“Both Bushes hurt us,” said Ruben. “With the Savings and Loan under the father and the spending, war, and dot com collapse under the son, they almost destroyed us.”
“Bush helped the economy when he lowered taxes. Interest was never lower,” said Pickett.
“Pickett is right,” said Deberg.
“Now we’re paying for it. Look at the interest and taxes,” said Ruben.
Natasha added, “President Bush created thousands of jobs.”
“And most of those jobs went to India,” said Sully.
“Don’t forget that just before Bush left office that unemployment was the highest since the great depression of Roosevelt,” said Beau.
“That wasn’t President Bush’s fault,” said Natasha.
“I think it’s time for a little history,” said Warren. “When Bush got out of office in 2008 our country had been around for 232 years. The National Debt was almost eleven trillion dollars. It took 220 years to create a debt of four trillion. It took both Bushes only twelve years to add seven trillion dollars to that debt.”
Natasha and Sunday were shocked and their mouth’s dropped open in disbelief, but Beau, Sully and Ruben shook their heads in disgust.
“That much, really?” asked Krysti.
Sadly Warren confirmed the question with a nod of his head.
Sully added, “Don’t forget Bush’s son, Neil, getting a small business loan for that wildcat well.”
“A real good investment,” Warren said with a frown.
“That’s okay Neil and Marvin Bush made it back with the help of King George, when he got their companies cream puff contracts with Iraq and China,” said Warren.
Natasha frowned at Warren and said, “That is not a nice thing to call our former President.”
“That’s disrespectful of a former president,” said Pickett.
“Truth hurts,” said Warren.
With a twinkle in his eyes Ruben added, “The haves and the have nots.”
“Well don’t forget Clinton. He really screwed the country,” Sunday argued.
Ruben put his arm around his wife. “Not really, Sugar. Clinton was too busy screwing the interns to screw the country.” Sunday smiled and pushed him, while most of the others chuckled or laughed out loud.
“At least Clinton had a surplus,” said Pickett.
Ruben shook his head, “There never was a surplus under Clinton.”
“Tricks with words,” said Sully. He looked at Warren, “Isn’t that right?”
Warren nodded, took a deep breath and said, “Here is an example of how we have a surplus. The government collects two and a half trillion dollars in taxes. Congress sets a budget at two-point-nine trillion but only spends two-point-seven trillion. They’re excited and tell the American people we have a two-hundred billion surplus.
Confused, Natasha shook her head, “That’s wrong it’s a two-hundred billion deficit.”
With a nod Warren said, “Absolutely correct. It is a deficit but they try to spend all of what they don’t have to match the budget thus adding more to the National debt.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Deburg.
“Most people don’t,” said Warren. “But I will say that under Clinton it did get down to a deficit of sixteen billion in one year.”
Sully asked but the tone of his words revealed he already knew, “And under President Bush?”
Taking a deep breath Warren said, “About six hundred billion each of the eight years he served as president. And one point five his last year.”
Sully gritted his teeth, “What about the ten trillion in five years under Obama and his czars.”
Ruben quipped, “Sounds more like Enron.”
“Precisely,” said Warren. “Might have been different if Obama hadn’t stopped our energy production and cut the military. The guy was racist.”
Some of the men laughed and Ruben piqued, “That sounds strange coming from a black man.”
Warren shook his head, “Obama destroyed everything Martin Luther King accomplished and turned his dream into a nightmare. A compassionate man? Not Obama. If someone had told me he was the Manchurian candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood. Now that was something I could understand.”
Again Sully was quick to respond, “He gave weapons to Al Qaeda in Libya, Egypt and Syria. Weapons used to kill our soldiers in Afghanistan. Friends of mine.”
Krysti shook her head and mumbled, “It’s not safe for Christians or Americans over there anymore.”
“Israel is on its own. Obama saw to that,” said Sully.
“Shoulda known he was trouble for America when he called his men czars. It means emperor. I never felt good when he did that.”
“Neither did I,” said Sully. “The communist bastard.”
Most chimed in with nods and mumbles of confirmation.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out Beau said, “I think it all started with Kennedy.”
Sully nodded and Warren said, “You are very close. Hasn’t been a surplus since 1960.”
Krysti also nodded in understanding. She realized they were all right. Looking down in thought she said, “In a way it was all of them.”
Finally Kipp spoke. “I think the lass has the answer.”
“That means there are only two problems with our government,” said Ruben.
“What’s that?” Beau asked.
Ruben smiled at his friend. “Democrats and Republicans.” A few smiled, Sully and Warren chuckled, and the others nodded in agreement.
Almost talking to himself Beau mumbled, “We were deceived by the Republicans. I voted conservative, Republican. I expected government to be in check but Bush spent a hundred times more money on other countries than on his own.”
Natasha noted, “Bush did lower taxes.”
“But took it all back the next few years with the war debt,” Ruben blurted out.
“Every time he turned around he was giving hundreds of millions to any country that would smile at him,” Said Sully.
“And his friends didn’t even need to smile. Remember we said half a billion dollars were given to Halliburton only two months after that war started,” BJ added.
“But we needed experts,” Natasha argued.
Then Sully asked, “But what could they have done in two months that was worth a half billion?”
“You could ask Cheney,” quipped Ruben, “but he would probably claim executive privilege and refuse to answer the questions.”
Beau interjected, “Remember the Army Corp of Engineers? They’re trained to do those things.”
Still defending the war, Natasha continued to argue. “It was to protect Iraq’s oil.”
BJ smirked. “They did that. What has always bothered me is the way they didn’t secure the nuclear sites. If they were so concerned about Weapons of Mass Destruction, then the nuclear sites would have been the first places to secure. They were never secured until the people stole everything from those sites.”
Concerned, Beau said, “The only reason not to secure a nuclear site is if you already know there really are no weapons.”
Ruben said, “They managed to secure all of Iraq’s wells in the first few weeks.” In deep thought he added, “That war was for oil. Plain and simple.” Most nodded in agreement and mumbled their concerns and thoughts.
“He gave Iraq freedom and democracy. We fought for them,” snapped Pickett.
“I thought we fought terror,” said Beau.
“It’s not working very well,” said Ruben.
Warren looked at those sitting at the table and asked, “And tell me this; why don’t Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and North Korea need a democracy?”
Pickett, Deberg and Natasha had no answer for Ruben.
“I knew we were in trouble when President Bush was holding hands with the Saudi Prince.
“That’s a tradition there,” said Deberg. “He was using diplomacy.”