American Politics Journal

Guest Editorial
Bush's Faith-Based Depression
by W. E. Critchley

Thursday, April 19, 2001 (APJP) -- The economy has taken a nose-dive. The bottom has dropped out of the stock market. Businesses are folding, and people are being laid off in droves. The good and prosperous years of the Clinton Presidency are over. We're under new management now.

There are a number of reasons for this startling economic downturn so soon after the appointment of George Bush to the presidency, but the primary reason is simply that people don't trust him.

Bush wasn't elected by a majority vote of the people. His brother was the governor of Florida, and the public perception is that the Bush family stole the election in Florida.

The Supreme Court's decision to stop the counting of votes before George Bush lost the election was devastating to public confidence, and when the Senate did nothing to resolve the problem, the economy began a hasty retreat.

Bush's determination to give the "budget surplus" to his wealthy friends instead of paying off the national debt and fixing Social Security caused even more mistrust.

The public knew that it was impossible to have a big budget surplus and an even bigger debt both at the same time. This was obviously double-talk, a scam; and when it became obvious that Bush would have to rip $50 billion dollars from Medicare to finance his refund program, the economy started to unravel at the seams.

Then there is the "energy crisis" in California. Many believe that this was engineered by Bush's father and his father's old oil buddies - Dick Cheney, CEO of Halliburton Energy; Ken Lay, CEO of Enron Energy; and James Baker of Reliant Energy. Whether or not this is true, a majority believe it is, and Bush's refusal to help has done nothing to change their minds. There is now a growing fear that Bush intends to go even farther and extend the crisis throughout America.

There are also many other reasons why the economy has hunkered down in fear - Bush's efforts to join church and State; his proposal to dismantle the public school system; his desire to abolish civil rights; his actions to rob Social Security; his drive to bust the unions; his obsession with eliminating environmental controls; his perpetuation of the spread of AIDS; his determination to restrict a woman's right to choose; and his belligerent foreign policy have all served to weaken consumer confidence. People are uneasy.

Bush has beamed us back in time, not forward into the future, and there is a creeping terror that he wants to go to war. This makes the economy cringe. He wants to fire-up the military industrial complex, drop some bombs, start killing people. His implementation of the old "American Hostage" trick in China causes visions of nuclear war to once again start dancing in our heads.

It's sad to say, but the economy will continue to deteriorate until Congress acts to remove George Bush from office. It doesn't matter if Congress succeeds. Their effort alone will bolster public confidence and renew trust in the system. It will assure the majority that their government is not corrupt, that it is not run by crooks. It will let them know that they have not been sold out by their representatives in Congress, and they will once again begin investing in America.

Until then, expect nothing... or war.



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