Newspeak

Sep. 1st, 2005 at 11:25 AM

On NPR this morning, George W. Bush said "I don't think anybody anticipated a breach in the levees".

Funny, FEMA did just that:

"No one can say they didn't see it coming"

In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City.

But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war.

In 2004, the Bush administration cut the Corps of Engineers' request for holding back the waters of New Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the Corps to impose a hiring freeze.

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tamnonlinear wrote:

Sep. 1st, 2005 10:01 am (UTC)

I heard Bush on the radio this morning and screamed at the radio when he made that claim. The worst part is that he'll probably get away with it.

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ithildae wrote:

Sep. 1st, 2005 02:22 pm (UTC)

Just a small quibble, Tax receipts are up over 15% over last year after an increase of about 9% the year before. Taxes got cut and revenues rose. That means that the government took in more extra money than it spent on Iraq. You can claim that the revenue increase is a result of the recession being over and the economy being good. The Bush crowd is claiming it is because of the tax cuts. For the record, our tax burden is now about 17% of GDP with a century average of 17.2% of GDP.

If you are really complaining about the budget deficit, well, there are two things that make up a budget deficit. The first is income.

If you are just upset because the Americans have an idiot for a leader, Yeah, well, it happens. We are still here.

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ithildae wrote:

Sep. 2nd, 2005 04:26 pm (UTC)

My freshman macroecon class taught that, in times of recession, increase spending and cut taxes. That is what was done.

I think that in times of war you want to increase revenues. The king George crowd claims that cutting taxes is what caused revenues to increase. I claim the goal is not to keep taxes, just because they are there, but to do whatever you can to increase revenues. If cutting taxes really does increase revenues, why is that a bad idea?

I don't believe that we are deficit spending because of Iraq. I think we are deficit spending because the republican government has less spending discipline than my brand new seven year old with her birthday money.

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josiosings wrote:

Sep. 3rd, 2005 12:00 pm (UTC)

not all of us are...

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ithildae wrote:

Sep. 1st, 2005 02:14 pm (UTC)

So Bush has presided over two of the top three major threats to the country. It is a good thing he can't run for a third term...

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