Friday, October 24, 2003
Here's more stuff you need to know about courtesy of the Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress's "Daily Progress Report" always gives you something you to chew on.
Click here for details on how to subscribe for yourself but read on to see what you're missing.
Is the Iraq War phase of the so-called "War on Terror" helping win over potential allies in the Middle East? The signs are not encouraging:
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Click here for details on how to subscribe for yourself but read on to see what you're missing.
Is the Iraq War phase of the so-called "War on Terror" helping win over potential allies in the Middle East? The signs are not encouraging:
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY GONE BAD: Another indicator of whether we are winning the broader War on Terror is how well the U.S. is doing at changing hearts and minds in the Middle East - and the indicators are not good. FACT: An August AEI-Zogby poll found only 35% of Iraqis thought the U.S. would help Iraq over the next 5 years, compared to the 61% who said Saudi Arabia would help (despite their refusal to donate to Iraq reconstruction) . FACT: The 2003 Pew Global Attitudes Projects found that fewer than one-quarter of respondents in Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Jordan said they support the war on terrorism. FACT: The Administration’s own Advisory Panel found an “absurd and dangerous underfunding of public diplomacy” - which Rumsfeld himself virtually acknowledged. He said in today's Washington Times that the U.S. needs a “new agency” to help fight a “war of ideas” against international terrorism.and on the economy:
Today's Paul Krugman piece examines the sorry state of employment under the current administration. Even if Treasury Secretary John Snow's recent pipedream prediction of the economy adding two million jobs before the next election--a forecast unsupported by the current growth rate or independent analysts--were to come true, "that won't vindicate the administration's economic policy." The current job market is "down 2.6 million compared with what it was when George W. Bush took office," meaning that, even if we add two million jobs, "his boss will be the first occupant of the White House since Herbert Hoover to end a term with fewer jobs available than when he started." (Question - where is the highly touted Commerce Department appointee that was supposed to fix the jobs situation?)This website is making my goal of sharing observations on political issues and stories that interest me way too easy. Do me a favor and just subscribe so I can spend all my daily blogging time talking about cool ish like mixtapes, sneakers and new 12" singles I've bought.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE WITH THE TAX CUT MONEY: Krugman notes "in the current fiscal year, the Bush tax cuts will account for almost $300 billion of a deficit expected to top $500 billion. If that $300 billion had been used to employ workers directly...it would have created six million jobs ." Instead, a new Wisconsin study shows that, for at least that state, the tax cuts actually cost jobs. According to the study, the president's Council of Economic Advisors predicted that the Bush tax cuts would create 344,000 new jobs per month nationally. "Wisconsin's share of those jobs was to have been 12,104 by September. Instead, the state has lost 25,000 more jobs since that time."
