It's Still the Economy, Stupid: George W. Bush, The GOP's CEO by Paul Begala (En

Description: It's Still the Economy, Stupid by Paul Begala Synopsis coming soon....... FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description When he took office in 2001, George W. Bush inherited the strongest economy in American history. He inherited the largest federal budget surplus in American history -- and the prospect of paying off the entire national debt in just eight years. He inherited a strong dollar and sound fiscal policy. He inherited a nation whose economy was so strong that commentators who just a decade before were predicting American decline were now complaining about American dominance. And yet, Dubya blew it. Squandered everything hed inherited from President Clinton. We thought if Junior was good at anything, it was inheriting things. Its Still the Economy, Stupid is the story of how Americas CEO -- our first MBA president -- has trashed our economy. It shows: How he wasted the surplus on massive tax cuts for the hyper-rich. How he talked down the economy for his short-term political gain, then passed an economic program that has put 1.8 million Americans out of work and cost investors $4.4 trillion. How he abandoned his free-trade rhetoric to adopt protectionist tariffs, effectively raising taxes on consumers. How he walked away from needed investments in education, training, and all the things that make us smarter, safer, and stronger economically. How he plans to go on from here to cripple Social Security and to allow the privileged to avoid even more taxes. It makes you wonder: What do they teach you at Harvard Business School? Author Biography Paul Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign. He served as counselor to the president in the Clinton White House, where he coordinated policy, politics, and communications. He was senior adviser to the pro-Obama Super PAC that played a critical role in reelecting Obama in 2012. He is the author of five books, including Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush; Its Still the Economy, Stupid; Buck Up, Suck Up...and Come Back When You Foul Up (with James Carville); Third Term: Why George W. Bush Loves John McCain; and Take it Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future (with James Carville). Begala is a CNN political commentator and an affiliated professor of public policy at Georgetown Universitys McCourt School of Public Policy. Paul earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas. He and his wife live quietly in Virginia with their four sons and a German shepherd. (Okay, so they dont live too quietly.) Table of Contents ContentsIntroduction1. The Clinton Economy: "The Best Economy Ever"2. Tax Cuts for the Rich; Deficits for the Rest3. Social Security: Strap Granny into the Roller Coaster4. (Dis)Investing in People5. The Best Environment Money Can Buy6. Crime in the Suites: How the Republicans Told Corporate America "Anything Goes"7. Bush, Inc.: A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Enron8. Taking Care of Bidness: Bush and Harken Energy9. Halliburton: How Dick Cheney Put the "Vice" in Vice President10. The Keystone Kops: Bush and His Economic Team11. What the Democrats Are For (Or at Least What They Should Be For)Notes Review James Carviile Armed with facts, stats, and logic, Paul Begala indicts Bush-onomics. I recommend this book to everyone with a brain. And Republicans too.Tom Daschle Majority Leader, United States Senate Paul Begala is one Texan who really understands the economy. Its Still the Economy, Stupid is a good read that makes great sense. Long Description When he took office in 2001, George W. Bush inherited the strongest economy in American history. He inherited the largest federal budget surplus in American history -- and the prospect of paying off the entire national debt in just eight years. He inherited a strong dollar and sound fiscal policy. He inherited a nation whose economy was so strong that commentators who just a decade before were predicting American decline were now complaining about American dominance.And yet, Dubya blew it. Squandered everything hed inherited from President Clinton.We thought if Junior was good at anything, it was inheriting things.Its Still the Economy, Stupidis the story of how Americas CEO -- our first MBA president -- has trashed our economy. It shows: Review Quote Tom DaschleMajority Leader, United States SenatePaul Begala is one Texan who really understands the economy.Its Still the Economy, Stupidis a good read that makes great sense. Excerpt from Book Chapter One: The Clinton Economy: "The Best Economy Ever" "Mr. President...your commitment to fiscal discipline, which, as you know, and indeed have indicated, has been instrumental in achieving what in a few weeks...will be the longest economic expansion in the nations history." -- Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1/4/00). "The deficit has come down, and I give the Clinton Administration and President Clinton himself a lot of credit for that. [He] did something about it, fast." -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, Audacity (Fall 1994). "Clintons 1993 budget cuts, which reduced red ink by more than $400 billion over five years, sparked a major drop in interest rates that helped boost investment in all the equipment and systems that brought forth the New Age economy of technological innovation and rising productivity." -- Business Week (5/19/97). "[This is] the best economy ever [because] on the policy side, trade, fiscal and monetary policies have been excellent, working in ways that have facilitated growth without inflation. The Clinton Administration has worked to liberalize trade and has used any revenue windfalls to reduce the federal budget deficit." -- Goldman, Sachs & Co. (March 1998). "I believe this will lead to a recession next year. This is the Democrat Machines recession, and each one of them will be held personally accountable." -- Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) Republican press conference (8/5/93). When my Grandma Begala tells my kids stories about the Great Depression -- one in four working people unemployed, bread lines and soup lines stretching around the block, rich men jumping out of windows and poor men living on the streets -- it is literally impossible for me to imagine just how bad things were. They were that bad. I fear that when Im in my eighties, telling my great-grandchildren about the Clinton economy, it may be impossible for them to imagine just how good times were. They were that good. And, even though its only been two years, memories fade. The Republican blame machine has been working overtime, hammering away relentlessly at Americas accomplishments, hoping youll forget the winning ways and broad prosperity of the Clinton Era. Theyd like to convince us that our nation was never that strong, never all that smart, never that successful. And yet, we were. As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up." So, lets look it up. Jobs The heart of any economy is its ability to generate jobs. When President Clinton took office, nearly 10 million Americans were unemployed. And the private sector was sputtering to create jobs -- in fact, during the previous Bush presidency, what little job growth we did see was driven in large part by the government sector. Under President Clinton, by contrast, the American economy generated 22.88 million new jobs. More jobs than had ever before been created under a single administration. More jobs than Presidents Reagan and Bush Senior together created in twelve years. And 91 percent of the Clinton jobs were in the private sector. Poverty If generating jobs is the heart of an economy, reducing poverty is its soul. Weve had periods of macroeconomic growth that had very little effect on poverty rates. Thats because all the benefits of the growth went to a few people at the top of the economic pyramid. Such was the case during the Reagan years. During Reagans entire presidency, only 77,000 Americans were lifted out of poverty. Not even enough to sell out Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for a Texas Longhorn football game. A paltry 0.24 percent reduction in the poverty rate. Pathetic. Under President Clintons economic policies, 8.2 million Americans were lifted out of poverty. Enough to populate all of New York City. President Clintons economic policies caused a 21 percent reduction in the poverty rate -- the greatest reduction since Lyndon Johnsons Great Society and the strong economy of the 1960s. (By the way, under George Herbert Hoover...err...Walker...Bush, the number of Americans suffering in poverty increased by 6.5 million.) Why the disparity? Its the difference between a temporary boom for a few, and sustained prosperity for many -- what John F. Kennedy called "a rising tide (that) lifts all boats." And lift all boats the Clinton economy did. Both the African-American and Hispanic poverty rates fell to their lowest levels on record. The number of African-American children in poverty fell nearly 33 percent, to an all-time low. Child poverty was the most shameful and painful measure of our economic performance in our past. President Clinton attacked this persistent problem and made more progress than anyone thought possible. His policies reduced poverty among children by almost 30 percent -- the biggest decline since the 60s. President Clinton raised 4.2 million children out of poverty. President Reagan, on the other hand, championed policies that focused on the fortunate few. His administration lifted only 50,000 kids above the poverty line. We still have a long way to go before we can honestly say that no child has been left behind. Of course, if poor kids could eat speeches, Dubya would have fed the world by now. But his abandonment of President Clintons focus on child poverty will haunt us for years to come. Lifting All Boats Under President Clinton, the typical American familys income increased by $7,418 after adjusting for inflation. This is more than twice the increase in income during the Reagan-Bush years. In fact, as Gene Sperling, the brilliant chairman of the National Economic Council under President Clinton has documented, "during the Reagan-Bush era, 60 percent of households had no gains in income -- and the bottom 20 percent saw incomes decline 4 percent." During the Reagan-Bush era, the richest 20 percent of families saw their incomes rise dramatically, while the poorest families fell further and further behind. By contrast, in the Clinton era, every income group, from the richest to the poorest, saw income gains of at least 15 percent, adjusted for inflation, and the poorest 20 percent of families experienced the largest income gains -- 24 percent in real terms. The income of the typical African-American family increased a remarkable $8,854, or 35 percent, after accounting for the effects of inflation. And the gains made by those with the most ground to cover were the most striking. Consider this: from 1981 to 1992, the poorest 40 percent of African-American families saw their incomes fall by an average of 10 percent; during the Clinton administration, those same African-American families saw their incomes rise by an amazing 51 percent. For Hispanic families, the difference between the 1980s and the 1990s was similar: between 1981 and 1992, the poorest 80 percent of Hispanic households saw their incomes drop by an average of 6.7 percent; during the Clinton administration, the poorest 80 percent of Hispanic families experienced an average income increase of 25 percent. So, never again wonder why Bill Clinton is so beloved by the poor, by African-Americans and by Hispanic-Americans. Its because his policies helped them live the American Dream -- a dream that had been nothing more than the stuff of pious, pompous lectures under the Republicans. Taxes: Higher on the Idle Rich; Lower on the Working Poor When it came to taxes, President Clintons ideas were not new. They were as old as the biblical invocation that "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required." President Clintons 1993 economic recovery package included an increase in the top marginal rate from 31 percent to 39.6 percent, which applied only to income above $250,000 a year. It also called for an increase in the federal gas tax of less than a nickel, and subjected the Social Security benefits of high-income retirees (whose average wealth was in excess of $1 million) to taxation. Even as he raised taxes -- primarily on the very rich -- Clinton cut taxes deeply for the working poor. He greatly expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit -- a tax incentive that rewards low-income people for working. Ronald Reagan signed the first EITC bill into law. President Clinton expanded it to make 15 million low-wage working families eligible. Combined with an increase in the minimum wage (from $4.25 to $5.15 an hour), Bill Clinton did more to reward, encourage and sustain low-wage working men and women than any president in history. This was followed by a middle-class tax cut, signed into law in 1997. That law created a $500 per child tax credit, which, when combined with the Earned Income Tax Credit, meant that most middle-class and lower-income Americans had received real and meaningful tax cuts from President Clinton -- even as we eliminated the deficit. The Deficit and the Debt When Bill Clinton was elected president, the deficit was the highest in history -- $290 billion per year. In fact, in January 1993, the Congressional Budget Office projected that, in the year 2000, the annual federal budget deficit would be $455 billion, and reach a staggering, crushing, astronomical, economy-choking $653 billion in 2003. These projections may have been good mathematics, but they didnt take into account the political will that President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and the House and Senate Democrats summoned to address the fiscal crisis. Bill Clinton promised, above all, hope. And he delivered it in abundance. Shortly aft Details ISBN0743246470 Author Paul Begala Pages 208 Publisher Simon & Schuster Language English ISBN-10 0743246470 ISBN-13 9780743246477 Media Book Format Paperback Illustrations Yes Year 2002 Short Title ITS STILL THE ECONOMY STUPID O Edition Description Original Residence US Imprint Simon & Schuster Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Subtitle George W. Bush, The GOPs CEO DOI 10.1604/9780743246477 NZ Release Date 2002-11-01 US Release Date 2002-11-01 UK Release Date 2002-11-01 Publication Date 2002-11-01 DEWEY 330.9730931 Audience General AU Release Date 2003-02-03 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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