The Bush Legacy: An Economic Crisis So Deep

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What’s better than reading Krugman twice a week or his blog, how about an open letter to President-Elect Obama with Krugman’s ideas on how to fix the economy, What Obama Must Do.

But before you go and read Krugman’s letter, chew on this for a moment.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group that analyzes government programs, recently estimated the effects of a rise in the unemployment rate to nine percent — a worst-case scenario that now seems all too likely. So what will happen if unemployment rises to nine percent or more? As many as 10 million middle-class Americans would be pushed into poverty, and another 6 million would be pushed into “deep poverty,” the severe deprivation that happens when your income is less than half the poverty level.

You read that right, 10 million middle-class Americans would be pushed into poverty. This is the Bush Legacy. Now, go read the article and come back.