SwiftVets.com

[VAW11_Vet]

This is just UNBELIEVABLE


Paul Krugman


It's not hard to predict what President Bush, who sounds increasingly desperate, will say today. Here are eight lies or distortions you'll hear, and the truth about each.

JOBS –Mr. Bush will talk about the 1.7 million jobs created since the summer of 2003, and will say that the economy is "strong and getting stronger." That's like boasting about getting a D on your final exam, when you flunked the midterm and needed at least a C to pass the course. He is the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a decline in payroll employment. That's worse than it sounds because the economy needs around 1.6 million new jobs each year just to keep up with population growth.

UNEMPLOYMENT –Mr. Bush will boast about the decline in the unemployment rate from its June 2003 peak. But the employed fraction of the population didn't rise at all; unemployment declined only because some of those without jobs stopped actively looking for work, dropping from the unemployment statistics. The labor force participation rate – the fraction of the population either working or actively looking for work – has fallen sharply.

THE DEFICIT –Mr. Bush will claim that the recession and 9-11 caused record budget deficits. Congressional Budget Office estimates show that tax cuts caused about two-thirds of the 2004 deficit.

THE TAX CUTS –Mr. Bush will claim that Sen. John Kerry opposed "middle class" tax cuts. But budget office numbers show that most of Mr. Bush's tax cuts went to the best-off 10 percent of families, and more than a third went to the top 1 percent, whose average income is more than $1 million.

THE KERRY TAX PLAN –Mr. Bush will claim, again, that Mr. Kerry plans to raise taxes on many small businesses. In fact, only a tiny percentage would be affected. Moreover, as Mr. Kerry correctly pointed out, the administration's definition of a small-business owner is so broad that in 2001 it included Mr. Bush, who does indeed have a stake in a timber company – a business he's so little involved with that he apparently forgot about it.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY –Mr. Bush will claim that Mr. Kerry proposes $2 trillion in new spending. That's a partisan number that is much higher than independent estimates. Meanwhile, as The Washington Post pointed out, the administration's own numbers show that the cost of the agenda Mr. Bush laid out "is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion" and "far eclipses that of the Kerry plan."

SPENDING –On Friday, Mr. Bush claimed that he had increased nondefense discretionary spending by only 1 percent per year. The actual number is 8 percent, even after adjusting for inflation. Mr. Bush seems to have confused his budget promises – which he keeps on breaking – with reality.

HEALTH CARE –Mr. Bush will claim that Mr. Kerry wants to take medical decisions away from individuals. The Kerry plan would expand Medicaid (which works like Medicare), ensuring that children, in particular, have health insurance. It would protect everyone against catastrophic medical expenses. It would do nothing to restrict patients' choices.

By singling out Mr. Bush's lies and misrepresentations, am I saying that Mr. Kerry isn't equally at fault? Yes.

Mr. Kerry sometimes uses verbal shorthand that offers nitpickers things to complain about. He talks of 1.6 million lost jobs; that's the private-sector loss, partly offset by increased government employment. He talks of the $200 billion cost of the Iraq war; actual spending is only $120 billion so far. But nobody doubts that the war will cost at least another $80 billion. The point is that Mr. Kerry can, at most, be accused of using loose language; the thrust of his statements is correct.

Mr. Bush's statements, on the other hand, are fundamentally dishonest. He is insisting that black is white, and that failure is success. Journalists who play it safe by spending equal time exposing his lies and parsing Mr. Kerry's choice of words are betraying their readers.


Paul Krugman writes for The New York Times. His e-mail address is krugman@nytimes.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/101304dnedikrugman.97abe.html
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VAW-11 NAS North Island 1961-1966

[Hammer2]

Krugman got roasted by O'reilly not too long ago.
His style is more appropriate for Pravda than the New York Times.
Oh wait, the NYT is the American Pravda, sorry my bad. He is right where he belongs.
_________________
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilence" - Thomas Jefferson
"An armed society is a polite society" - Thomas Jefferson
"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it won't be needed until someone tries to take it away." -- Thomas Jefferson

[Scott]

[Anker-Klanker]

Yep, the good old NYT, home of the propaganda arm of the DNC. The Dallas Morning News has been becoming more and more left-leaning in recent months, as evidenced most clearly by their continuing to publish articles like this from NYT writers.

[VAW11_Vet]

We are a rather large advertiser in the Dallas Morning News. Let me rephrase that...we were a rather large advertiser in the Dallas Morning News. We terminated our contract this afternoon.
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VAW-11 NAS North Island 1961-1966

[jataylor11]

The $120 billion is the entire war on terror. The payroll number is not the best indicator of jobs --- it misses all the self-employed.

Tax cuts --

Gee -- you make $1,000,000 and pay taxes of $390,000 (39%). I make $50,000 and pay taxes nor more than $9,000.

Now after the tax cut I pay taxes on my $50K salary of a maximum of $7,000 -- while you the millionaire is paying $350,000.

Your taxes dropped 4% -- my taxes dropped 4% ---

But how dare you --- you got a $40,000 decrease in your taxes and my taxes only dropped by $2,000 --- how unfair


Oh by the way --- why are you making $1,000,000 when I only make $50,000? How unfair


While we are talking unfair -- There are people in the world who are thinner, prettier, with more pleasing personalities than my own --- I think John Kerry really needs to fix this problem too while he is making the lame walk and the blind see.