Back in August, I ga…

Back in August, I gave a slight fisking to an American Prospect article entitled “The Fruits of Bushonomics” by Robert Kuttner. It was only a slight fisking, because I’m not a professional economist, but Mr. Kuttner’s points all seemed to defy history. Here’s part of what he said:

Economic growth came in at 2.4 percent for the second quarter of 2003. That was better than expected, but it needs to hit 4 percent or higher to reduce unemployment. Bush’s cheerleaders say that will happen, in well-choreographed fashion, in the election year.

I talked about how Bush inherited a sliding economy (complete with links to prove this), and said:

Further, the numbers for the past 3 quarters (1.4, 1.4, 2.4) do, in fact, point to an economy that is set to start making headway in the unemployment department. No “cheerleading” required.

Nope, no cheerleading necessary, just tax cuts. Today we find out that the economy in Q3 of this year grew at a “blistering” 7.2%. This runs completely counter to Kuttner’s predictions.

Normally in this kind of downturn, Washington helps the states. This time Bush put tax cutting ahead of aid to states and communities. Congress grudgingly included an emergency $20 billion only because Democrats insisted on it. Even so, that sum is a small fraction of the state budget shortfall.

The more people make, and more importantly the more they keep, the more money comes in to the states’ & fed’s coffers (just like they did during the Reagan administration, when the federal income tax revenues increased by $160 billion in the 8 years after his tax cuts). I’m betting that the $20 billion will pale in comparison to the windfall states will find coming in due to increased consumer & business spending.

I remember watching the 1994 election coverage the night that Newt Gingrich and the Republicans won a majority in the House right under Clinton’s nose. George Will called it “Reagan’s Third Term”. And George W. Bush is poised to start another Reagan-esque booming economy, if he keeps to conservative principles. The fruits of “Bushonomics” are ripening, and it’s good news for all of us, even the Bush-haters.

Les Moonves and the cast of “The Reagans”; you’d better call your respective offices. Last-minute shooting starts this evening on the recently-written final scenes for the mini-series. Act 7: Reagan’s Fourth Term.

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