McCAIN'S ECONOMIC PLANS-- ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS AND A CONTINUATION OF THE BUSH ECONOMIC MIRACLE

McCain promised to balance the budget. His promise is worthless; I mean completely worthless. Not just because politicians like McCain are inveterate liars-- which they are-- but because the Bush Regime policies he has backed and still backs, preclude a balanced budget-- or even a budget moving in a balanced direction. McCain isn't going to cut the military, which needs cutting. And Congress isn't going to allow him to destroy Social Security, something he stealthily threatened to do yesterday. His numbers don't add up. This morning Politico's Mike Allen points out that McCain's plans call for balancing the budget by cutting back on benefits under Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid-- in other words, more of the highly reactionary Bush economic miracle.

The latest Zogby poll concludes that Obama is so far ahead of McCain in electoral votes, that even if all the undecided electoral votes miraculously wind up in McCain's column-- a virtual impossibility-- Obama would still win. The die seems cast for a massive-- and well deserved-- defeat of the Republican ideology. I wish I could say that the die is cast for a massive victory for Democratic ideology, but I can't and I'm satisfied with the rightist rejection.

In his Times column this morning Paul Krugman looks behind the polling numbers for the reasons people are so disgusted with the Republicans. Krugman actually lets Bush off easy, claiming he's more ignorant than venal-- or even culpable-- in the matter of the economic mess facing the country. "Other politicians besides Mr. Bush share the blame for the mess we’re in-- but most of them are Republicans." Still Krugman is nobody's fool and he points out that the Bush economic record is indefensible.

Since 2001, economic conditions have alternated between so-so and outright bad: a recession, followed by one of the weakest expansions since World War II, and then by a renewed job slump that isn’t officially a recession yet, but certainly feels like one.

Over all, Mr. Bush will be lucky to leave office with a net gain of five million jobs, far short of the number needed to keep up with population growth. For comparison, Bill Clinton presided over an economy that added 22 million jobs.

And what does Mr. Bush have to say about this dismal record? “I think when people take a look back at this moment in our economic history, they’ll recognize tax cuts work.” Clueless to the end.

Krugman blames "the housing bubble and its aftermath, rising health care costs and soaring raw materials prices" for the lousy economy and it is difficult not to fault Bush's handling of those problems. The public certainly does. Krugman doesn't exonerate Bush; he just wants to spread the blame around to other political cowards, particularly John W. McCain.

McCain is so in hock to the big corporate donors whose interests he has always served that he is incapable to changing the special interests policies they have been dictating for the past 7 years (at least). Big Oil and Gas have donated $17,050,965 this year, 74% to Republicans, and their biggest recipient-- by far-- has been McCain. Similarly, the telecom industry-- which has been so eager to get retroactive immunity for its criminal executives-- has donated $5,774,901, 55% to Republicans and their big fave is also McCain. They and other big businesses aren't donating to McCain because of his war wounds from the 1960's. They're donating to him because they trust him to stay the course on the Bush economic policies that have made the rich much richer and the rest of us much poorer.