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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: While the Economy Crashes and Burns, Bush Loyalists Are Making a Killing While the Economy Crashes and Burns, Bush Loyalists Are Making a Killing By Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com. Posted June 19, 2009. They shredded our economic safety nets, but for them jobs are plentiful and lucrative. You'll be surprised to know who's cashing in and where. Tools email EMAIL print PRINT 80 COMMENTS Share and save this post: Share on Facebook AlterNet Social Networks: follow us on twitter find us on Facebook Also in Politics Hey New York, Michael Bloomerg Is Not Your Daddy Phyllis Eckhaus What's the Cost of America's Secret Drone War? Gareth Porter Naomi Klein: The Financial Crisis Presents a Huge Opportunity for Change -- We Can't Let Obama Blow It Naomi Klein We Don't Have to Wait for Obama to Make Sure Everyone Has Better Health Care David Sirota The Terrorist Threat: Right-Wing Radicals and the Eliminationist Mindset Joshua Holland More stories by Nick Turse RSS icon Politics RSS Feed RSS icon Main AlterNet RSS Feed Advertisement Upcoming AlterNet stories on Digg Digg What is Digg? * 38 diggs The GOP's War on Compassion Whatever happened to "compassionate conservatism"? * 34 diggs The Big "Leftist Voter Fraud" Lie Exposed It's worth listening to right-wingers in the media and in government, if only because when you hear them decry something, whether it's marital infidelity, gay sex, fraudulent voter registration, Obama Administration intrusion into people's lives, or anything else, they're actually talking about themselves. * 27 diggs Warning: Health Care Lobbyists Are Winning the Battle Lobbyists sense that their chances of protecting big insurers, drug companies, medical specialties, technology companies are improving. It's time to email and call your senators and representative and make it clear you expect them to be on our side, NOT supporting Big Insurance. * 19 diggs Why Did The Washington Post Axe Froomkin but not Wolfowitz? By eliminating objectivity in the name of objectivity, the Washington Post is shooting itself in the foot. * 16 diggs Replace OIl With Hemp... NOW Every man-made fiber we wear, sit on, cook with, drive in, are by-products of the petroleum industry -- all of which could be replaced by hemp. Powered by Digg's Users In May, the U.S. economy lost 345,000 nonfarm jobs, pushing the unemployment rate from 8.9% to 9.4%. According to official statistics, 14.5 million Americans are now looking for work and, as a recent headline at Time.com put it, "The jobs aren't coming back anytime soon." In fact, a team of economists at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank recently reported that "the level of labor market slack could be higher by the end of 2009 than at any other time in the post-World War Two period." The news, however, is not altogether grim. While times are especially tough for teenagers (22.7% jobless rate) and blacks (14.9% jobless rate), one group is doing remarkably well. I'm talking about former members of the Bush administration who are taking up prestigious academic posts, inking lucrative book deals, signing up with speakers bureaus, joining big-time law firms and top public relations agencies, and grabbing spots on corporate boards of directors. While their high-priced wars, ruinous economic policies, and shredding of economic safety nets have proved disastrous for so many, for them the economic outlook remains bright and jobs are seemingly plentiful. In fact, many of them have performed the eye-opening feat of securing two or more potentially lucrative revenue streams at once during these tough financial times. While it would likely take a small book to catalogue the fates of all former "loyal Bushies," a look at just a few of these fortunate folks indicates that not everybody was harmed by the Bush era. The Memoirists Many of the top figures of the Bush years are joining the ranks of (or reaffirming their credentials as) men and women of letters. Following in the footsteps of 2003-2006 White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, who wrote the tell-some exposé, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, is former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001-2006). Now penning his life story for Sentinel, a conservative imprint of the Penguin Group, he has announced that he is forgoing an advance and donating all proceeds to charity. Similarly, 2006-2009 Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is reportedly donating the "author's profits" from his forthcoming "insider's account of [his] experiences as Treasury Secretary." Many other former colleagues are, however, apparently intent on cashing in on their public service. Last month, the New York Times reported that Rumsfeld's long-time pal, former Vice President Dick Cheney, "is actively shopping a memoir about his life in politics and service in four presidential administrations" and seeking multi-millions. In the same way, back in 2007, Bush's right-hand man Karl Rove, aka his "brain," agreed, for a reported seven figures, to write a memoir for Simon & Schuster's conservative imprint Threshold. Earlier this year, Bush's first term National Security Advisor and second term Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, signed a gaudy three-book deal, reportedly worth at least $2.5 million, with Random House's Crown imprint. Following her to Crown (also the publisher of Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope) was former President Bush himself. His book, tentatively titled Decision Points, will reportedly recount "a dozen of the most interesting and important decisions in the former President's personal and political life" for a cool $7 million. Former First Lady Laura Bush has already inked a book deal with Scribner reportedly worth $3.5-5 million. Only one prominent Bush loyalist who cared to try appears to have been unable to cash-in. In late 2008, the Wall Street Journal's Evan Perez reported that Alberto Gonzales, former White House counsel (2001-2005) and attorney general (2005-2007), "said he is writing a book to set the record straight about his controversial tenure as a senior official in the Bush administration," but could interest no publisher in the manuscript. This followed an earlier report in the New York Times that Gonzales had been "unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster..." More at URL for those who can stand it..
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
just as his predecessors and their loyalists have always done and just as obama and his loyalists are currently doing. the crooks and thieves in government are always taken care of.
The smooth criminal transition from Bush/Cheney to Obama
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