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Bush Legacy: Topping the Injustice Index
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In less than a month, George W. Bush’s term as president will end and working people will breathe a massive sigh of relief.
While Bush’s popularity and performance ratings are at rock bottom, he rates high on the Drum Major Institute’s (DMI’s) Injustice Index. Through a stunning series of numbers and dates, DMI paints a picture of increased misery for millions of Americans over the past eight years.
Some of the most onerous of the numbers and dates in the Bush legacy include:
-Since President Bush signed legislation phasing out the federal estate tax in June 2001, the number of U.S. millionaires has risen by 928,000, while the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 4.4 million. All totaled, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy have cost taxpayers $1.3 trillion.
-Some 78,000 children lost health coverage during President Bush’s tenure. Also, 20 percent of Bush’s total vetoes blocked expansion of children’s health insurance. In fact, he cited the superiority of private insurance programs five times in his message explaining the first veto to Congress.
-Since 2000, the real median income of non-retiree households has dropped by $2,010.
-If there is any doubt that the Bush White House did not place a high priority on consumer and worker safety, DMI says the number of full-time staff monitoring hazardous goods at the Consumer Product Safety Commission dropped during Bush’s tenure by 16 percentage points.
-At the same time, the number of federal investigators who monitor employers’ compliance with minimum wage, overtime and child labor laws during Bush’s tenure decreased by 23 percent.
-As of August 2008, Bush has spent 916 days on vacation at either Camp David or his Texas ranch, as of August 2008 (including partial days off), while one in four U.S. workers have no paid vacations or holidays at work.
You can check out the entire DMI Injustice Index on the Bush legacy here. Click here for more injustices and anti-worker actions chronicled in Bush Watch.
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2 Comments
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The root cause of homelessness is not simply Bush! These conditions will not suddenly disappear when Bush is finally booted out in January. Obama will change very little. Why? Because the ruling corporate capitalist elite, in control of both parties and Obama, will not suddenly give up their source of wealth and power.
Here is a discussion of the SYSTEMIC CHANGE needed.
Press reports document criminality of US financial elite
24 December 2008
by Tom Eley and Barry Grey
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/pers-d24.shtml
“But when it comes to the jobs and living standards of auto workers, both political parties unite to demand “transparency” and “accountability” for, by comparison, a pittance in loans to the auto companies, using these buzz words as a cover for the impoverishment of the auto workers and the launching of a nationwide assault on the working class.”
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Faces of foreclosure in Pittsburgh (Photos and interviews)
Working class families feel brunt of housing crisis
By Samuel Davidson
22 December 2008
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/pitt-d22.shtml
“The housing crisis is affecting thousands of working class and poor families in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There are 400 to 500 home foreclosures each month in Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located. Last year, there were more than 4,000 foreclosures, and this year is on pace to reach a record 5,000 homes, twice the 2002 figure.”
…
“We, the working class people, are the backbone of this country. We need to come together to do something about this. The rich are getting richer while the middle class is falling into poverty.”
Bush is not the total fault of the mess of the nation. Congress had a role as well, as did the varied state houses across the land.
The media for the most part did nothing, even failing to accurately report the news.
Obama will not be able to achieve a fraction of his goals unless the good folks of America actually do unite and demand real change. Remember that the folks who did not vote spoke very loudly as they always do. Many Americans simply do not care unless it directly affects their life.
I fear that some our our fearless leaders will put “bandaids” on gaping wounds of the varied injustices of the land and proclaim it fixed. I fear our media will proclaim victory in some of these areas when they know full well that problems merely postponed.
The job of organized labor in the next few months will be to accurately judge the progress (or its lack) in fixing some of the injustices of our system. Getting America back to work would fix many an injustice and having the workers have a real choice in allowing unization might be some real progress.