LIFE OUT OF BALANCE

1,169,000: Number of American jobs that have been lost since G.W. became prez.

45 million: Number of Americans without health insurance. (Millions of
Americans are now 1 illness away from bankruptcy.)

$1 trillion: Amount Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, if made permanent, will cost this country over the next ten years.

485,000: Number of children Bush eliminated from after-school programs.

$7,217,762,361,782.23: National debt (Your share is $24,512.70. So is your spouse’s. And each of your children, if you have any. (And their children, too.)

$155 billion: The amount the Iraq War has cost so far.

1 in 5: Number of children living in poverty in America (the wealthiest nation on the planet.)

And what is Our President’s response to these catastrophes? What is His best thinking in the matter?

1. Raise the National Debt level.

2. Bankrupt the Social Security Trust Fund.

3. Change the bankruptcy laws to make it more difficult for poor people to get out from under the thumbs of predatory lenders, particularly credit cards.

4. Increase military spending (despite the fact that the Pentagon’s budget is larger than the entire economy of Russia, and would presently feed every man, woman and child on the planet.)

5. Cut school funding.

6. Throw kids out of Head Start, childcare, after-school and literacy programs.

7. Cut Pell grants, making college less affordable to working families.

8. Call for $80 billion dollars more to fund the war in Iraq. (On top of $25 billion already allocated.)

9. Plan a new war in Iran.

10. Cut the pay of military personnel.

11. Cut education for military dependents.

12. Cut federal housing subsidies.

13. Cut Medicaid (thus hurting the most vulnerable in our country—seniors in nursing homes, poor children, those in need of catastrophic care).

14. Cut food stamps for some 300,000 recipients.

15. Eliminate childcare for thousands of poor working mothers.

16. Make sure gays can’t get married.

17. Make sure everybody has a gun.

18. Post the Ten Commandments in every classroom.


So much for the LOSERS. Now, for a brief look at the WINNERS!

Top Ten CEO pay for 2004.*

Terry S. Semel . . . . . .Yahoo Inc. . . . . . . . . . .$109,301,385
Steven P. Jobs. . . . . . . Apple Computer. . . . . . $86,315,789
Lew Frankfort. . . . . . .Coach Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . $64,918,789
John C. Wilder. . . . . . . TXU Corp. . . . . . . . . . . .$54,960,893
Ray R. Irani. . . . . . . . Occidental Petroleum. .$52,648,142
Dwight C. Schar. . . . . .NVR Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . .$51,058,500
Bruce Karatz. . . . . . . . KB Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . $47,288,228
Robert I. Toll. . . . . . . Toll Brothers. . . . . . . . . . $44,240611
Paul J. Evanson. . . . . .Allegheny Energy. . . . . . $40,543,354
Edward J. Zander. . . . Motorola, Inc. . . . . . . . . $38,851,374

Miscellaneous others:

H. Lee Scott, Jr. . . . . . Walmart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22,991,599
Gary D. Forsee. . . . . . Sprint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,480,225
E. Neville Isdell. . . . . . Coca Cola. . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17,501,693
Kevin W. Sharer. . . . . .Amgen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$11,031,845
Bruce A. Williamson. . .Dynegy, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . $5,045,694
Stephen L. Baum. . . . . Sempra Energy. . . . . . . . $4,945,107

*Total compensation package includes salary, bonus (usually larger than salary), stock options, and "Other."

Source for CEO info: AFL-CIO Executive Watch List.