Dubya's time machine set for the bad old days

1-26-03

By EDWARD CONE
News & Record

You may think you've heard it all before when George W. Bush delivers the State of the Union address on Tuesday night. You will be right. Everything old is new again in Washington.

W seems intent on using the political capital he has earned as a wartime president to buy himself a time machine, taking us all back with him to some of the not-so-good old days of our past. While most of us would be happy to have a pre-9/11 sense of security and maybe some 1999 stock prices, the president is aiming deeper into our history.

How far back can W reset the clock? Here are just some of the stops along his proposed retroitinerary:

1992, the year before the federal budget deficit began to decline. This month, Bush budget director Mitch Daniels said that large deficits for the next two years would be followed by ... more deficits. War and recession may make a short-term budget squeeze inevitable, but W's economic plan will lead to deficits, said Daniels, "for the foreseeable future." Funny, that's how long it will take for all the Bush tax cuts to take effect.

1991, with war in the Iraqi desert stealing headlines from a bum economy at home.

1979, a time of high gas prices and rumors of scarcity that had motorists lined up around the block to top off their tanks. W's energy policy on the supply side includes a war in the Middle East and a wink at the coup plotters in Venezuela. In terms of demand, we get tax incentives for businesses to buy SUVs, and Dick Cheney writing off conservation as a "sign of personal virtue."

1973, before a woman's right to choose abortion was recognized by the Supreme Court. From withholding funds for family planning groups to doctoring scientific data as an anti-abortion scare tactic, the Bush administration has been pushing against reproductive freedom at the margins. Now signing restrictive new legislation and appointing a balance-tipping vote to the Supreme Court are on the horizon.

1950, as tension in Korea threatens wider conflagration. But this time we have a plan: Having rattled North Korea's cage, W is dealing with the issue by taking a firm military stance with Iraq.

1934, prior to which guys like Enron's "Kenny Boy" Lay were unhindered by the Securities and Exchange Commission. W has been forced to beef up the SEC after first appointing Wall Street stooge Harvey Pitt to run it, but his commitment to investor protection seems skin-deep at best. Other New Deal programs, especially Social Security, are still sacrosanct - although it would be nice to know how W plans to pay for them.

1913, before the imposition of a progressive income tax. The whole notion of progressivity itself is under attack. Bush seems to have no interest in the huge income disparities that have evolved in the last 20 years, only in tax relief for those at the upper end of that curve. Yes, the very wealthy pay more in taxes - they are wealthier than they used to be, in absolute terms and in relation to the rest of us. Interestingly, the earliest versions of the income tax only applied to the rich, with more than 90 percent of the population exempt.

The Middle Ages, when inherited position really mattered. By abolishing the inheritance tax, rather than raising the tax-free estate limit to some reasonable amount that will protect family businesses and farms, W may create a new class of hereditary superrich in this country. Take a look at the Forbes magazine list of richest Americans and you will notice that the old money is not very old; that may not be true in generations to come.

A conservative president is supposed to preserve the things that have made this country great. Bush seems more prone to rehashing our old mistakes. Some things are in the past because they deserve to be, and too many of those things are on Bush's agenda for the future.

Edward Cone (efcone@mindspring.com, www.edcone.com), a magazine journalist and Greensboro native, contributes a column to the News & Record on Sunday.

Last update: 1/26/2003; 9:24:38 AM.