From The Moderate Independent. Of course, the blinders on hard core
right might not like this...

http://www.moderateindependent.com/v1i2news1.htm


In part:


This is perhaps one of the most important questions of the upcoming
election cycle.

Democrats, of course, are quick to blame President Bush for the ailing
economy. And in reality, who could fault them for trying to do so. Any
party not in power during such an economic downturn, of course, would
try to blame the party in power - any party that didn't should resign
from politics.

The Republicans, as expected, try to blame the Democrats. Their line is
that the economic problems were inherited from the Clinton era. Of
course partisan party types, as with the Democrats, are required to come
up with some explanation that blames the other party, and this is the
Republicans' claim.

But for us moderate independents, simply throwing blame for the sake of
making this or that side seem the good or bad guy has no point - we only
care about finding the truth and the best candidates, in whichever party
they may lie.

So what is the reality? Is Bush truly to blame for this economic
downturn? Is Clinton? Or is it simply a combination of cyclical
downturn and 9/11?

We, at The Moderate Independent, have the answer.

Unlike most news sources, which are so afraid of sounding partisan that
they simply present arguments from supposed representatives of the left
and the right, ending up with an article that ****es everyone off,
drives people deeper into their partisan bickering, and reaches no
useful conclusion, we are not afraid to say what is simple and true.

This economic downturn, quite simply, is the fault of President Bush.

It wasn't his tax cut, as the Democrats claim. The tax cut has not had
enough time to have any positive or negative effects it will have.

What caused this economic downturn goes back to when George W. Bush was
merely President-elect, waiting to take office, and continued on through
his first six months in office.

Repeatedly, President-elect, and then President, Bush talked about how
the economy was in trouble. Arriving in office following the longest
continuous economic upturn in generations, President Bush seized on a
stock market that had faltered some in the uncertainty following the
2000 Presidential election.

The "bad" economy, he talked about. Again and again. The "bad"
economy.

You know what happened as a result? I can tell you from my personal
experience, the CFO of the corporation I was working for called a
meeting and said, "The President keeps talking about the economy being
'bad.' Now, things don't seem bad, but let's just hold off on any new
hires until we see how this pans out. And, let's hold off on all non-
vital purchases, just for the time being."

And you can see right there how simply the words of President George W.
Bush started slamming the breaks of the economy.

This, of course, all snowballed. First, people held off on hiring and
purchases to see if the President's bleak prediction would come true.
When this happened, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Less hiring
and corporate spending created a measurable slowdown in the economy,
which led people to say, "Hey, maybe the President is right," and
tighten up even more. Each report grew worse and worse due to this, and
a nation that was being told to expect the worst slowly came to believe
it.

So, to put it simply, President Bush's constant talk about the economy
being "bad" led it to be so