Fell out of my seat when I read the LA Times piece about a memo sent to Bush cabinet members and top officials at a loss to explain what Bush's eight years in the White House had achieved.
The so-called achievements would laughable if the damage wasn't serious.
Like for example the claim that in response to the financial crisis, Bush "responded with bold measures to prevent an economic meltdown." Which is why we have had a meltdown and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The memo also tells them to remind people that Bush's tax cuts set the stage for job growth. What a load of crap! As market commentator John P Hussman points out, the origins of this crisis are in no small part due to two of the most destabilising decisions undertaken by the President: the Iraq war which according to Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz could cost the US more than $3 trillion, and the tax cuts fed the housing bubble. "With China and other foreign countries absorbing Treasury securities directly, and U.S. corporations still coming off of their late-90's investment binge, the beneficiaries of the tax cuts absorbed newly issued securities primarily in the form of mortgage obligations and the bulk of the real investment was spent to build residential homes to excess. We are now seeing the results of that overinvestment."
And of course, no mention is made of the US unemployment rate which is now set to reach 8% and US household net worth shrinking.
The memo is a disgrace. But with Bush's popularity somewhere between 24 to 28%, you can be sure the public knows they are being fed a line.
no comment untill now