Let's take the name "Bush" out of the equation, just for a minute.

FACT: According to the Congressional Budget Office, the only years between 1962 and 2004 in which the federal government DID NOT spend more than was taken in were 1969, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.

FACT: According to the same source, revenue derived from personal income taxes have fallen every year since 2000, and for 2004 was approximately what it was in 1997. Revenue from corporate income taxes in 2004 was, with the exception of 2000, greater than any year since 1962.

FACT: According to a report released by the Census Bureau in August, 2005, an average of 12.4% of Americans were living in poverty during 2002 to 2004. (That would be about 1/8the the population.)

FACT: The same source reported that in 2003, 44,961,000 Americans were without insurance. In 2004, that number climbed to 45,820,000. (If the population of the US is 280 million, that about 16.3%.)

FACT: The same census report states Median household income was
$44,389 in 2004, unchanged from 2003 in real terms. Median household income was also unchanged in real terms between 2002 and 2003. Compared with 1967, the first year for which household income statistics are available, real median household income was up 30 percent.

Real median household income was unchanged between 2003 and 2004 for all race groups...and for households with Hispanic householders (who can be any race).

FACT: According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the inflation rates for the five years beginning in 2000 have been 3.4, 2.8, 1.6, 2.3 and 2.7 percent.

FACT: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual unemployment rates for the years 1995 to 2004 have been 6.1, 5.6, 5.4, 4.9, 4.5, 4.2, 4.0, 4.7, 5.8, 6.0, and 5.5 percent.

NOW, talk from these facts.