It wasn't just Bush.
It wasn't just McCain.
It wasn't just Washington Republicans, Corporate CEOs, Rush Limbaugh, Larry Kudlow, Art Laffer and the other supply-side devotees on Wall Street.
No. The conspiracy of denial and double-talk about the failed Republican economy stretched all the way to the outposts of reform-minded Alaska, home of Ted Stevens and his maverick friend Sarah Palin.
Here's the straight-talking Governor in her State of the State speech earlier this year:
Our economy is solid.... [I]t is with great confidence that I say our future is bright.
Ten days later, the headline in the Juneau Empire?
Economic forecast looks hazy
Oops.
Why the disconnect?
Well, the prospects for oil company profits were still "bright" in early 2008.
The prospects for Alaska families, not so much. Again, from the Empire article:
[T]he state’s private sector job growth will be flat and household incomes will rise at a slower rate than inflation [a leading economist said Thursday]....
This year’s prediction is the worst in the five years he has been doing the forecasts, said [the economist] ....
- January 25, 2008
It's the same story in Alaska as in Washington, D.C.
Republicans claimed the economy was "sound," "strong" and "solid" long after families and workers were struggling with stagnant wages, soaring costs, retirement insecurity and job loss.
Why? Because the Republican measuring stick was corporate profit, not the health and breadth of the middle class.
As Tom P put it in his excellent recommended diary, Obama Rips McCain on Economy Today:
Why are we in this mess? It's the Bush-McCain philosophy. This is key.
This financial crisis is a direct result of the greed and irresponsibility that has dominated Washington and Wall Street for years. It’s the result of speculators who gamed the system, regulators who looked the other way, and lobbyists who bought their way into our government. It’s the result of an economic philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else; a philosophy that views even the most common-sense regulations as unwise and unnecessary. Well, this crisis is nothing less than a final verdict on this failed philosophy – and it’s a philosophy I’m running for President to end. That’s what this election is all about.
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama—as prepared for delivery, on cnn.com
It really is. I understand there are strong opinions about the bailout, but ending the Republican reactionary ideology's hold on Americans is even more important to me.
I couldn't agree more.
In order to ready the country for the type of fundamental economic change necessary to right the ship, we must build a national consensus that the entire trickle-down Republican philosophy (not just George Bush's philosophy) is, quite simply, a joke.
McCain's "fundamentally sound" comments have been a joke.
Palin's "economy is solid" assurance was a joke.
And the cruel joke of the modern Republican economy must come to an end.
***
Palin and Juneau Empire excerpts taken from Yeah, Right: "This Economy Is Strong" and Other Tall Tales (page 58)
Online Sources: Palin; Juneau Empire
***