How is Romney different from George Bush?

[Deleted]

Or more specifically, how does Romney's economic agenda differ from Bush's?

I was thinking today about what a masterful job the GOP has done over the past four years in exploiting the resentment towards food stamp and welfare recipients. I know this resentment is never very far below the surface, but it truly is amazing what the GOP has pulled off.

Only a few years after our economy tanks due to Wall Street's greed they have the man on the street convinced that everything is the fault of the low lifes who are gouging welfare while drinking and smoking and drugging.... Blaming the powerless at the bottom instead of the powerful at top. Don't look at the man behind the curtain.

A mere four years after the biggest crash since the Depression, instead of demanding that the government serve up the heads of those responsible for the crisis, the outcry is for government to back off of business and get rid of regulations. Oh, and cut taxes for the richest people in society, like the CEOs who made those risky decisions...

WTF?

And while pondering this odd turn of events, it made me wonder - how is Romney's economic plan any different t all from Bush's? It seems to be even MORE 'Bushian', if anything. Rather than heading towards saner economic ground, we would cut taxes even more, like that will help deficit (or reverse the alarming inequity in our wealth distribution). Will Romney/Ryan push hard for the option of privatization of Social Security - like Bush floated- as if 2008 didn't show us how unreliable the stock market can be for your retirement savings?

I was just curious, is there any major areas in which Romney/Ryan's economic platform differs from Bush's?

[ladybrettashley]

I've been wondering the same thing for the past few years.

[IIOY]

Aug 21, 2012 21:38:17 GMT -5 sandsonik said:

Or more specifically, how does Romney's economic agenda differ from Bush's?

I was thinking today about what a masterful job the GOP has done over the past four years in exploiting the resentment towards food stamp and welfare recipients. I know this resentment is never very far below the surface, but it truly is amazing what the GOP has pulled off.

Only a few years after our economy tanks due to Wall Street's greed they have the man on the street convinced that everything is the fault of the low lifes who are gouging welfare while drinking and smoking and drugging.... Blaming the powerless at the bottom instead of the powerful at top. Don't look at the man behind the curtain.

A mere four years after the biggest crash since the Depression, instead of demanding that the government serve up the heads of those responsible for the crisis, the outcry is for government to back off of business and get rid of regulations. Oh, and cut taxes for the richest people in society, like the CEOs who made those risky decisions...

WTF?

Well, DOJ and the SEC have been under the control of the Democrats since shortly after things blew up, so I don't think lack of prosecution lies entirely at the feet of the Republicans. However, I have previously expressed on here my own frustration that after everything that has happened, we still have half-baked reform that may wind up amounting to not much at all, and I find it remarkable that we can come that close to breaking the world and still not find the political will to fix things.

*modified to clarify

[Deleted]

Aug 22, 2012 6:26:07 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Well, DOJ and the SEC have been under the control of the Democrats since shortly after things blew up, so I don't think this lies entirely at the feet of the Republicans. However, I have previously expressed on here my own frustration that after everything that has happened, we still have half-baked reform that may wind up amounting to not much at all, and I find it remarkable that we can come that close to breaking the world and still not find the political will to fix things.

Oh, I agree - I'm not saying that the Democrats did much to change things. I'm more amazed that the general zeitgeist seems to be that they changed too much and and that we need deregulation. And I'm flabbergasted that somehow populist anger has been redirected to the poor!

[IIOY]

Aug 22, 2012 6:42:03 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

OK, I read George Bush as Elton John and wondered why anybody would ask this question. I need to stop reading stuff before I am fully awake.

See, now you're getting to be like me. I misread shit on here All. The. Time. because I tend to skim and am constantly wondering why people are writing about completely random stuff.