Viewpoint: How Bush Ruined A Decade's Good Work - Jeffrey D Sachs, Director Of The Earth Institute At Columbia University, Predicts A U-turn On Tax Cuts As George W Bush's Fiscal Policy Goes Belly-up.

Banker, The, February, 2004

President George W Bush has run the most reckless fiscal policy in the history of the US - so reckless that we can be sure that the policies will be reversed. The only questions are when and how. Will voters repudiate Bush's irresponsibility this autumn? Will Bush be forced to reverse himself in a second term? Or will the US suffer a long bout of political strife and economic malaise as long-term budget constraints catch up with a political system that is wedded to fiscal fantasies?

The fiscal realities are clear, even if the political projections are not. Bush inherited a modest budget surplus, of 2.4% of GNP in fiscal year 2000 and 1.3% of GNP in fiscal year 2001. The appearance of fiscal health was a bit of fiction, because already the long-term projections...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.