Bush's Economic Smokescreen

President Bush and the Republican Congress, catering to corporate lobbies, have acted consistently to make things worse for ordinary Americans.

• They've accelerated the flight of jobs abroad through "outsourcing"-friendly trade and tax policies
• They've put downward pressure on wages by blocking a minimum wage increase for nine years and coddling employers who trample labor laws.
• They let big drug companies gouge seniors by prohibiting Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices.
• They lavished billions in subsidies on big oil, blocked efforts to prosecute gas-price gouging, and starved progress on alternative energy.
• They incentivized companies to abandon pensions and replace them with individual retirement accounts.
• They cut billions from the student loan program, even as they fixed interest rates at higher levels.

By exposing and challenging the Republicans' pay-to-play politics, Democrats can show voters they are paying the cost of conservative corruption and that it's time to clean out the stables.