When it somes to Bush's policies, even Iowegians get the blues

Lest the politicos and pundits think that the Heartland still believes in the Bush agenda, think again....

Following our own script, we've weakened America

Richard Doak, Des Moines Register

If al-Qaida had planted a sleeper agent whose job was to gain a position of influence and undermine America from within, he scarcely could have done more damage than Americans have done to ourselves.

The meltdown in the credit markets, a sagging economy, inflation-ravaged take-home pay and, worst of all, a bleak outlook for the years ahead did not materialize out of the blue. They are the consequences of deliberate policy choices.

Those consequences were entirely foreseeable, but Americans and their government simply chose not to heed the warnings.

So America grows weaker. It is as if the country were following a script for decline imposed by our worst enemy. If the terrorist manual contained a five-step scheme for undermining America, it might go something like this:

1. Run up the national debt to $9.4 trillion or so, with no end in sight. Incur billions in new debt every year so that you can reduce the taxes of the wealthiest citizens. Become a debtor nation, in hock to your biggest rival, the Chinese.

2. Make it an article of faith that Wall Street can do no wrong. Free banks and financiers from regulation, so that unbridled greed can take over. Fortunes can be made originating bad loans, then concocting exotic new securities to pass the bad paper off on clueless investors.

3. Arrange the tax code to fall heavily on labor but lightly on capital. Be hostile to labor unions, export jobs to low-wage countries and otherwise rig the system to hold down wages and reward managers more than workers. This will cause a bigger gap between rich and poor than at any time since the eve of the Great Depression.

4. Don't bother making expenditures that might strengthen the economy, such as improvements in education and infrastructure. Don't instill any sense of urgency about weaning the country from fossil fuels. Remain hostage to the oil exporters as long as possible.

5. Allow yourself to be duped into invading a country that posed no threat to you. Let it become a bottomless pit of blood and squandered national treasure. And, oh yes, refuse to pay for even part of the war. Just add the whole cost to the already staggering national debt. See No. 1 above.

The rest is here.