BostonHerald.com - National News: Bush uses radio address for veiled attack on Kerry's economic policies

"Bush says higher taxes are ``a recipe for economic disaster.''

He says "punishing families and small business is not a job-creation strategy.''

Recently, Bush has responsed to Democratic attacks on his record on jobs by accusing Kerry of trying to raise taxes and discourage trade. "

Kerry has said that he will work to repeal the very generous tax cuts made to upper-income brackets during the Bubba Bush administration. So accusing Kerry of "raising taxes" is analagous to accusing Bush to going to war with Iraq: it's not an accusation, it's a fact. The real question is whether or not you think that the US economy and the standard of living in the US in general are better off by giving tax cuts to the rich.

Any economist worth 2 cents, and that means the very large majority, will tell you that optimal marginal additional spending does not come from giving fiscal breaks to those who already have everything. Furthermore, decreasing state spending also dries up the economy. So the reality of the tax breaks to the wealthy is that they have a net "very bad" effect on the US economy.

Finally, criticizing Kerry for not stooping to protectionism is beyond the Bubba pale, even for W. Any of those > US$0.02 economists will also tell you that protectinism has a very bad long-term effect on the economy. Besides, far from being a protectionist, Bush is very close to large companies that have moved to the Bahamas to avoid US taxes.