Not All Economies Are Hurting Like Ours

The United States economy grew less than 3% last year, and is facing a recession this year (at least two quarters of negative growth). Many Americans think this is a world-wide economic slowdown, but that is just not true.

India's economy is booming. The Indian economy grew at a rate of 9.6% in 2006/07, and is currently growing at a rate of 8.7%. In fact, India's economy is growing so fast that the government is trying to slow it down a bit to prevent it being accompanied by inflation. In the last year, they have raised interest rates and reduced the supply of rupees.

What is the Indian government doing with the increased revenue this enormous growth is generating? They are cancelling the debt of small farmers with less than two hectares of land (200 acres). They are also increasing health funding by 15% and education funding by 20%. What a novel idea! They are actually using that money to help their citizens.

Contrast this with what Bush did when he inherited a robust economy and huge budget surpluses. Instead of acting to help the average citizen, Bush cut taxes for the rich and the corporations. Then he underfunded Medicare, and tried to destroy Social Security. He radically increased government spending, but none of it went to help the working and middle classes.

Now the U.S. has huge deficits, growing inflation, and an economy sliding into recession. The Bush presidency hasn't just been a foriegn policy failure. It has also been an economic failure.