The Bush Economy: Luck?

By J. James Estrada

Today I called my local newspaper to ask why they are running an editorial on the front page. The headline reads: "Bush budget rides on economic luck"

Here are the opening sentences:

One major unmentioned entry in President Bush's new budget is luck.

Luck that the economy keeps growing, that corporate profits remain robust, that inflation stays tame and that foreigners keep lending the U.S. money. Otherwise, the numbers don't add up.

Written by AP writer, Tom Raum, the paper ran this opinion piece as a straight news story, on the front page, above the fold. The newspaper didn't know how to respond to my call, so they put me through to the editorial page. I asked again, "since when did you start running editorials on the front page?" The answer was that they don't. Somebody needs to go back to journalism school.

And, by the way, the economy is not a result of luck, but of sound economic policies centered around tax cuts.