Bush's Economy

Economist Joseph Stiglitz writes about the effects of the Bush presidency on our economy:

When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page.

I can hear an irritated counterthrust already. The president has not driven the United States into a recession during his almost seven years in office. Unemployment stands at a respectable 4.6 percent. Well, fine. But the other side of the ledger groans with distress: a tax code that has become hideously biased in favor of the rich; a national debt that will probably have grown 70 percent by the time this president leaves Washington; a swelling cascade of mortgage defaults; a record near-$850 billion trade deficit; oil prices that are higher than they have ever been; and a dollar so weak that for an American to buy a cup of coffee in London or Paris--or even the Yukon--becomes a venture in high finance.

The markets are tanking again today. The Sub-Primes are not going away anytime soon. Gas Prices are moving ever-higher, and cruelly right on the cusp of winter. The dollar is embarassingly weak for such a "strong" nation, and there is no end in sight, and its going to get worse before it gets better.

This is horrible news for Republicans at the voting booth in 2008, but the effects on ordinary Americans will be far more profound.

The worse part is that if you were to ask most of these supply-side conservative economists what needs to be done to curb the oncoming economic disaster, I guarantee they would say that we need more tax cuts. Huh?

These conservative economists and supply-side politicians need straight jackets, not public voices.

Update: Another economist that sees worst recession since the 1930's.