Hi Norm,

I’m not going to argue with you as we both have our oppinions. But, here’s some information I thought of interest:

smh.com.au, October 21, 2003:

The United States announced today a record $US374 billion ($A540 billion) budget deficit in 2003, the largest shortfall in history but smaller than had been feared.

washingtonpost.com, Friday, January 9, 2004:

The state of the economy is also a concern in southwest Iowa’s cattle country. “It’s hard to be a fan of President Bush when you look at the unemployment around here,” said Dave Antisdel, a farmer from nearby Prescott, who sold 11 of his 15 cattle Tuesday. “People are losing jobs all the time, and I don’t see any sign that he knows what to do about it. Of course, his friends are all doing okay, so why should he — .”

Australian Financial Review, January 5, 2004:

The “war” against terrorism is equally problematic. After swiftly routing the Taliban regime and al-Qaeda forces in 2001, the administration allowed Afghanistan to regress towards a state of lawlessness and instability. Iraq has proven much more difficult to stabilise than anticipated by White House and Pentagon planners, and the rising human and financial costs accompany only halting progress against the insurgency despite the capture of Saddam Hussein.

cnnmoney, December 5, 2003:

“Millions of American workers still do not have jobs, and our nation has lost more jobs under the Bush administration than under any president since Hoover,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

Bureau of labor statistics, DECEMBER 2003:

The number of unemployed persons was 8.4 million in December and the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent. Both measures continued to edge down from their recent highs in June 2003. In December, the unemployment rates for adult men (5.3 percent) and Hispanics or Latinos (6.6 percent) declined. The jobless rates for the other major worker groups–adult women (5.1 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), and blacks (10.3 percent)–showed little or no change from the previous month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.3 percent in December, not seasonally adjusted.

The Progressive, October 2003:

We have lost around 2.6 million jobs since he took office, and about 650,000 just since the 2002 election. In the face of this, the bulk of the Bush tax cuts went, notoriously, to the very wealthy, whose spending is little affected. Many middle class Americans will get hit by rising property and sales taxes–at the state and local level. And meanwhile, Bush is bent on eroding pay and working conditions, with the most recent outrage being the assault on fair labor standards affecting overtime. As for the minimum wage? Forget about it.

The Salt Lake Tribune, January 2003:

According to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the effect of eliminating dividend taxation is that the average benefit for those making less than $10,000 would be $6, and the average benefit for those making more than $1 million would be $45,098. Quick, high-schoolers, let’s practice up for the those SATs by figuring out by what percentage $45,098 is bigger than $6

Gardian Unlimited, December 10, 2003:

North Korea has offered to freeze its nuclear weapons programme if the US lifts economic sanctions, provides fuel aid, and removes its name from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. But President Bush promptly rejected the overture, saying he wanted Pyongyang to scrap, not suspend, its atomic weapons plans.

Personally I believe that chosing a president is more or less chosing between the lessor of two evils. Looking back on things though, I find I was doing much better while a democrat was in the office. On the other hand, while I was in the military, I did better under Reagan. (who I still admire for various reasons but even his own son has stated that ‘trickle down economics’ didn’t work)