Sat, Oct. 09, 2004
Expert: Bush is disaster
By DAVE JANOSKI
djanoski@leader.net
SCRANTON - For a Nobel Prize-winning economist who regularly expounds on
"information assymetries," "Pareto inefficiencies" and "sovereign debt,"
Joseph Stiglitz has a surprisingly concise and blunt take on the state of
the U.S. economy.
"Bush is to blame," the Columbia University professor concluded in an
interview Friday at the University of Scranton.
Stiglitz, a former member of President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic
Advisors and former chief economist for the World Bank, was scheduled to
speak at the university Friday on the competing economic visions of the two
candidates for president. Stiglitz has given similar talks at other
universities, driven by what he called the Bush administration's
"phenomenally bad" stewardship of the U.S. economy.
Stiglitz said Bush had "squandered" the surpluses left by the Clinton
administration.
"It has been one of the worst performances of an economic administration
ever."
Stiglitz, who endorsed John Kerry as did nine other Nobel-winning economists
in August, conceded Bush inherited an economy on the downturn. But he argued
the president's tax cuts, targeted disproportionately at the highest tax
brackets, did not adequately stimulate the economy.
That money could have gone toward increased unemployment benefits, subsidies
for states that experienced reduced revenues and larger cuts for the middle
class - measures that would have pumped up consumer spending, he said.
"To see that squandered on tax cuts for the rich is disturbing."
Stiglitz rejected the president's position that the 2001 terrorist attacks
played a large role in hobbling the economy, arguing that "9-11 made it
worse. But these problems were manifest before 9-11."
On everything from tax policy, to rising health-care costs, to economic
stimulus, Kerry would make it better and Bush would make it worse, Stiglitz
said.
Stiglitz, who has spoken occasionally with some of Kerry's advisers, but has
no role in the campaign, said he doesn't envision himself taking a role in a
possible Kerry administration.
"I've served my years in Washington. When the president calls somebody, you
certainly have to listen. But I believe sometimes you can be more effective
from the outside."
http://tinyurl.com/53hsd
--
Bush's $10 Trillion Borrowing Binge
New projections from the Congressional Budget Office indicate that
continuation of President Bush's budget policies will triple the national
debt by the end of fiscal 2013. Left unchecked, Bush's reckless approach to
fiscal policy will saddle our children with an additional $10 trillion in
debt just ten years from now.
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/binge03.pdf
(http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/business/9872596.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp)
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