Bush Administration Report Card (7/22/02)
by Dean Hartwell
As of July 20, 2002,
President Bush has been in office for eighteen months. Since the final year of
his term, 2004, will focus upon the presidential election, he has, in effect, reached
his halfway point. It is time to evaluate whether our nation is better since he
became the president.
How do we know if we are better off?
We must evaluate the areas of our lives that the president has some degree of
control in influencing. That would rule out factors such as interest rates,
which are largely regulated by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and
inflation and unemployment, which are mostly derived from decisions made in the
private sector and actors in their respective markets.
Instead, we should consider decisions made by the Bush Administration and how
they matter to us. The most significant decisions in that respect have been:
Tax cuts – Bush proposed tax cuts to give people “their money” back from
the surplus he inherited when he took office. Most wage earners now get more
money back on their paychecks than before the tax cuts. Unfortunately, the
debt, which also belongs to the people, has risen, in large part due to the tax
cuts and the corresponding decrease in revenue.
“War” on Terrorism – All of the controversy over whether the Bush
Administration could have acted to prevent the terrorist acts of September 11,
2001 aside, Bush made decisions in response to the attacks that affect us.
He has directed his Justice Department to use wiretaps, computer tracking and
other invasions of privacy with a lesser standard of cause than before. He has
also ordered the detention of alleged terrorists without probable cause.
Furthermore, he has sent troops to various places around the world, including
Afghanistan and the Philippines, to root out terrorism.
Of course, the strategy of deploying the troops has been to protect us. Since
we have not been attacked since 9/11, the strategy has apparently achieved that
goal. But those who value civil liberties may rightly question whether it is
worth what we have given up.
Corporate Fraud – Public outcry over corporations who have fixed their
books to cover up their debts and accounting firms who acted as their
accomplices has dominated this year’s news. With business executives taking the
Fifth Amendment before Congress, corporations breaking records on bankruptcy
and people losing millions in their investments, it is no surprise that people
have little confidence in stocks and bonds.
This outcry reached a peak when President Bush, when confronted with his own
past questionable dealings, gave answers that contradicted previous statements
and then proposed bills in Congress that forbid what he did without
acknowledging his own wrongdoing. The President missed a chance to come clean
about his past and instill a little candor, if not confidence, in the public’s
ability to invest. Until he can do that, I predict the stock market will
continue to be uneasy.
Conclusion: While we have so far apparently been safe from new terrorist
attacks, we have less freedom at home, no confidence in our investments and
more debt to look forward to since Bush took over.