The Proof of How President Bush Has Attacked the Foundation of America

With all the activity going on in choosing the next candidates for the 2008 election, one would probably think that's what I would be writing about. However, in order to relate to those who have responded to my past feature articles, both the "lefties" and the "righties", I have decided to answer some of the comments I've received regarding some of my past articles. To be more precise, a response to those who want some proof of my claim that the Bush Administration has actually been one of the main reasons for the current "downsizing" of the American middle class.

Even the Washington Post published a front page article back in July of 2007 saying that a new study had shown that: "The middle class in this country is worse off financially than ever before. They have taken on record debt to pay for basics like health care, energy, transportation, food and education." The article went on to state that few Americans have been in a position to save for setbacks such as a job loss or a medical emergency.

The 2007 US Department of Commerce Report showed a US savings rate of "minus 1.0%" for the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930's. A minus or negative savings rate means that one must spend what they earn and then use their savings or borrow money in order to make ends meet. In 2006, the savings rate was "minus 0.4%". Since 1932-1933, when the unemployment rate was ~40%, the US has only had 2 years of negative savings rates (so far) and both of those years were in George W. Bush's second term.

During this period, Exxon / Mobil broke its own 2005 profit record of $36.1 Billion by a new record of $39.5 Billion. (This is the highest annual profit ever of any company in the world.) Per Jack Cafferty of CNN, he stated that this equates to, "$75,000 per minute for a full 12 months." This trend continues today and President Bush recently said that he did NOT want to remove the current subsidies that US oil companies receive today. He stated that this was so the oil companies would have the money to re-invest in oil exploration. This statement was made with the oil companies making record breaking profits while the US citizen is currently looking at $4.00 per gallon gasoline. Jack also asked: "Are you still wondering who participated in Dick Cheney's super-secret Energy Task Force meetings at the White House in early 2001? We will never know, will we?"

At about this same time, President Bush appeared on Wall Street and declared: "Workers are making more money. Their paychecks are going further. Consumers are confident and investors are optimistic." Well that was correct for those on the top of the heap. As examples, Goldman Sachs on Wall Street set a record of its employees averaging $622,000 per employee. Bonuses on Wall Street reached a record total of $45 Billion. In 1965, CEOs earned an average of 25 times what their workers earned. At the end of 2000, that number was increased to 300 times the average worker's earnings. To emphasize the increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots, the Forbes Top 400 Richest Americans were for the first time, all Billionaires. The top 400 richest Americans owned about the same amount of the wealth in the US ($1.25 Trillion) as the bottom 56 Million Americans that owned the bottom half of US wealth ($1.29 Trillion). All this was occurring while the average Americans annual purchasing power was reduced by $1000. due to inflation and the dropping value of the US dollar.

Moving right along, home mortgage debt is at an all time height in excess of $8 Trillion, not including the latest cost of mortgage foreclosures. Consumer debt is at a staggering $11 Trillion. The US owes Japan and China $1 Trillion while China also has $1 Trillion in currency reserves, due to the their US trade surplus. While American exports continue to decline and as manufacturing jobs go overseas, China's economy has maintained a growth rate of 8-10%, based mainly on their exports to the US. Due to our unfair so called "Fair Trade" deals, the US places 2-3% duties on goods from China and Mexico, while China places 20% duties on any US exports into their country. Per the International Herald Tribune: "America's indebtedness to China is staggeringly high." They also noted: "Although the Bush Administration needs foreign loans to finance the continuous growing US budget deficit, they seem unfazed at their increasing debt with China. If China decided to change course and diversify to other currencies, [it} would mean a long downward trend in most Americans living standards." Putting it clearly, the US under President Bush has taken America from the greatest "creditor nation" in the world to the largest "debtor nation" in history. Based on our current and growing debt to China, if they call in their notes, they will own the US, lock, stock and barrel.

The 109th Republican Congress was not much help to both the middle or the lower class. It took the 110th Congress to get the minimum wage increased after 10 years at $5.15. However, due to the administration's poor economic spending activity, the value of the US dollar over the past 7 years has lowered to the point that the $5.15 is only worth $3.95 in purchasing power. And the $2.10 minimum wage increase won't even be completed until 2010. The members of Congress however, have had no problem in increasing their annual pay by 26% to upwards of $165,000 per member. The 109th Congress also cut $700 Million out of the food stamp program as part of a $50 Billion budget cut, while the US is spending $8-$12 Billion per month on an illegal occupation of Iraq that produces absolutely nothing of value.

And now let's look at the moving of jobs outside the US. The current administration has supported all of the programs that encourage US corporations to move their manufacturing outside the US to those countries with lower labor costs. They have supported tax incentives for companies for moving abroad and they are against any kind of unionization. When the US middle class was at its peak, 25% of American workers belonged to a union. Today that percentage is at 12% and it continues to decrease every year. Over 20 of the past 28 years, the Republicans have been in the White House and up until last year they had controlled both houses of Congress for more than a decade. Today, 90% of all footwear is now manufactured overseas, mainly in China. In addition, 87% of all audio and video equipment, 67% of all clothing apparel and 60% of computer equipment purchased in the US is manufactured outside the US. As most people are also aware, the world's automotive industry is being taken over by Japan and Korea and China will start selling their cars in the US later this year. Word on the street says that Ford and Chrysler may sell their manufacturing operations to foreign companies or may out-source the manufacturing of their cars to non-US manufacturers in the future. The US has truly become a "service oriented" nation with a "chain-store like" economy. Manufacturing jobs with good benefits and job protection have vanished and now the American middle class is going down with them.

President Bush recently stated that the war was helping the economy by providing jobs for manufacturing weapons for war. He also said that the economy was in trouble because of all the houses that were built in the US over the last decade and that is what caused the housing foreclosure problems. Any arm-chair economist knows that building weapons of war does not help the economy in the long term. Those items are used up, disappear or become obsolete during war time and are not any kind of investment in the country's infrastructure. The housing foreclosures were due to improper loans to people who, under the proper loan oversight, would never have been given a loan in the first place. And building and repairing houses, schools, bridges, roads, highways and airports is an investment in the country for future growth and prosperity.

George W. Bush's performance after Katrina, in Iraq, with his illegal wire tapping, the removing of Habeas Corpus, his 800 "Signing Statements" and his basic disregard of the US Constitution have proven that he has no intention of supporting what has been the foundation of the greatest nation on earth, America's Middle Class.