Bush Broken Government: By the Numbers

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deleted15807

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Read it and weep

Forty ways in which the federal government failed to perform under the administration of George W. Bush, 2001-2008:



• 45 million Americans without health care
• 60 percent of EPA scientists report political interference with their work
• 1,273 whistleblower complaints filed from 2002-2008; 1,256 were dismissed
• 190,000 U.S.-supplied weapons missing in Iraq
• $212.3 million in overcharges by Halliburton for Iraq oil reconstruction work
• $455 billion deficit for fiscal year 2008; estimated to reach up to $1 trillion in 2009
• $9.91 billion for government secrecy in 2007 — a record
• 809 government laptops with sensitive information lost by FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• 30 million pounds of beef recalled in 2007
• $300 billion over budget for Department of Defense weapons acquisitions
• Less than 3 percent of U.S. electricity needs met by alternative energy
• 2,145 troops killed and 21,000 injured in Iraq from March 2003 through November 1, 2008, by IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and other explosives — many while awaiting body armor. Additionally, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in the conflict
• 34.8 percent of oil used in America imported during Nixon administration; 42.2 percent during first Gulf War; 59.9 percent in 2006
• $100 million for failed FBI computer network
• $100 billion in federal tax revenues lost annually to corporations using off-shore tax shelters
• 163 million airline passengers delayed 320 million hours; cost to U.S. economy: more than $41 billion in 2007
• $60 billion stolen in Medicare fraud each year
• 2.5 million toxic toys recalled in summer of 2007
• $12.5 billion for defective National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System
• $4 billion to upgrade National Security Agency computers that often crash, have trouble talking to each other, and lose key intelligence
• 60,000 flights made by 46 Southwest Airline jets in violation of FAA safety directives due to lax FAA enforcement
• 12.8 percent job turnover at Department of Homeland Security in 2006 — double that of any other cabinet-level agency
• 730,000 backlogged patent applications
• 148,000 troops not enough to secure Iraq, enabling insurgency to take root
• $1 billion, six-year “Reading First” program called ineffective by Department of Education Inspector General
• 20,000 U.S. deaths annually from lack of pollution controls on diesel vehicles and power plants
• 60,000 newborns a year at risk for neurological problems due to mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants
• Two-thirds fewer clean ups of EPA Superfund toxic waste sites during 2001-2006 than in previous six years
• 935 demonstrably false statements in lead-up to Iraq war by President Bush and seven members of his administration
• At least $500 million for FEMA trailers contaminated by formaldehyde occupied by thousands displaced after Hurricane Katrina
• 558 detainees at Guantanamo detention facility reduced to 255 after court-ordered case reviews
• 26 percent of corporations holding at least $250 million in assets audited in 2006; percent audited in 1990: more than 70 percent. IRS audit staff slashed by 30 percent
• $431.5 billion spent on Medicare in 2007, double amount in 2001
• 47 dead in mining accidents in 2006 blamed on lax oversight
• $9 billion in federal oil and gas royalties mismanaged by agency linked to drug-and-sex scandal
• 275 largest U.S. corporations pay, on average, about 17 percent in taxes in 2007, half the standard corporate tax rate
• $45 trillion in credit-default swaps, without federal oversight, in 2007
• 760,800 disability claims backlogged, awaiting hearings at Social Security Administration as of October 2008
• 806,000 Veterans Affairs disability claims in 2006, up 39 percent since 2000; backlog reached 400,000 claims by February 2007
• 2,640 days Osama bin Laden at large since September 11, 2001 (as of December 10, 2008)


Broken Government: By the Numbers


Of course the intent all along was to actually break government to prove it didn't work.
 
D

deleted15807

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Interesting numbers, thanks for the info.

I don't know McCain told us Obama would “convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington.” But apparently it was Bush who actually did that. But it wasn't to the poor.
 

HazelGod

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Haha. Bush responsible for the beef recall:biggrin1:

Let's see...beef for human consumption, that falls under foodstuffs...quality oversight for those is the purview of the Food & Drug Administration...the FDA is an agency of the Executive...Bush is the head of the Executive (for only another week, thank FSM)...so, yes, the failure is, in fact, his responsibility. Yet I find no humor in it.
 

D_Bob_Crotchitch

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The government of the United States is so enormous it is impossible for anyone to handle all of it. The job of President of the United States has to be the worst job on earth. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't job. People always want to blame the party they don't support. I blame both parties, and all three branches of the government. Mostly, I blame the public for walking around all day with their heads up their butts. Nobody seems willing to hold politicians responsible on a daily basis. Raise hell with them. Then, vote them out of office. They'll straighten up really fast.
 

B_starinvestor

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Let's see...beef for human consumption, that falls under foodstuffs...quality oversight for those is the purview of the Food & Drug Administration...the FDA is an agency of the Executive...Bush is the head of the Executive (for only another week, thank FSM)...so, yes, the failure is, in fact, his responsibility. Yet I find no humor in it.

Was it a hypnotist, or a cult.....the brainwashing?
 

faceking

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Let's see...beef for human consumption, that falls under foodstuffs...quality oversight for those is the purview of the Food & Drug Administration...the FDA is an agency of the Executive...Bush is the head of the Executive (for only another week, thank FSM)...so, yes, the failure is, in fact, his responsibility. Yet I find no humor in it.


are you kidding me??? remind me , with folly and circumspect, to daisy chain a broken parking meter in downtown San Francisco to Obama circa a year from now....
 

faceking

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What part of FEDERAL don't you understand?

BTW the OP if fucking ridiculous... Even Obamabots.. don't want their boy to be tied to beef recalls, computer network gliches, and just an overall spin on the numbers... are you serious?

HazelGod.. where the fuck is your fucking morals and logistics on the OP???!!!!

Are you kidding me... is this the benchmarks that you want to allow Republicans or Libertarians or Independents to be able to hold Obama to?

760,800 disability claims backlogged, awaiting hearings at Social Security Administration as of October 2008
47 dead in mining accidents in 2006 blamed on lax oversight
2.5 million toxic toys recalled in summer of 2007
163 million airline passengers delayed 320 million hours; cost to U.S. economy: more than $41 billion in 2007
730,000 backlogged patent applications


There's no counterpoint, no benchmark... this is what the last 8 years have oft looked like... so don't be shocked and frustrated when the pendulumn swings back.. and swings back hard. "60,000 flights made by 46 Southwest Airline jets in violation of FAA safety directives due to lax FAA enforcement " is "bush by the numbers"??? Wow... so let me get this straight now... so I can be fair for the next 4 years.. ALLLLLLLLLLLL this SHIT is the president's responsbility and fault. M'kay.

Seriously liberal/Dem LPSGers... are you letting Sargon draw the above lines in the sand...?????. you're fucking kidding me.... does this give the opposition the right to blame Obama on a cheddar cheese recall.. amidst "Obama: By The Numbers... 4 million pounds of bad cheese, some reaching elementary schools".

I'm up for opposing viewpoints, but would hope the brethren can at least toss the bad apples out of the debate...


This is lunacy... and unless you at least have the nads to stand up and call a spade a spade here... it can be taken as a benchmark of civil expectations.

This is what Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow sound like at times, as well.

"Interesting numbers... thanks for the info"....

yeah... I'm sure that appreciation will be met with same regard, when the same absurd fucking bullshit gets tied to Obama.
 

B_VinylBoy

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To paraphrase the previous post, to reflect the actual tone that was emitted by the writer:

"Like, OHMIGOD! That is like, SO NOT TRUE! You guys are like, SO MEAN to the president! He tried his best! You all are like, SO CRUEL and shit. Just watch, your guy can't do any better!" Etc, etc, etc. :rolleyes:




The truth hurts, doesn't it?
 

HazelGod

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What's really funny is that you just know he's spent the last two hours researching a list of every agency in the federal executive and trying to collate negative-sounding statistical assessments of them to rebut with.
 

B_Nick8

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Geezus-f'in-cheeriist. Nitpik-nitpik-nitpik.

While I realize that these statistics will make at least two, maybe three posters very unhappy, and we can sit here and debate the direct responsibility of Geo. Bush & Co. and/or the greater Federal Government all day long, even removing the few that may be slightly broad or dubious, they are a very serious indictment of
the last eight years of White House administration.

That being the nicest way I can put it, stfu.

It is what it is. Deal with it. :rolleyes:
 
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HazelGod

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Figures...typical neotard reaction to try to dig up diversionary shit about others rather than simply admit the fault of their failed leadership. :rolleyes:

:yawn:
Call me when something new actually takes place.
 

sparky11point5

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Shout out to Nick!

He is right. The point here is not that every measure is the direct responsibility of GWB. Yet, the Republican party and the right wing have inveighed against government for 30 years. From Reagan's 'welfare queens' to Gingrich's 'jack-booted agents' to Bush's 'buroo-crats', we have been told that government is always the problem. After eight years of destruction from within by incompetence, we should not be surprised at the results. If you elect people who hate government and want to see it fail -- it probably will fail in spectacular, misery-inducing ways.

Put another way, these statistics show how much work has to be done in our society. And, before Star harumphs and spits, and starts to work his old PC AT keyboard into a frenzy, it will take both the private sector and a smart public sector to fix Bush's legacy of stupidity and inattention.

Geezus-f'in-cheeriist. Nitpik-nitpik-nitpik.

While I realize that these statistics will make at least two, maybe three posters very unhappy, and we can sit here and debate the direct responsibility of Geo. Bush & Co. and/or the greater Federal Government all day long, even removing the few that may be slightly broad or dubious, they are a very serious indictment of
the last eight years of White House administration.

That being the nicest way I can put it, stfu.

It is what it is. Deal with it. :rolleyes:
 
D

deleted15807

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If you elect people who hate government and want to see it fail -- it probably will fail in spectacular, misery-inducing ways.

Exactly...the anti-government Republicans are simply unfit to govern. How can you effectively lead an organization you openly hate? Voters get what they deserve. Unfortunately we all suffer when a drunk hits the road.
 

jason_els

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With a week left does it not occur to Bush's last supporters that he has failed grotesquely? There will be no magic in the last seven days and his latest legacy will be complete inaction on the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Bush has seen more of the rose garden in these past few years than Jimmy Carter ever did.

Our country is a mess. The cynical and opportunistic Democratic congress didn't help matters in the least by doing nothing while Bush & Co. did nothing effectively leaving this country without any plausible leadership. You can't do that during war. It makes you look weak to everyone from enemies to allies. Mrs. Pelosi has been a disastrous speaker, failing to perform her constitutional duties by impeaching Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzales.

Complain about Obama all you want. The fact is the Republicans have given Mr. Obama a yellow brick road of opportunity due to their gross mismanagement of everything from the White House to McCain's campaign. They couldn't have fucked-up more if they had tried short of launching an ICBM against the Vatican. The GOP is at a nadir it has not seen since Nixon and it is entirely their own responsibility. The RNC appears to have no solid political aim or credibility, no platform, and no leaders that seem capable of broad inspiration. The only GOP candidate that had anything like rabid grassroots support was Ron Paul! RON PAUL!

The lack of any sort of political balance will result in even more crap as the Dems run amok with no real challenge as the GOP is reduced to the ignomy of hoping they don't lose filibuster power in the Senate!

Supporting Bush seemed to be the right thing to do at the time but the fact is that support has resulted in crashing the entire ship onto the shore causing damage that will long outlast the Bush administration.

Congratulations to everyone in the GOP who continues to support Bush because without your unwavering blind support of Bush, you could not have given more credence to the Democratic party, their platform, and their candidates even if they had nominated a rutebaga.