Debate Prediction: Bush will LIE

Economy
QUOTE: "Another priority for a new term is to build an ownership society, because ownership brings security, and dignity, and independence."

• FACT: The "ownership society" transfers risk and responsibility away from the government and onto the shoulders of American families. To pay for the Bush tax cuts, the programs Americans have relied upon to buffer them from economic turmoil have been slashed or killed: "stable jobs, widely available health coverage, guaranteed pensions, short unemployment spells, long-lasting unemployment benefits and well-funded job programs" have all been under siege or vanished. [LA Times, 10/10/04]
• FACT: In the mid-1970s, jobless workers could collect 15 months of unemployment. By last December, Congress pared the program back to just six months. What this means: "Of the 8 million people who were unemployed last month, only 2.9 million were collecting benefits." [LA Times, 10/10/04 ]

QUOTE: "We've got to do something about these frivolous lawsuits that plague our small business owners."

• FACT: "American businesses file four times as many lawsuits as do individuals represented by trial attorneys, and they are penalized by judges much more often for pursuing frivolous litigation." [Public Citizen, 10/6/04 ]

• FACT: During Vice President Cheney's five-year tenure as CEO, "Halliburton was involved in 151 court claims it filed in 15 states around the nation. On average, Halliburton petitioned America's legal system 30 times per year while Cheney was CEO." [Halliburton Watch, 9/15/04]

Deficit
QUOTE: "I believe it is the job of a President to confront problems, not pass them on to future Presidents and future generations...we've got to be wise about how we spend your money in Washington."

• FACT: President Bush is expected to sign a "sprawling corporate tax bill" which will "shower corporations and farmers in politically sensitive states with about $145 billion worth" of subsidies and new tax cuts. The bill "rewards just about every special interest that retains a lobbyist in Washington." [NY Times, 10/7/04 ; LA Times, 10/12/04 ; Washington Post, 10/12/04]
• FACT: Bush has turned a $5.6 surplus into $5.2 trillion deficit: a fiscal decline of $10.8 trillion in just three years. The turnaround represents the worst fiscal deterioration in at least the last half century. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 1/28/04 ; govexec.com, 1/29/04; CAP, 10/4/04 ]
• FACT: The deficit could reach $3.5 trillion in the next decade if tax cuts are made permanent. [Washington Post, 1/26/04]
  

Jobs
QUOTE: "Over the past year, America has added 1.7 million jobs."

• FACT: The economy has shed 900,000 jobs since March 2001, assuring Bush he will end his four-year term with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover. Census Bureau data shows 35.8 million Americans lived in poverty last year, a 1.3 million increase from 2002. [Jobwatch, 8/31/04; AP, 9/27/04 ]
• FACT: All told, Bush currently presides over the weakest "recovery" in 72 years, in terms of job growth. Additionally, wages are stagnating, personal bankruptcies are up 33 percent since 2000, and consumer confidence is plummeting. [USA Today, 8/27/04 ; NYT, 8/28/04 ; AP, 8/31/04 ]
  

Education
QUOTE: "That's why it's essential we keep working on No Child Left Behind, to make sure every child has got the skills necessary to read and write and add and subtract."

• FACT: "This year alone, the Bush administration shortchanges American schools $9.4 billion under No Child Left Behind." [New York Times, 3/14/04]
• FACT: "Eleven states will get less federal money for poor students next school year." [USA Today, 4/6/04 ]
  

Tax Cuts
QUOTE: "Tax relief left more money in the hands of American workers so they could save, spend, invest, and help drive this economy forward."

• FACT: One-third of President Bush's tax cuts have gone to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, shifting more of the tax burden from America's rich to middle-class families. [Reuters, 8/13/04 ]

QUOTE: "I think we need to simplify the tax code, and one way to simplify it is to get rid of the death tax forever."

• FACT: The "death" or estate tax affects only about 2 percent of America's estates, mostly multimillionaires. Its repeal would benefit most of President Bush's cabinet, however. [CNN, 1/8/03 ;Guardian, 2/27/0 1]
  
• Full list [more ]