Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/09/06 3:57 pm:
Fredg,

I should hope that Bush would keep big business in mind when making his decisions. He'd be a fool not to.

Let's keep in mind that big businesses employ most American citizens. Let's also keep in mind that big businesses produce most of the products and services that we consume. They drive the economy. If Bush didn't consider them in his decisions, he'd be dead wrong.

It's easy to say that Bush is "pro-big business" and "anti-the-little-guy", but it is an unfair categorization. Bush's economic decisions broke the country out of an economic recession, brought unemployment to the lowest level since July 2001 (before 9/11) and raised average hourly incomes by $2.29 since 2000. In 2000, only 36% of employees participated in defined contribution plans. That number rose to 42% in 2005. In 2000, only 4% of employees had access to employer assisted child care. That number rose to 14% in 2005.

Seems to me that Bush's decisions have clearly helped the "little guy" as much as they have big business, both in terms of employment levels and in terms of compensation and benefits. And they have help the big businesses too.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/09/06 4:58 pm:
Excon,

>>>It's got nothing to do with money. It's got everything to do with stupidity.<<<

If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.

As I said, economic results show that Bush's policies are working. The development and emergence of democratic governments with popular support and improving economic and military situations in Iraq and Afghanistan show that Bush's policies in those places are working. Bush may have been wrong on this issue, and I believe that he was. But that doesn't make him stupid. He was doing it for the right reasons, to reward and support a country that he sees as a supporter of the war on terror. I happen to disagree with that categorization of the UAE, but that doesn't mean that the reasoning was wrong.

Elliot

Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 03/09/06 7:24 pm:
I just wish the Republicans would show as much passion to the border issue.

Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 03/09/06 7:31 pm:
Sen. Warner announced on the floor today that DPW has agreed to turn over all of its operations at U.S. ports to a United States entity .
If this is true then I now support the deal .

Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 03/10/06 2:17 pm:
fred,

You only magnify the problem I was speaking of, there was no "foreign country taking over our ports!"