The Economic Consequences of Bush!

Joseph Stiglitz is a famous economist (Nobel Prize) and he is also someone who can articulate substantive issues in a language that non-economists can understand. He has become a guru for me after reading his books on the global economy (he is a supporter of free trade and is critical of the United States that negotiates treaties that are self-serving and detrimental to developing nations).

At the moment, his long article Vanity Fair on the “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush” is a relatively detailed litany of the horrendous consequences of this administration’s policies. Bush will not only go down in history as the worse president, in general, but even more so, in terms of economic consequences to our country. Dr.Stiglitz is convinced that “our grandchildren will still be living with, and struggling with, the economic consequences of Mr. Bush”. What a legacy!

The number of policy decisions that favor the rich at the expense of middle class and those struggling with poverty are legendary, at this point. What is more disturbing is these policies resulted in an inability to fund research and development, healthcare, etc. that are needed for our society to compete in the global economy.

Reversing the consequences of Bush will be difficult. It is hard to believe that “the interest we are paying, year after year, on the almost $4 trillion of increased debt burden—even at 5 percent, that’s an annual payment of $200 billion, two Iraq wars a year forever.”

And to think that he was a Republican, supposedly a party that has fiscal integrity as a priority!