Yes, You Can Make Sure The Republicans Can Continue The Bush Economic Miracle

McCain Economic Agenda: Recapturing His Youth

Yesterday the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that would greatly increase funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a clear rejection of Republican ideology which has painted all activities of federal regulatory agencies as antithetical to the free market-- or at least to their "law of the jungle" version of a free market. The new bill also expands the CPSC's regulatory power to scrutinize imported toys and other products. Reluctantly, Bush has agreed to sign it. (It passed in the House 424-1 on Wednesday, GOP kook Ron Paul being the only nay vote.)

Before we all clasp hands and sing kumbaya in Golden Gate Park, though, let's take a look at some of the behind the scenes activities of the actual opponents of the bill in the Senate. Only 3 Republicans-- none up for re-election-- actually voted no: ultra-extremists Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). There are half a dozen far right senators with virtually identical voting records to Corburn, DeMint and Kyl. When it comes to protecting consumers and workers they always vote as a bloc-- a bloc to undermine regulatory agencies. It just so happens those 6 reactionaries, unlike the 3 no votes, are all up for re-election in November. So the six of them-- Mitch McConnell (R-KY), James Inhofe (R-OK), John Cornyn (R-TX), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Enzi's Mini-Me, John Barrasso (R-WY)-- abandoned their so-called "principles" and colleagues and voted with the Democrats for a bill that could have hurt their chances for re-election; after all, who wants to admit they want poisonous Chinese toys killing children? Not even Mitch McConnell, China's unofficial chief American lobbyist.

Ideologically driven Republican economic policies have failed the American people under Bush as surely as ideologically driven Republican economic policies failed the American people under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. And while Bush, McCain and their lackeys refuse to admit-- let alone deal with-- the serious recession, not as the McCain camp contends, "a mental recession," most families in this country are going through, the economy continues hurtling right towards an economic Depression. Today's NY Times reported that as more jobs were lost in July even by the Bush Regime's completely dishonest and delusional way of counting the unemployed, the jobless rate has climbed to 5.7%. It was the 7th consecutive report of losses in the job market, resulting in the highest unemployment figures in the past 4 years. And economists report that they expect further deterioration.

The rough job market worsened in July, with the unemployment rate rising to 5.7 percent from 5.5 percent in June, its highest level since March 2004.

“It’s not that unemployment is rising because a lot of people are coming into the labor force,” Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said. “It’s rising because employment is falling.”

Part of the problem is a paucity of jobs for young people, one out of five of whom are unemployed. The teenage unemployment rate rose to 19 percent, its highest level in 16 years.

Last month’s job losses came in a broad range of industries, with manufacturing, construction and administrative services suffering the steepest declines. About 30,000 support staff workers were laid off, along with 35,000 manufacturing employees.

Workers in the transportation industry were hit hard by high oil prices, which have weighed heavily on bottom lines. About 5,000 truck drivers were laid off, and airlines also trimmed their work forces.

...Businesses have been cutting workers since the start of the year as they try to make ends meet amid a slowdown. While export sales have risen, many American customers have ratcheted back their spending to cope with expensive fuel and food and the ailing housing market.

And in July, wage growth continued to stagnate, falling far behind the rate of inflation. That means workers are effectively making less than they were at the beginning of the year. In July, the average weekly salary of non-managerial workers-- who make up about 80 percent of the nation’s payrolls-- was 2.8 percent higher than a year ago. But inflation is running at 5 percent for the 12 months through July.

And the sure way to continue the Bush Economic Miracle is to elect John McCain who has every intention of continuing, and even accelerating, all of the policies that have conspired to bring on the economic collapse.

This goes beyond the shady and crooked dealings in McCain's own family right to McCain's reactionary ideology. McCain claims the Great Society failed; he neglected to mention that he worked hard and long to undermine the programs that were meant to give a hand to working families, the programs that made up the Great Society. Watch him this morning in Orlando signaling how he would like to drag the economy back to a system that was already discredited when he was born: