Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Don’t blame Obama for bad economy

By far, the Great Recession is the worst I’ve experienced during my 72 years. Particularly sad is the ignorance of the general public about underscored reasons for the problems we face today and the next five to 10 years.

Much cable chatter and clutter commentaries in newspapers pin the blame for high unemployment and lack of progress of any recovery on President Barack Obama. The mess is not of his doing. John McCain would be facing the same predicament had he been elected president.

As a Republican, I am thoroughly ashamed of the party I largely supported for 35 years. Our terrible fiscal mess resulted from failed policies and inept leadership during the George W. Bush administration. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton left the country on a healthy course. Both set smart tax standards. Clinton balanced the federal budget and left a surplus.

George W. Bush left office as our economy plunged toward the brink of a depression. Bush spent money like a drunken sailor. He enacted a Medicare prescription drug program whose cost is approaching a trillion dollars without paying or budgeting for it. His Iraq adventure, a war of choice, passed the trillion-dollar mark and that tab still grows. The worst decision he made, however, was the $1.3 trillion tax cut.

The only Americans flourishing in our country are the very rich who continue to profit from the Bush tax cuts, which Republican legislators refuse to allow expire. They tell you that taxes kill job growth. If that were true, the $1.3 trillion tax cut should have generated more than 20 million jobs. History tells a different story.

What we citizens want is fairness. Clinton brought about a balanced budget and a surplus by balancing revenues with spending.

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