Yesterday, I was driving along, listening to the
Orwellian feed on am network radio news (I do not
remember if it was AnythingButSee or SeeBS), a
cheerful voice reported that economic growth last
quarter was half of what it was the previous, which
the "experts" said showed that the "recovery" was
really taking off...There is no rewind on a car
radio...But I heard what I heard...I just had to wait
for it to be repeated half an hour later...Incredibly
spooky, yes? Well, this movement to restore the
timeline, save the US Constitution and the Environment
and cleanse the US body politic of the Bush Cabal, has
many great economic thinkers and producers who names
have already been scrawled on the John O'Neill Wall of
Heroes, but none is more prominent or more vital to
the movement than multi-billionaire George Soros, the
anti-Scaife...and thanks to the British press (it has
not yet been "Huttonized") and the Internet-based
Information Rebellion (Buzzflash, in particular), here
are some remarks...
George Soros/Indepdent(UK): The blunt warning from the
world's most famous financier came as official figures
showed the US economy grew more slowly than expected
over the final months of last year, knocking US
financial markets.
Restore Fiscal Responsibility to the White House, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush again(!)
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=486381
Soros lashes Bush with warning of post-election blues for US economy
By Philip Thornton Economics Correspondent
31 January 2004
The economy of the United States will "pay a penalty"
next year when the White House's politically motivated
growth boost runs out of steam, George Soros warned
yesterday.
In a vitriolic attack on George Bush, Mr Soros said
economic policy in the US was wholly devoted to
securing a second term for the President.
The blunt warning from the world's most famous
financier came as official figures showed the US
economy grew more slowly than expected over the final
months of last year, knocking US financial markets.
Speaking in London to promote a book attacking US
foreign policy, Mr Soros said he believed the US
economy would continue to show strong growth this
year.
"Right now we have a very favourable conjuncture
because the US economy is in the hands of Karl Rove,
the strategist arranging for the campaign of Bush," he
said. "Everything that could be done to pump up the
economy has been done - successfully so far."
Mr Soros said the world's largest economy had also
benefited from a rebound in the world economy and the
fall in the dollar, which had boosted US exports. "But
there will be a penalty to pay after the election, so
it looks good this year but less good from 2005."
Mr Soros - best known for betting against the pound
during the 1992 ERM crisis and "breaking" the Bank of
England - refused to be drawn on the direction of the
financial markets.
According to Wall Street speculation, Mr Soros and a
number of other wealthy business people have taken a
massive "short position" on the dollar - betting that
the US currency will fall. So far, it has fallen 18
per cent from its peak.
Mr Soros said toppling President Bush was the "central
project of my life", and he added: "I'm willing to put
my money where my mouth is."
He has donated $12.5m (£6.9m) over the past year to
fund political activities that oppose Mr Bush's
re-election.
"I think Bush is changing the character of the US and
leading it in the wrong direction," he said. "A bunch
of ideologues has captured the executive and taken
America too far to the right."
Official figures showed the US economy grew 4.0 per
cent in the fourth quarter of last year. This was
below forecasts of a 5 per cent rise, and well below
the third quarter's blistering 8.2 per cent rise.
The figures revived concerns over the strength of the
US recovery. In early trading, the Dow Jones share
index was down 66 points, or 0.6 per cent.
Economists said the growth might not be enough to lead
to the job creation that has so far been absent from
the recovery.
Patrick Franke, at Commerzbank, said: "Demand growth
of 4 per cent won't be sufficient to generate
employment growth strong enough to lower the
unemployment rate. This in turn would leave the
expansion vulnerable."
The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose
2.6 per cent, a sharp slowdown from the tax
cut-induced 6.9 per cent gain in the previous quarter.
Growth in business spending and residential investment
also slowed.