CATO Institute lambastes President Bush

CATO Institute ^ | July 31, 2003 | Veronique de Rugy and Tad DeHaven

[Fred Mertz]

You seem to love the largesse of centralized government.

[nopardons]

Barbra Striesand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SupplySider]

The irony is, the left hates him just as much if not more than they would have if he hadn't been trying to buy them off.

[FreeReign]

[Cato]:3 year % change in Real Discretionary Spending During Reagan and Bush's Firsts Terms

What does a "3 year % change".... in a first term mean?

Why not go with simply the % change in the first term?

[Luis Gonzalez]

What?

Tonight you're into mind reading?

You have no idea what you're talking about.

On this thread, the question I've raised is do you support for president in the coming election?

Come on, join the debate and tell us what candidate you have that can run against the Dems.

Impress me, and see if you can actually put up three posts without being offensive.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"The fiscal conservatives".

How much money is your country worth to you?

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Hi there rude and miserable excuse for a human who's attitude sucks, I'm infantile buchbot argo-con boot licker."

And I'm more people than Sybil was.

[CWOJackson]

You're the Libertarian Party?

[Luis Gonzalez]

No!

Sybil had more personalities than the Libertarian Party has members.

[Reagan Man]

>>>I find what Reagan did to be irrelevant. He was not dealing with a recession, the economic consequences of an attack on our country and the blowup that the Enrons caused.

Irrelevent!!! No recession!!! You can't be serious.

When Reagan took office, the US economy was in recession. In fact, Reagan inheritied from Jimmah Carter, the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Mortgage interest rates hit 18.9%, inflation hit 13.5% and unemployment was at 7.6%, peaking at 9.7% the following year.

When Reagan left office eight years later, mortgage interest rates were at 8.2%, inflation was lowered to 4.1% and unemployment was at 5.5%. I'd call that a complete economic turnabout and all American's benefited from Reagan's powerful economic recovery plan.

In the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, Reagan gave American's real tax reform, lowering the marginal tax rates from a high of 70% to 50%. Then in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Reagan again lowered the top rate from 50% to 28%, giving American workers a simple two tier tax system and more money in their pockets.

Reagan also was preparing for a huge military build up to fight the final battle in the 40 year old Cold War.

[Kay Soze]

Rewarding the GOP with another four years of Bush is no different than rewarding North Korea with economic aide.

It simply encorages bad behavior.

You guys are right there is currently no alternative candidate that could win.

The best thing that WILL happen to the CONSERVATIVE movement is going to be when Bush loses in '04.

GOP will then have to recognize its conservative members or contiune right on losing.

[CWOJackson]

I gotta tell you guy, I have only been part of the Constipated And Ticked Off brigade for a couple of hours and I'm just not getting the hang of it. Reality just keeps seeping in and ruining the whole CATO thing for me.

I'm sorry but I think I'm going to have to give it up and just continue dealing with the real world.

[ovrtaxt]

I plan to vote for Bush, much like I did for his dad, because a third party split means a Dem wins. But there are many out there (remember the Perot voters) who aren't thinking that deeply in a political way. If the war slows down emotionally, they may bolt. There are many people who are upset with the spending increases. The part that makes it so hard to take is that it's largely unnecessary. W has gained NOTHING by the Kennedy education bill, Ted still stabs him at every turn. The AARP is still mass mailing propaganda, despite the prescription drug giveaway.

Compromise is one thing, but this is capitulation. I'm all for him, but is the feeling mutual?

[CWOJackson]

Ouch...I hurt my side on that one. Darn you!

[CWOJackson]

The DNC appreciates your support.

[takenoprisoner]

So which do you fear most? You're other Sybillic personality or the Libertarian party?

[jeremiah]

A bankrupt country, cannot be in a position to defend our way of life, or the constitution. How soon will we have a Trillion dollar deficit in one year?

[nunya bidness]

Big Gov't is here to stay and will never go away, so why can't you try to face that fact and work to ameliorate its effects at the margins? Tax cuts, sunseting regulations and having sensible tort reform coupled with a centrist based judiciary is the best you can expect.The nirvanna of a Goldwater rollback in government is, well, foolish.

You forgot to add "eh?"

[Dolphy]

Irrelevent!!! No recession!!! You can't be serious.

Either I didn't write clearly or you didn't read it clearly. Bush had a recession, an attack on this country with a catastrophic impact on the economy and the Wall Street blowup.

[Reagan Man]

Either I didn't write clearly or you didn't read it clearly.

You wrote clearly and I read you loud and clear.

You wrote:

"I find what Reagan did to be irrelevant. He was not dealing with a recession, the economic consequences of an attack on our country and the blowup that the Enrons caused."

Pres Bush has never faced the horrible economic conditions that Reagan faced. The country was in a deep recession in 1981 because of the lousy leadership of PresCarter and the Cold War was still raging world wide and a threat to world peace.

I support PresBush in his efforts fighting international terrorism and believe his tax cuts have been a positive move. But devaluing the Presidency of Ronald Reagan should not be the goal of conservatives and Republican's, and PresBush would be the first to agree with that. After all, Reagan's achievements and accomplishments are part of the historical record and PresBush has tried to emulate Reagan's Presidency in many ways.