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It might be genetic or maybe it's something they pick up at the country club, but two disturbing traits the Presidents Bush share are trusting the Saudis and running up huge government spending deficits. Good for the Bushes, but not so good for the rest of us.
President George W. Bush had a meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah down on the ranch in Crawford, Texas. The wining and dining of the Saudi oil royal had to be figurative since neither the booze-battered president nor the strict Muslim prince let demon rum cloud their thinking.
But this was a case where a touch of the devil might have helped, because it's clear their sobriety has done nothing to stop the violence in the Middle East.
The Saudis' top desert dog scolded the United States for its support of Israel but, of course, he said nothing of the Saudi support for terrorism, including (as my colleague John Hanchette recently pointed out in these pages) holding telethons to raise money for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, whose answer for peace is setting off explosions in crowded restaurants.
The problem is the Bushes simply can never say anything that offends the Saudis.
After the Texas talks that netted absolutely nothing of substance, all the president could say was, "One of the really positive things out of this meeting was that the crown prince and I established a strong personal bond. We spent a lot of time alone." Allah forbid! Maybe next time they meet they can go fishing together.
During their bonding, besides talking about the bleak, ugly terrain Texas and Saudi Arabia share, I'll bet the prince and president chatted a bit about something that rivals faith and family for these wealthy fundamentalists. Oil. Black gold. Texas tea.
The Saudis exported more than 600 million barrels to the United States last year, 8.5 percent of our total consumption.
That's oil needed for cheap gas, and essential for the profit of Texas-based oil service companies like Halliburton, the company Vice President Cheney headed before cashing in and becoming the government's Lord High Protector of Oil Interests.
After sipping lemonade and munching on pork-free pork rinds, the prince and president emerged to assure the world that all is quiet on the Western oil front.
"Saudi Arabia made it clear, and has made it clear publicly, that they will not use oil as a weapon," Mr. Bush said with a straight face.
Sure.
We wouldn't spend five minutes talking to the Saudis if they weren't using oil as a weapon to get their way in the Middle East, and protect, at whatever cost, the wealth of the Saudi royal family.
The Bush family connection to the Saudis transcends any national interests in cheap oil. It's built on the immortal bond of money -- big money stuffed into Bush pockets.
Former President George H.W. Bush, along with his former Secretary of State and fellow Texan James Baker, receives fees in the millions for offering advice (read: access) to oil investment groups interested in a piece of the Saudi action.
George W.'s brother Neil is also collecting huge fees for investment deals involving Saudi royals. He's refining the Bush family business of selling their ties to Saudi top dogs to anyone willing to cough up American dollars for the privilege.
While the Bushes get personally richer, the American treasury is running low, and this year's budget deficit is likely to be twice as large as projected.
A $70 billion dollar shortfall in tax revenue, combined with the deficit projection, could produce a total deficit topping $140 billion for the federal fiscal year ending in September.
So what, you say.
What this represents is a return to Bush voodoo economics, where the government spends much more than it takes in and, as a result, does more borrowing, requiring the use of capital that would be more productive in private hands.
It also means more raiding of the Social Security trust fund brother Bush vowed he wouldn't touch.
For the last five years, the government had reversed a decades-old trend and actually turned a surplus.
Here are some trivia questions. How many budget surpluses did the two Bushes produce? How many did Bill Clinton produce? The answers are 0 and 4.
Like his father and Dutch Reagan, neither of whom ever proposed a balanced budget, George W. has slipped into the myth that you can cut taxes, increase spending, and still have the money left over to "fix" Social Security.
It simply doesn't add up. More tax cuts without spending cuts to offset them will hurt the economy and cost jobs.
George W. and most Republicans lack the honesty to tell the American people that we cannot increase spending for the military and on education without adding to the deficit.
The promise of guns and butter is the supreme Republican lie.
But, sadly, they get away with it, because the leadership of the Democratic party is so pitifully weak that virtually nothing is said about the Bush family faults, and when something is said, Al Gore is still looked upon as the main voice of opposition. Spare us, oh Lord.
The Democrats must stand up against the current of public opinion and challenge the Bushes' congenital failings in public service. That's a duty the party leaders are carefully ducking.
Speaking of currents, and on a more hopeful note, the smelt are running in the mighty Niagara and that's a rite of springtime we should cherish.
You have to be away to really appreciate some of the wonderful things you can do on the Niagara Frontier.
Going down to Lewiston on a cool spring night, building a fire and waiting for the smelt to run is a blast. Frying up these little cousins of the salmon and washing them down with a few cold Canadian lagers with your fellow smelters is special joy for Niagarans.
If they could stand the cold and the current, maybe the prince and president should try it out. It would teach them character, and they could finally net something worthwhile.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 30 2002 |