The Bush Economy

Expect to see more news like this now that the election is over and budget offices around the capitol are no longer worried about bad news affecting BushCo.'s reelection efforts. From this morning's Wall Street Journal (subscription):

Military spending remained the fastest-growing component of the U.S. budget in fiscal year 2004, but the rate slowed somewhat, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO said defense spending grew at an annual average rate of 15% in 2002 and 2003 as the military launched operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Overall, "defense outlays in 2004 were 55% higher than in 2000," the CBO said in a new report detailing aspects of the previously reported $413 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2004, which ended Sept. 30.

And although government receipts from taxes were up, those increases were outstripped by spending. Corporate tax receipts grew during the period as well, but in part because of some legal delays in spending and the arcane accounting rules used. But they were still off from the years prior to Bush's selection in 2000. Any guesses why?

Yet despite the sharp increase in those receipts in 2004, they were still about 9% below their peak in 2000, in large part because of the tax incentives for business investment enacted in 2002 and 2003," the CBO added.

During the next four years emboldened by his new "mandate," we can expect to see the economy continue in exactly this manner, tilted towards military spending and giveaways to corporations and big earners who bankrolled Bush's campaign. The rest of the economy, especially social programs and anything that might benefit the poor or lower-middle class will get short shrift. Someone should really keep track of the promises Bush made in his campaign to just those groups and tick them off as they fall by the wayside in favor of stroking the rich and their corporations.