Customer Reviews

It's Still the Economy, Stupid : George W. Bush, The GOP's CEO

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Crossfire Commentator and former Clinton Adviser Paul Begala's book "It's Still the Economy Stupid" is an excellent examination of what is wrong and will continue to be wrong with the Bush Administration's economic policies. It is well-written, has a cutting sense of humor, and its assertions are well-supported by hard evidence. However, don't let any of that fool you: Begala has an agenda, and this book IS propaganda.

I think it would be instructive for anyone who likes reading books like this to read some Republican and Democratic propaganda back to back. The differences really come out. As a general rule, the Dem propaganda very rarely tells direct lies or makes outrageous fabrications about anything. Instead, they simply OMIT the material that they would rather not deal with. Begala's book definetely fits that mold - if you read his book, you would think the 90s were peaches and cream for everyone in America. They were not. However, this does not change the plain fact that they were pretty good, and better than anything Republican policies would have resulted in. Furthermore, you would believe George Bush caused the current recession. He did not - however, he did make it worse and has done nothing to correct the true difficulties confronting the economy.

Dems also usually are easy to read and have a friendly sense of humor about what they are doing. Compare that to say, Ann Coulter. Her footnotes, if you bother to check them out, are a literal papertrail revealing just how much lying she has to do to make it look like there is a factual basis for anything coming out of her word processor. Furthermore, if the spirit of Dem propagana is humor, the spirit of Repub propaganda is hate.

The book is surprisingly light reading, given how full of hard facts it is. It is an excellent little bit of propaganda concerning Clinton's positive accomplishments and Bush's lack of them. Anyone who reads this book and walks away without serious questions regarding what Bush is doing to the wallets of 98 or 99% of all Americans is either stupid, blind to the facts, or has been listening to Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh for so long they have forgotten what facts actually look like.

When George Bush took the oath of office under extremely controversial circumstances, I was prepared to give him a lot of slack. I think he handled the tragic events of 9/11 very well (although, seriously, wouldn't any president have acted the same way...even a Carter or Ford? I think so), but I haven't been impressed by anything he's done other than that. This book helped me understand why.

One of the reasons I respect Begala's work is because he documents his sources so well. Virtually every paragraph is footnoted to a credible (repeat...credible) media source (often a conservative one) or official U.S. government entity. I have checked out many of these sources myself...and they're accurate. That's what makes me appreciate Mr. Begala's book so much.

Apart from the accuracy of his information, it's a darn good read. Funny, angry and fast-moving. It's the straw that broke this reader's back in terms of no longer giving the Bush administration the benefit of the doubt. I now believe that everything that was said about Bush being a devious lightweight is frighteningly true. The one exception would be his flawless ability to say "yes" to any corporation who will line his party's pockets (the Democrats, to be sure, are not immune from this themselves, but I've never seen a president jettison the well-being of the population as a whole with such reckless abandon...and lie about it so often, as Begala painstakingly documents).

This is a book that needed to be written, yet I fear it only scratches the surface. I look forward to Mr. Begala's next book.

This book is factual, with many footnotes to verify Begala's claims. Actually, footnotes aren't even necessary... everyone knows what Bush's policies have been, and what the results of his policies have done to the country. I don't think republicans can even debate it anymore these days; nevertheless, they try to debate it, using silly arguments that don't hold water. Take the last reviewer here to give this book a negative review, for example. Let's look at his defense of Bush and condemnation of Clinton, and correct a few things....

"It's a stupid book, stupid... nothing more than the usual Democratic demogagory."
Sorry, no. It's a SMART book, one full of FACTS whether you're a Dem or a Repug. I suppose this reviewer thinks he's smarter than the economists who support the claims in the book.

"The economy collapse [sic] while Clinton/Gore was in office. Clinton did nothing to stimulate the economy other than raise taxes on the middle class."
Definitely not true. Clinton did a lot to stimulate the economy, and never did he raise taxes on the middle class. Clinton raised the Earned Income Tax Credit, esentially giving the middle class a TAX CUT and stimulating the economy. Bush's "tax cut" benefits the wealthiest 1% of our country, but Clinton's methods benefitted those who needed it most. And Clinton had the only balanced budget in 30 years, and left office with a budget surplus! Then, to pay for his tax cuts, Bush squandered that surplus and put the government in debt again.

"And last of all, the economy of the 1990's was contributed by the success of Reaganomics of the late 1980's."
That's really grasping at straws. Republicans forced to admit that there was a strong economy in the 90s can't bring themselves to admitting Clinton had anything to do with it, so they say ludicrous things like this. By this argument, it took 5 or more years for the "benefits" of Reagonomics to take hold and steer this country into the black! I suppose this fellow would also blame the current hard times on the economic policies of Clinton; always attributing the current economy to the prior president (when it suits his needs). But if the economy were strong right now, would this same fellow say it was because of the policies of a president that held office 5 years ago? No, because that would give Clinton credit, and he can't have that! The current economy is the result of the current administration's policies, be it Clinton or Bush, strong economy or recession.

"Reagan proposed the largest tax cuts of the middle class and poor. This jolted the economy by giving spending power to the people."
This isn't true at all, but it's right-on-the-money if you substitute Reagan's name with Clinton's. By increasing the EITC, Clinton gave a "tax cut" to the demographic with the strongest buying power - the middle class. That jump-started the economy. And by balancing the budget for the first time in 30 years, Clinton caused interest rates to go down, which further boosted the economy. Even Dubya's daddy warned about the "quick fix" of enacting massive tax cuts that couldn't be paid for... but that didn't stop Dubya from squandering the budget surplus (and then some) on his "tax cuts" for the wealthy.

I don't think this Anonymous reviewer from Texas read the same book I did. It's all in there, with supporting footnotes from economists.

...

It's too bad that the goofy cover and politically motivated title will discourage many readers from this well written book. From the analysis of Bush's economic "plan" to the current administration's very pro-business/pro-wealthy policies, Begala offers a troubling and scary future for this country. Moreover, he highlights the highly questionable and very unethical business practices of both Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, the latter who had business dealing in 1998 with Iraq, Iran, and Libya and made over $45 million dollars in 5 years as CEO of Halliburton while at the same time laying off workers and slashing health benefits.

Begala also debunks many of the myths that have been perpetuated by the Right Wing to include Clinton being responsible for corporate greed and failing to deal with international terrorism, that the recent tax cut spurred economic growth and favored all Americans, and that the surplus was easten away by the tragic events of 9/11. In truth, the current administration has slashed eductional funding, opened up greater opportunities for corporate greed, begun to dismantle enviromental regulations, and have done more for big business than for the working poor (who are really feeling the pain of the slowdown in the economy.)

I would urge anyone who is interested in discovering the direction of our current administratioin to read this book. Though Begala's tone is clearly biased, the arguements, facts, and non-partison evidence are hard to dismiss and will cause great concern for both liberals and conservatives alike.

Interesting reviews here from several people who would like us to believe they read the book. Let's see, whose word are you going to take--

An admittedly biased author, who nonetheless did research, makes convincing arguments, doesn't mince facts, and includes pages upon pages of footnotes to support his assertions...

...Or the predictable parroting of the "blame Clinton at all costs because we know George W. Bush is an incompetent fraud but at least he's Republican" crowd?

By the way, yes the economy started going South during Clinton's last year. The economy is driven by EXPECTATIONS. Investors began hitting the brakes when Al Gore was getting flakey and it seemed like Bush had a chance to win (which he didn't, but he came close enough to be able to fraudulently manipulate his way into office). As you know, he promised a "new direction" away from Clinton's economic policies and he's delivered--no big surprise there! Hey, the rest of us told you so! The economy was due for a correction anyway, but not the drastic drop and recession that came about because of the Bush regime's calculated bungling. If you support the "party of personal responsibility", rather than blaming Clinton you should take the opportunity to blame Bush (and yourselves for backing him).

I've read some of this book in the store. I give it 5 stars based on an incomplete read to balance out at least one of the uninformed 1-star votes.

Paul Begala's "It's Still the Economy, Stupid" serves as a welcome reality check on the George W. Bush administration's propaganda war. While Republicans always seem eager to attach the "class warfare" label onto Democrats, Begala makes clear that the Republicans have long been on the offensive.

Begala looks at numerous examples of Bush administration doublespeak to expose the Republican's real agenda. Not surprisingly, Begala has found that Bush's brand of "compassionate conservatism" looks a lot like plain old right-wing conservatism: it is pro-corporate and pro-wealth on the one hand and anti-environment and anti-working class on the other. Begala ties specific pieces of legislation to the lobbying activities of their sponsors to reveal a government with deep ties to the business community in general and to corporate cronys like Enron and Halliburton in particular.

Begala contends that the Bush tax cuts for the rich are pulling the rug out from under the American people. He rightly points out that taxes can be more equitably cut in other ways (such as reducing the payroll tax) but suggests that Bush has purposely selected the income and inheritance taxes because reductions to these taxes disproporitionately benefits his wealthy campaign donors. Unfortunately, these decisions are creating enormous future deficits that, if left unchallenged, ultimately threatens to bankrupt social security and other vital programs that the working class has come to rely upon.

Begala is to be congratulated for being a stuanch defender of the Clinton administration. You are reminded that Republicans vehemently opposed the policies that proved critical in turning the corner to economic success during the 1990s. Begala shows that it is possible to create a strong economy marked by widely shared prosperity. Contrasting the Clinton success story with the unconscionable looting of the federal treasury by the Bush-Cheney team, the author makes us rethink what our definition of scandalous behavior ought to be. (On the other hand, one should not look to Begala to find a critique of how Clinton's ill-advised deregulation of Wall Street and free trade policies with China conspire to undermine middle class prosperity over the long haul.)

Begala's writing is energetic and full of humor, giving Democratic partisans something to cheer about during these long, dark days. But what sets the book apart from the average political screed is its thorough documentation and use of facts. As Bush himself might say, Republicans shouldn't "misunderestimate" this book, because it will be very difficult indeed for them to refute.

Insanity, said Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. By this measure, the latest Bush tax cuts qualify as certifiably insane.

Where have we seen this deranged fiscal strategy before? Remember Ronald Reagan and Supply Side Economics? In the early 1980s, Reagan promised the nation that if we lowered tax rates on the wealthy, the economy would grow so much the federal budget would be balanced "within three years, maybe even two."

Sober people were skeptical-and rightly so. Reagan's Republican opponent for the 1980 presidential election, George H.W. Bush called it "voodoo economics." His own Budget Director, David Stockman, called it a "Trojan horse," a scam intended really to funnel more money to the already rich. Stockman was quickly dismissed.

The results, we now know, were a disaster. In 1982, the first full year after the tax cuts were enacted, the economy actually shrank 2.2%, the worst performance since the Great Depression. And the effect on the federal budget was catastrophic.

Jimmy Carter's last budget deficit was $77 billion. Reagan's first deficit was $128 billion. His second deficit exploded to $208 billion. By the time the "Reagan Revolution" was over, George H.W. Bush was running an annual deficit of $290 billion per year.

Yearly deficits, of course, add up to national debt. When Reagan took office, the national debt stood at $994 billion. When Bush left office, it had reached $4.3 trillion. In other words, the national debt had taken 200 years to reach $1 trillion. Reagan's Supply Side experiment quadrupled it in the next 12 years.

Is there anything to compare this to? When Bill Clinton took office he intentionally reversed the Supply Side formula, raising taxes on the wealthy and reducing them on the lowest wage earners. Supply Side true believers predicted the arrival of the Apocalypse. Bob Dole said the stock market would collapse. Newt Gingrich said the world would fall into another Great Depression.

What actually happened?

Between 1992 and 2000, the U.S. economy produced the longest sustained economic expansion in U.S. history. It created more than 18 million new jobs, the highest level of job creation ever recorded. Inflation fell to 2.5% per year compared to the 4.7% average over the prior 12 years.

Real interest rates fell by over 40% producing the greatest housing boom ever. Overall economic growth averaged 4.0% per year compared to 2.8% average growth over the 12 years of the Reagan/Bush administrations. Most impressively, Clinton reversed the mammoth deficits of the Supply Side years, turning them into surpluses. He used these surpluses to begin paying down the national debt.

By virtually every meaningful measure-employment, growth, inflation, interest rates, investment, deficits and debt-the economy performed better once the Supply Side experiment was terminated and replaced with a more honest economic policy where we actually pay our bills as we go.

This might all be ancient history if the spectre of Supply Side economics had not reared its ugly head again once Bush II took office. In selling his $1.6 trillion tax cut-half of which went to the wealthiest 1% of Americans-Bush promised in 2001 that it would produce 800,000 new jobs. In fact, the economy has lost 2.7 million jobs since Bush took office, again, the worst economic performance since the Great Depression.

The effects of Bush's tax cut on the deficit and debt are exactly what we would expect having seen Reagan's results-only worse. Bush inherited from Clinton a fiscal surplus of $127 billion. In his first year he turned that into a deficit of $158 billion. In this, his second year, he will run a deficit of over $400 billion-a swing to the worse of over $600 billion in only two years.

Now Bush has sold us on still another megadose of this same Supply Side voodoo. Two thirds of his new $350 billion tax cut will go to the top 10% of income earners. Bush's Congressional ally, Tom DeLay, promises more such cuts for every year Bush is in office.

The long term effects of these policies are profoundly damaging. When Bush took office, the government's ten year surplus was forecast to total $5.6 trillion. This was critical to building fiscal soundness as the Baby Boomers begin to retire.

Now, the ten year forecast projects a cumulative deficit of $1.1 trillion, a net loss of $6.7 trillion in only two years. With the exception of World Wars, this is the greatest, most rapid destruction of public wealth in the history of the world.

This is $6.7 trillion that is not available to pay for an entire generation's retirement as we promised. It cannot rebuild the nation's schools or retrain the technologically unemployed. It cannot shore up a foundering Medicare system or provide insurance to the more than 40 million Americans without it. The interest costs of funding this debt will soon approach half a trillion dollars a year and will retard investment and, therefore, economic growth for decades to come.

All this torrent of debt does-and we shouldn't underestimate the prodigious potency of this feat-is line the pockets of Bush's already gorged campaign contributors.

Rarely in public affairs do we have the luxury of such starkly clear, empirically proven, historically sound contrasts. If Bush's tax cuts do not represent a fiscal process wildly out of control it is hard to imagine what does. And sadly, per Einstein's insanity dictum, we've seen it all before.

Bush wants people to believe these losses are due to a recession he inherited from Bill Clinton. But the economy has grown for seven of the last eight quarters Bush has been in office, hardly a recessionary environment. In truth, the losses owe to a reckless economic philosophy, the failings of which have been conclusively, and now repeatedly, demonstrated.

We need to wake up from our patriotism-besotted, war-induced stupor. Losses and debts of this magnitude threaten our nation's well being far more than do fictive weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a two bit, third world thug. Destroying our fiscal patrimony at the very moment we need it most-when history shows we should know better-is nothing short of national insanity.

Paul Begala's book, It's STILL the Economy Stupid, is more relevant than ever as we approach the 2004 election. It is clear from his editorializing that Begala is no fan of George Bush, but that shouldn't stop any thinking person who wants to understand who "the only President we have" is and what he stands for from reading this book - Democrat or Republican. The book is well written and well documented. Begala does not make unsupported accusations. He carefully lays out the evidence that makes his case.

In this book, Begala goes through Bush's speeches and his record and uncovers a number of disturbing patterns, including George's habit of making promises and then disregarding then days or weeks later and his systematic efforts to cut taxes for ONLY the rich, with the super-rich receiving the vast majority of the benefits.

Begala also carefully explains how the Republicans in Congress blocked Clinton's efforts to put reforms in place that would have curbed big business and avoided both the Enron and accounting scandals among others. This was especially interesting to me, as the Republicans have laid the blame for these things at Clinton's feet.

Don't take my word for what Begala says. If you want to make an educated choice between Bush and Kerry in November; if you want to understand who you're voting for; if you want to understand the record of the incumbent President, read this book.

In this book's most depressing - yet perversely entertaining - passage, Begala provides a shockingly long list of social programs of which George W. Bush has spoken glowingly in public, just before quietly slashing the funding for them. As with most of the "revelations" in this book, those hypocrisies will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Bush closely, yet you would have to have read the papers very carefully in order to have been aware of them. Such is the paradox of Bush's presidency thus far: he's always had to lie about his record and his stances on the issues in order to remain popular, but the supposedly "liberal" media has condoned - and often even repeated - those lies so consistently as to keep his popularity at record levels throughout much of his term. It's too bad that a book like this is necessary, given that most of the information it provides is a matter of public record and it's in the best interest of most Americans to be aware of it. But as long as the mainstream media continues to shill for Bush, this is probably the single best current source of the truth about his record in office to date.

If you're reading this review, you've probably read at least one previous book by Begala or his "Crossfire" partner, James Carville, in which case you know what to expect (unless, of course, you're just here to provide a one-star review with some inarticulate whining about communism). Begala picks up roughly where he left off in "Is Our Children Learning." Where that book (which I also highly recommend) revealed the ugly truth about Bush's record as governor of Texas and as a businessman before entering politics, this one does the same with his first two years as president. Hit especially hard are some of Bush's more inept aides and cabinet members, including the recently departed Paul O'Neill. (The book was published before O'Neill's resignation, but Begala's indictment of his performance makes it clear that he should never have been appointed to begin with.) There is somewhat less overt bashing of Bush himself than last time, but Begala, a former Clinton adviser, never misses an opportunity to compare his former boss favorably to Bush on policy matters. Also, his debunking of the argument that the Monica Lewinsky affair was somehow responsible for the rash of corporate scandals in the past year may be stating the obvious, but it's nonetheless a joy to read in detail just how absurd that idea really is.

Begala sticks mostly to economics and environmental issues in his criticism, so those who are mostly interested in cultural issues might find the book less interesting. Additionally, he lashes out more than once at Nader voters in his narrative, but he's hardly alone within the moderate left in his feelings on that matter. While the attitude he presents is unlikely to heal any remaining fissures among progressive voters, his work is still a nice dose of reality for the "not a dime's worth of difference" crowd.

Until and unless the mainstream media ever decides to end its love affair with George W. Bush, books like this one will remain by far the best way to learn the truth about Bush, Cheney and their "business partners" in Washington. Recommended for all who want to know what their real agenda is, and what they're doing to the country in the process of working toward it.

This book contains so many important facts that everyone should read. We, as the average citizen, are going to be doomed if we allow these kind of actions to continue. Another, maybe it was mentioned and I missed it, idea to be considered is something I had been wondering about and then I read another person's view and knew I was not alone on this thought process, but WHAT IF BREAKING THE NATION WAS DELIBERATE AND INTENTIONAL? Our Social Security was protected before Bush came to office and now it is in jeopardy. The people who are as rich as them do not depend upon Social Security in their old age, but most of us do. They use our tax money to benefit themselves and lie to us. If they break us, the majority of the people, and control the news media, which they about do now, how will we stop them. How will we live? This is not your normal Republican versus Democrat fight, it is a certain right-wing group against your NORMAL REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS and the Republicans don't know it yet. We have grown, over the years, to trust the people we elected to do the best for all of us, but it is not the case anymore. Too much corporate influence. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK! It may just save you.