Voice Of Experience: The GOP Economy "Sucks"

From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Investor Martin J. Whitman first came to Syracuse University just after World War II, under the G.I. Bill of Rights, a federal program conceived when the country was running deficits that Whitman says was a good use of taxpayer money.

Whitman, Class of '49 and nearly 80, was back in Syracuse on Thursday, in a building with his name on it and in an economy newly stung with word of extensive layoffs at Kodak and a deepening federal deficit.

The U.S. economy in one Whitman word?

"Sucks," said Whitman, known as a straight shooter.

So what's the first step to right it?

"The biggest thing we have to do about it is get rid of the Republicans," said Whitman. "It's just a disaster. I'm more a use-of-proceeds person than I am a deficit person.

"Deficits can be very, very constructive if the funds so raised are used in a productive manner, such as what brought me to Syracuse in the first place: the G.I. Bill of Rights. But when you piss the money away in useless wars and ill-conceived tax cuts, you're headed toward becoming a banana republic.

"The people there are just interested in trying to make the economy look good for the next election, but they're not interested in the Draconian long-term consequences."