I think these headlines from the past few months are a pretty good reflection of just how things are going in America under El Busho.

1. "Gap between the rich, others grows"--Augusts 17, 2004

2. "Record Level of Americans Not Insured On Health"--August 27, 2004

3. "Study Finds Accelerating Decline in Corporate Taxes"-- September 23,
2004

4. "Jumping on the billionaire bandwagon Largest number ever"--September
24, 2004

5. "Republicans Try to Dilute Bill on Taxing Corporations"--October 5,
2004

6. "Just Another Day in the Pit as Oil Tops $52"-- October 7, 2004

7. "U.S. Report Finds Iraqis Eliminated Illicit Arms in 90"s"-- October
7, 2004

8. "Tax Revenue Below 2000's Despite Growth in Profits"-- October 8, 2004

9. "As U.S. Debt Ceiling is Reached, Bush Administration Seeks to Raise
It Once Again"-- October 15, 2004

10. "Public college tuition up 10% Second-largest boost in
decade"--October 20, 2004 (The largest increase was last year.)

Warning: Not seen on FoxNews!

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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. " --Noam Chomsky

Under Kerry:

1. The gap between rich and poor will grow. It always does. The only way to stop it is a Nader type solution, which is, at the end of a year, take 100% of your asset's value, convert 2% to cash by selling something, and give that to the government, so eventually Bill Gates and friends will be broke like the rest of us. This is a pretty extreme tax in my view, that will screw over pretty much everyone who owns their own small business.

2. Non-insured people? How is that going to go down? You think congress will pass Kerry's health plan?

3. If Kerry raises corporate taxes, you can count on the outsourcing to double.

4. Same as #1.

5. Same as #3.

6. Oil. Ah where to start. Yes it would be nice to have a president who says 'hey let's get rid of oil', but sadly, we've never had one, ever. Kerry is not going to change that either, companies and technology will though, unless Kerry taxes them to hades and back. Oil is still cheaper today than it used to be ($78 a barrel in the 70s / 80s was the high, using today's dollars).

7. Then why did Kerry give Bush a gun and then give him some bullets? If he has no gun, or bullets, he can't use it. Anyone who gives someone a gun and bullets, then complains when they go and do something stupid, should first ensure with 100% confidence that they know what they are going to do with it. Kerry, and congress, did not. They should have said 'Sir, Mr. President, we need a 100 page document outlineing exactly what you will do and how you will do it before we will vote. Thanks."

8. The NASDAQ lost 70% of its value. It will take a 400% gain to get back to where it was. Most everyone lost money, and on their tax form they got to subtract a huge loss (I sure did) from their income, and hence, a much smaller tax revenue was created than was forecasted. While previously, people made money, and their income went up, as did the taxes they had to pay. The article even talks about this.

9. Again, congress has more power than the president. If they don't want to raise the ceiling, which they shouldn't, then they don't have to. Just like the patriot act, and giving him the authority to hold a big gun and then giving him lots of bullets, they didn't have to do that either. And remember, the president doesn't make the budget. He simply presents it to congress, and they hash it out. Spending is their fault.

10. You must not live in a college town. Tuition is up all the time. It doubles every 6 years or so here, and has been ever since I have been in town, going on 15 years now. Another reason is that states are tightenting their budgets, and the public colleges are getting their funding cut to avoid serious problems with the state's budget. Yeah it sucks, but why should I be taxed to death so others can go to college? Ok, a little is fine, but I am taxed enough already, and no I'm not "rich".

Let me make it clear that I'm not pro-Bush, I'm just saying that I don't think Kerry is going to solve any of those problems.

My taxes have gone down and there has not been a major terror attack since 9-11.

That registers on my litmus test as "Four more years!"

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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. " --Noam Chomsky

Algore? Yeah, we were all sure wishing Algore had been elected president after 9-11. NOT!

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. " --Noam Chomsky

Yeah I understand where you're coming from, and it will take quite a great individual to fix all these problems. But the problems we had today are the same ones we had under Bush the first, and 8 years of great revenues and no war under Clinton. And yet still, the problems exist.

At least Reagan helped squash a communist threat, and immediately appointed Alan Greenspan who began lowering interest rates. At least Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon, and Eisenhour saw the importance of an interstate highway system. But these latest guys don't do squat but practice their spin, remain PC at all times, and don't offer any bold ideas perchance they may alienate a huge chunk of their voting block.

As bad as I think Kerry is, Al Gore is much much worse.

Kerry has been a Senator for 20+ years?!?!?!?! If you don't like the direction the country is going then point your finger at him. He has a much longer track record than Bush Jr.

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The Science of Brute Force......

Bush has actually done pretty good with the economy.

The unemployment rate of 5.4% is lower than the 5.6% Clinton based his re-election on in 1996.

A recession is two quarters of declining GDP. The last recession lasted from March 2001 and it ended in November 2001. That is the shortest a recession could be.

http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/pubaf...3081/hall.html

Our federal debt of ~36% of GDP is far lower than most of the countries that have economies that Kerry would like us to emulate (France >60%; Germany >60%; Japan >150%). So, even though Bush killed the surplus and created a deficit, the deficit is not as huge a problem as many people would like to make it seem.

So, why does the media continue to reinforce the belief that the economy is bad and getting worse? I don't know. Is it media bias or just a basic lack of understanding of economics? Probably both. The better question is why Bush is not getting in front of cameras and defending the economy. He probably doesn't understand it all, either.

BTW, a headline ran that read “GDP Growth Slower Than Expected – Consumer Confidence Slips” but the GDP report shows 3.7% growth. I mean, maybe they expected 3.8% and the headline is true, but the implication is that the economy is in trouble and that simply isn't the case.

The only thing I would like to know is the median salary for American adults. If the median salary stayed the same or if it went up, that would stop John Kerry's contention that the economy is losing good jobs and the new ones are little more than McJobs.

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"George W. Bush surrounds himself with smart people the way a hole surrounds itself with a donut." —Dennis Miller