This weekend, at a strip mall there was both a Circuit City and Cost Plus Global Market that were going out business. We stopped by and both stores were packed with people acting like vultures picking over the detritus of a ruined economy. I thought it was a fitting that this happened in George W Bush’s last weekend as President. When this is posted there will be less than 24 hours of the reign of error known as the George W. Bush Presidency. Our ability to survive the past 8 years is case and point proof that the American people and its government are quite resilient.
However, already the rough edges are being smoothed over and forgotten. Before we look back too wistfully on the past 8 years let’s remember the following facts (most of tgis came from an article in salon.com):
When George W. Bush entered the White House in January 2001, he inherited peace and prosperity. The military, the Constitution and New Orleans were intact and the country had a budget surplus of $128 billion. Now he's about to dash out the door, leaving a large, unpaid bill for his successors to pay.
Expected shortfall of gross domestic product below normal growth path in 2009: $900 billion
Decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from its decade high to its value at the close of business, Jan. 7, 2009: 5,394.83, or 38.1 percent
Number of manufacturing jobs lost since 2000: 3.78 million
Increase in number of unemployed workers from 2001 to 2008: 4 million, a jump of 2.7 percent in the unemployment rate
Real median household income according to the 2000 census, adjusted for inflation: $51,804
Real median household income as of August 2007: $50,233
National debt: $10.6 trillion
Amount of that debt owned by China: At least $800 billion
Number of bridges judged structurally deficient: 70,000.
Meanwhile, the roads aren't only worn down, they're overcrowded. In part, we can thank an administration that gave tax credits to SUV buyers while targeting public transit for cuts.
The Bush White House's proposed cuts in public transit funding for fiscal year 2009: $202.1 million.
Target level of federal funding for Amtrak proposed by Bush in 2005: $0.
How many times have you heard, "With the money we spend in Iraq in just one week ..."?
So how much has that been, exactly? Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and co-author with economist Joseph Stiglitz of "The Three Trillion Dollar War," thinks the figure in her book's title is, if anything, too low. (Bilmes and Stiglitz put the full price of all Bush administration debacles at $10 trillion in their own excellent damage report for the January issue of Harper's.)
Cost: From the start of the war through 2017, "You can't get any lower than $3 trillion."
Amount of money earned by a married U.S. Army sergeant with children per day in Iraq in 2007: $170
Amount of money earned by a Blackwater military contractor per day: $600
Number of U.S. military deaths as of Jan. 7, 2009: 4,222
Cost to conduct the war per month: $12 billion
Amount the Bush administration estimated the war would cost from start to finish: $60 billion
Difference in price of brand-name drugs, U.S. and Canada, in 2004: 70 percent more expensive in the U.S.
Increase in average prescription drug price between 1997 and 2007: From $35.72 to $69.91
While buying drugs for seniors, Bush denied healthcare to kids. In 2007, he vetoed an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which gives federal money to the states to help provide health insurance for families with children.
Number of children kept off of SCHIP because of Bush's veto: 4 million
Number of nine warmest years on record that have occurred since 2000: Seven.
How much has the Arctic ice cap shrunk? 50 percent since the turn of the century.
By now, the stories of global warming denial and outright censorship of government scientists by the Bush administration are well known.
Finally I’ll leave you with this nugget to remind everyone about how well Bush kept us safe from terrorism:
August 6, 2001 Presidents Daily Brief: Osama Determined to Strike in the U.S.
Bush Response to the Agent giving the briefing: “Thanks, now you’ve covered your ass.�
Good Riddance, don't let door hit you in the ass on the way out.
