Frank Lautenberg: “President Bush inherited the strongest economy in history and has run it into the ground. When he took office in January…”

“President Bush inherited the strongest economy in history and has run it into the ground. When he took office in January 2001, the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, was forecasting a cumulative, 10-year budget surplus of $5.6 trillion. Now, the CBO is forecasting a 10-year deficit of $2.1 trillion. You can't mangle the economy that badly by accident; it has to be by design. The design is something that President Bush's father once called 'voodoo economics.' The theory behind 'voodoo economics' is that massive tax cuts for the wealthiest among us will somehow 'stimulate' the economy. The theory should be discredited by now. It certainly didn't work in 2001. Since the 2001 tax cuts, unemployment has risen by nearly 50 percent. Two point seven million Americans have lost their private sector jobs under the Bush administration; that is about 3,100 people each and every day since he took office, 129 people each and every hour, or more than 2 people each and every minute. And yet, as Ronald Reagan would say, 'there you go again.' Just a short while ago, the Republicans passed another ill-advised tax cut skewed to the rich, this one costing $318 billion over 10 years. The only people who will get jobs under the reconciliation bill the Republicans just adopted are lawyers and accountants.”