. Bush's statements, on the other hand, are fundamentally dishonest. He is insisting that black is white, and that failure is success. Journalists who play it safe by spending equal time exposing his lies and parsing Mr. Kerry's choice of words are betraying their readers.

Spin,

Sorry, I had the exact same article posted ahead of you. :p
But your intro is better written!
But I have a link to the article!

Peace.

Jon Kerry must be the first politician in history not to have any big buisness friends. Looks like im changing my vote.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:


GWB-must also be the one solely responsible for people buying Giant SUVs.

Oh my GOODNESS!! Keeping up with this thread could become a full time job! I don't even know where to begin!!

BR- I have to give you credit. You have skillfully deflected and thoroughly twisted raw data which completely contradicted your entire argument. And the most amazing thing of all is that you actually BELIEVE your own BS! ( I believe that probably stems from some pathology, [as in PATHOLOGICAL LIARS] which Bush and the rest of the right wing are apparently afflicted with as well, so at least I know that you come by it honsestly [isn't THAT a contradiction in terms!] Fortunately, however, it appears that you and ICECUBE are the only ones who do!

More to come!

Every SUV I have owned has done better than 17MPH.

You must mean MPG. My Explorer 4.0 6 cyl. Towed my 4500 pound boat, and got 18mpg on the highway (not with the boat). My 5.9 8 cyl. Durango gets 16 on the highway.

If there really was a high enough demand for super energy efficient vehicles, the manufacturers would surely build them. However, most people want big SUVs (they are not all republicans, just regular people). The manufactures do not need the government to tell them to do it, the people (wining democrats) need to do it. We have the cheapest gas of most countries. In Europe, you pay about 4 times what we pay here.

How do you tow your boat? Not with that Prius I am sure.