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Staying on Bush’s Course

McCain's fiscal program is either a joke or a fantasy

By Daniel Gross | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Mar 28, 2008 | Updated: 3:38  p.m. ET Mar 28, 2008

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  • Posted By: ClaudeM @ 04/03/2008 5:38:18 PM

    Comment: Excellence in journalism! If any red blooded American votes for this re-tread worn out McCain tire, you deserve your seat in hades, next to this lousy candidate. Tax cuts? Where? How much do you think the nation can afford to borrow from the Saudi's or the Chinese? Social Security privatized? Take off your blinders; we have recessions every 5 years or so when the business cycle swoons? 100 years war in Iraq and elsewhere? Surely you must gulp cadaver blood for breakfast and lust for toes cut from collateral damaged children. No, Mr. Bushlight, we do not like you or your ilk. You are a flip-flopper phony.

  • Posted By: kriley0923 @ 04/03/2008 11:05:02 AM

    Comment: Wow. This was some objective, unbiased reporting. I hear the Chinese government has a few openings in their journalist pawn department to cover the Tibet story.

  • Posted By: tin0215 @ 04/02/2008 12:04:56 AM

    Comment: Pay all the taxes? where's mine going then? 4000 dead a drop in the bucket? Is any of them your family? Murders here, at home? How about some gun control?

  • Posted By: tin0215 @ 04/02/2008 12:01:14 AM

    Comment: "4000 DEAD IS ALOT BUT COMPARED TO THE MURDERS IN THIS COUNTRY OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS ITS A DROP IN THE BUCKET."
    What an outrageous statement to make! It's ok that 4000 dead (and miscounted if you add the ones who die after they're brought home)? Murders in this country? Well, lets see...maybe some gun control would be appropriate?

  • Posted By: whala @ 03/31/2008 5:26:23 PM

    Comment: Gee, I wonder if this author has a political agenda?? Talk about dillusional.

  • Posted By: Dare270 @ 03/31/2008 10:29:58 AM

    Comment: Keep bush's economic plan?!?, that is political suicide.

  • Posted By: flman @ 03/31/2008 9:57:14 AM

    Comment: Why don't we just let the top 5% pay all the taxes. They almost do anyways.
    4000 DEAD IS ALOT BUT COMPARED TO THE MURDERS IN THIS COUNTRY OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS ITS A DROP IN THE BUCKET.

  • Posted By: flman @ 03/31/2008 9:53:50 AM

    Comment: WHY DONT WE JUST HAVE THE TOP 5% PAY ALL THE TAXES, THEY ALMOST DO ANYWAYS.

  • Posted By: wildlifeusa @ 03/28/2008 11:37:39 PM

    Comment: Any human being with common sense would rather spend billions on healthcare, education, infrastructures, training programs on the people, than on the military. Can you believe, this country is spending 100 millions per day in afghanistan... how much more of our tax dollars being spent in Iraq????? It is completely insane!!!!
    All that money could have helped so many americans!
    For sure, we need a change.
    Obama'08
    Clinton' 08

    • Posted By: clikdawg @ 03/29/2008 00:15:01

      Comment: Um ... hate to burst your bubble, wildlifeusa -- but both Clinton and Obama have called for an INCREASE in our troop levels in Afghanistan; Obama most recently during the Ohio primary.

      Afghanistan has always been the military/industrial complex's fall-back war, in case the American public got too fed up with Iraq. Draw your own conclusions regarding Clinton and Obama's first loyalty.

  • Posted By: Runyen @ 03/28/2008 11:21:20 PM

    Comment: I agree with you Woody! We the people in order to form a more perfect union should overthrow the one that's in there now. And more of the same if you vote for that well what a shame - on you! I vote for the person and if I was to pick a president it would probably be Warren Buffett with Bill Gates as VP. That's who should run the country, people who have run very successful businesses. Because face it people - government is the biggest business in the country.

  • Posted By: Woody Rufus Leeks @ 03/28/2008 10:17:17 PM

    Comment: What truly infuriates me is that now all these idiots (Politicians, Economists, Elitists, Corporate Leaders and Pundits) are looking at each other and asking ???what happened??? as if they had no hand in anything that contributed to the current situation. Here???s what happened???you???ve practically destroyed the freaking country in your greed and incompetence, JACKASSES!

  • Posted By: FREE AND THE BRAVE @ 03/28/2008 10:04:49 PM

    Comment: Jesus, why don't we just go ahead an annoint "Barry" King now.What ever happened to reporting the news? The whole process of this election is getting disgusting. The country is in a recession already and tax and spend liberal policies will only hasten the process. Make no mistake McCain is not George Bush. McCain has the ability to cross party lines to get the job done. Can you say that about "Billary?' How about Obama? Oh, wait, he hasn't done anything yet because he hasn't had the time in the senate, because he has been to busy running for president!

  • Posted By: Woody Rufus Leeks @ 03/28/2008 9:40:32 PM

    Comment: "It matters less how we got here and more how we deal with the situation as it is". This quote should go down in history as the mantra of the Bush-Cheney administration from Enron, Iraq, China, Wall Street, etc. This administration has been a complete and total disaster and we, as a nation, cannot afford this type of politics any longer. The will of the American people? "So What! We'll do what we want.......Isn't this what the Declaration Of Independence was written for? We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

    That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Why in the world would we want more of the same?

    • Posted By: klebrun @ 03/29/2008 06:40:17

      Comment: The constitution is merely a temporary document, sort of a placeholder in history, until the second coming of the Messiah (who looks a lot like Dick Cheney). In the interim, the White House spin room has simplified the constitution to read - it is what the president says it is - and predictably supported by the Supreme Court.

    • Posted By: klebrun @ 03/29/2008 05:36:55

      Comment: Regret to inform you that the constitution has been overwritten by executive privilege.

  • Posted By: lillea @ 03/28/2008 8:45:30 PM

    Comment: Obama -- Change with no real meaning
    McCain -- HONEST Change

    Obama -- Hopelessness
    McCain -- REAL Hope

  • Posted By: lillea @ 03/28/2008 8:39:18 PM

    Comment: John McWain = True Grit

  • Posted By: NewsWkDickG @ 03/28/2008 8:28:57 PM

    Comment: More Of The Same?? SPIN, SPIN, SPIN ??? around and around we go ??? anyone getting dizzy? I am always amazed at the audacity with which GWBush presents his rationalizations. You talk about arrogance and gall; the man literally has no conscience, no hesitation and of course, no apology. Psychologists tell us that is what we should expect from a sociopathic personality but ??? really is there no limit? Now we are being told, with a straight face, that the increase in violence in Iraq is something good as it tests the ability of the government and their security forces to respond. How about the fact that we have now been there five years and we are little better off than we were four and a half years ago ??? or that we have recruited, armed, paid for and supported several war lords which now make up a country that is a powder keg ready to blow up in full fledged civil war ??? or that the government we sponsored has accomplished little more than political bickering and maneuvering ??? or that the surge was touted as the answer and then we were told it was successful, when actually only the sponsored war lords have made any difference ??? or that as part of a supposed coalition America has literally paid 95%+ of the costs in lives and dollars, with no end in sight ??? or that before attacking Iraq, Iraq and Iran checked each other and now Iran???s anti-American government stands ready to be the major power in the area ??? or that the reporting all along has been controlled, creative and very questionable, with much rationalized and little answered ??? or should we ever forget that the whole thing was falsely justified, representing part of the Bush administration???s private agenda that has only benefited Special Interests and a select few, while neglecting the real problems and substantially inhibiting our ability to respond to other crisis and needs.
    What is really disheartening is that the SPIN goes on, without any real challenge, without recognition and rejection for what it is. It is scary that our government, and even our political candidates, are allowed to say/do whatever they feel benefits them (or those few who will then return benefit) without the media, without the public really screaming foul over the bold dishonesty, the self-focused indulgence, the arrogant lack of integrity and then holding them to a higher standard that is desperately needed. It is as if everyone accepts whatever is said as long as it allows them to believe what they want, what they think is going to advantage them, without any concern for right or wrong. I suspect that just may be consistent with what happened in the Roman Empire and Nazi Germany.

    • Posted By: klebrun @ 03/28/2008 21:20:16

      Comment: An exellent anaylsis and consistent with many of the writings on the rise and fall of super powers.

  • Posted By: funkdome @ 03/28/2008 8:22:29 PM

    Comment: "Reading McCain's economic agenda, and listening to his speech, it appears that the problem with the last eight years is that we haven't seen enough tax breaks for the wealthy, that economic royalism hasn't been pursued with sufficient vigor, and that the middle and working classes haven't been stiffed sufficiently. "

    Couldn't Newsweek find an analyst who isn't a partisan idealouge? it's bad enough that the political coverage is dominated by Keith Olbermann's guest list, now we are to expect tainted economic coverage too?

    This absurd bias reminds me why I cancelled this partisan rag.

  • Posted By: ploughman @ 03/28/2008 7:44:31 PM

    Comment: A vote for McCain is a vote for a third term for Bush! Finally, the Democrats have a slogan with Karl Rove-like brevity.

    It just shows that the Republicans are no longer the party of fiscal conservatism, and haven't been since the 70s.

  • Posted By: klebrun @ 03/28/2008 7:41:58 PM

    Comment: As the third of 3 brothers to enlist, one of whom paid the ultimate price, I find the treatment of our troops and the first responders at the WTC after 911 embarassing. The Bush policies for the last eight years have best been described as welfare for the rich, while fighting a war on the cheap and ignoring the suffering and illnesses of the first responders. The Bush/Cheney/Rove team sought tobuild a lasting political machine through a spoils sytem for the politically connected. In so doing they were characterized as spending like a bunch of drunken sailors. The beneficiaries responded with generous campaign contributions. To offset the massive waste, the Bush administration has reduced spending for our troops and the many seriously ill first responders in an effort to balance the out-of-control budget. Our troops are doing with less so that the wealthiest can have more. And, that does not address the many valauble social programs that have also gone under the knife.

    • Posted By: LSD4u2 @ 03/29/2008 14:31:42

      Comment: Stop your bellyaching klebrun, like VP Cheney said last week about the 4,000 plus dead U.S. troops, "They volenteered" and "So". You and your brothers volenteered to enlist, you should have had better things to do than fight a war just like Cheney said he had better things to do than fight a war during the Vietnam war. And first responeders get paid very well with great benfits for themselves and their families, for parttime work, paid for by the taxes on the wealthey and upper class Americans.

  • Posted By: klebrun @ 03/28/2008 7:41:24 PM

    Comment: As the third of 3 brothers to enlist, one of whom paid the ultimate price, I find the treatment of our troops and the first responders at the WTC after 911 embarassing. The Bush policies for the last eight years have best been described as welfare for the rich, while fighting a war on the cheap and ignoring the suffering and illnesses of the first responders. The Bush/Cheney/Rove team sought tobuild a lasting political machine through a spoils sytem for the politically connected. In so doing they were characterized as spending like a bunch of drunken sailors. The beneficiaries responded with generous campaign contributions. To offset the massive waste, the Bush administration has reduced spending for our troops and the many seriously ill first responders in an effort to balance the out-of-control budget. Our troops are doing with less so that the wealthiest can have more. And, that does not address the many valauble social programs that have also gone under the knife.

  • Posted By: ChefRichM @ 03/28/2008 7:27:30 PM

    Comment: Actually, Mr. Gross misstates the budget deficit. Based on the table he reers to, it should say the 2009 budget calls for a deficit of $407 billion on projected receipts of $2.7 TRILLION.

  • Posted By: clikdawg @ 03/28/2008 6:30:11 PM

    Comment: C'mon -- "bucking up the homeowners" is just back-door-speak for making sure those banks and mortgage companies that issued foolishly high-risk mortgages get paid for their incompetence; and McCain's politics on this (if not on the rest of his "program") are thoroughly sound: The question will devolve (in this particular culture at this particular time) to -- "Do you wanna pay for this guy's house?" Four million troubled homeowners will say we ought to pick p their tab; most others (including the millions who will NEVER own a home) will say: "Hell, no!" and figure Big John's some kind of a not-too-radical Populist.

    And pull the lever accordingly.

    It's just one of those "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" issues that folks aren't going to stand for a lot of double-talk on -- at least, that's how I read the National Mood ...

  • Posted By: Illinois Voter @ 03/28/2008 6:21:48 PM

    Comment: Loans and Leadership by Paul Krugman March 28, 2008
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=l&oref=slogin
    ???policy proposals offer a window into a candidates??? political souls???their proposals arguably say a lot about the kind of president each would be???Hillary Clinton???the substance of her policy proposals on mortgages???like that of her health care plan suggests a strong progressive sensibility???Mrs. Clinton wants a modern version of the Home Owners??? Loan Corporation, the New Deal institution that acquired the mortgages of people whose homes were worth less than their debts, then reduced payments to a level the homeowners could afford.
    Barack Obama???s followed the cautious pattern of his statements on economic issues???continues to make permanent tax cuts???his tax cut promises raise questions about how determined he really is to pursue a strongly progressive agenda???candidates??? positions on the mortgage crisis tell a tale at odds with the way they are often portrayed. Mrs. Clinton, we???re assured by sources right and left, tortures puppies and eats babies. But her policy proposals continue to be surprisingly bold and progressive.
    ???Mr. Obama, is widely portrayed as a transformational figure who will usher in a new era. But his actual policy proposals, though liberal, tend to be cautious and relatively orthodox.

    Clinton Solutions for the American Economy-A New $2.5 Billion per Year Workforce Training Program
    http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=6785
    ???Make job retraining universally available to all dislocated workers, provide new Pell Grants to workers, and support on-the-job training opportunities. ???And while we have been rightly focused on trying to help people who are out of work, there???s been too little thought and effort to help people gain new skills while they still have their existing jobs-so they can move up or move on to higher-wage positions.??? ???Restore manufacturing in US and create more US jobs???Financed by Corporate Subsidy Commission, will identify unnecessary and outdated corporate subsidies and present to Congress for up or down votes.

 
 
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