No, no hard ons about GW here... I prefer my Bush gently shaved, anyway...
Vick, should I type slower? Lowering taxes multiple times, while increasing and not controlling government spending (partially due to the war in Iraq, another GW choice) has lead to a huge increase in debt, the government having to sell more bonds, etc. Not raising interest rates (while I know he doesn't control that directly, he can put a ton of pressure of the Fed reserve chairman to do it) in the face of this stiff decline means that the US dollar is signiicantly less attractive than many other world currencies.
Combine all of this action (or inaction) of GW part, and you have a dollar sinking into the sunset.
Why in the end is so stunning is that in the face of this mounting deficit that Bush signed into law another 136 billion dollar tax cut.
MSNBC REPORTS that the tax cuts, which are claimed not to affect the deficit, will in fact push it up as a number of the balancing items expire in a couple of years, adding about 60 billion a year to the deficit.
Actions like this, VERY SPECIFIC ACTIONS, have lead to the dollars slide.
I typed more slowly this time, I hope you can understand it...
Alex