Economic Realities
People who hate Bush like to talk about all the problems that exist, and leave out the good things. This is a given, and is well-known, but sometimes their overemphasis and cherry-picking is subtle.
Take, for example, the economy. The Bush-haters love to talk about how there's inflation. Inflation bad, so therefore Bush bad. Except that inflation is the inevitable result of high oil prices, which are the inevitable result of policies and situations that are mostly independent of Bush (increased worldwide demand), compounded by a policy that we already knew, before it started, would contribute to higher oil prices (the Iraq war).
Bush deserves some responsibility for inflation, of course, but for those who thought the Iraq invasion was necessary, the increased oil prices -- again, known beforehand -- are worth it. For those against the war, of course, they are not worth it. Duh.
And then there's the decreasing "real wages." They love to trot out the notion that people are "earning less." But again, this is the inevitable result of the inflation caused by high oil prices: wages do not react quickly to market pressures, so even though nominal wages are increasing (the actual dollar amount you take home), inflation is increasing even more, so real wages (the amount of buying power you have) are therefore decreasing. This is, again, inevitable in the short term. If prices don't come down, then real wages will increase to match, over time. That's how it works.
Inflation and real wage decreases are symptoms, not diseases, and the disease is increased oil costs, which is likely something we're simply going to have to get used to, and everything will balance itself out over time, as it usually does.
Take, for example, the economy. The Bush-haters love to talk about how there's inflation. Inflation bad, so therefore Bush bad. Except that inflation is the inevitable result of high oil prices, which are the inevitable result of policies and situations that are mostly independent of Bush (increased worldwide demand), compounded by a policy that we already knew, before it started, would contribute to higher oil prices (the Iraq war).
Bush deserves some responsibility for inflation, of course, but for those who thought the Iraq invasion was necessary, the increased oil prices -- again, known beforehand -- are worth it. For those against the war, of course, they are not worth it. Duh.
And then there's the decreasing "real wages." They love to trot out the notion that people are "earning less." But again, this is the inevitable result of the inflation caused by high oil prices: wages do not react quickly to market pressures, so even though nominal wages are increasing (the actual dollar amount you take home), inflation is increasing even more, so real wages (the amount of buying power you have) are therefore decreasing. This is, again, inevitable in the short term. If prices don't come down, then real wages will increase to match, over time. That's how it works.
Inflation and real wage decreases are symptoms, not diseases, and the disease is increased oil costs, which is likely something we're simply going to have to get used to, and everything will balance itself out over time, as it usually does.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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