Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address (2)

Bush 01/21/04:  In two weeks, I will send you a budget that funds the war, protects the homeland, and meets important domestic needs, while limiting the growth in discretionary spending to less than 4 percent. This will require that Congress focus on priorities, cut wasteful spending, and be wise with the people's money. By doing so, we can cut the deficit in half over the next five years.

Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of London Business School Business Week 01/19/04:

The Bush Administration suggests that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts - which, if made permanent, would amount to more than three times the cost of making Social Security solvent - will boost the economy's long-run growth. But the Administration's tired supply-side logic has failed to conveince even the Republican-dominated Congressional Budget Office, which recently concluded that the Bush tax cuts were likely to reduce future economic growth.

Under Bush's leadership, the government has made a series of inconsistent promises that, taken together, cannot be honored: promises of future Medicare and Social Security benefirts, promises of substantial investment in military and homeland security, promises of leaving no child behind, promises of generous corporate subsideies and tax breaks, promises of timely repayment of federal debt, and promises of tax rates far below those necessary to cover its other commitments.