During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush is alleged to have explained his recipe for success with a flippant, "I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity." He then went on to assure the Washington Post's Bob Woodward for his book, Bush at War -- "I will seize the (9-11) opportunity to achieve great goals..."

It must be true. Can anyone deny that Bush has frantically humped the pantleg of 9-11 -- or that such an atrocity was a golden opportunity for BushCo warmongers who were scratching their heads trying to figure out how to bring about a corporate coup here at home while destroying all mechanisims of diplomacy and civilized relations abroad?

Can anyone deny that the citizens of the world are mesmerized with terror as they stare into the double-barrells of the genocidal shotgun in the hands of a man they increasingly consider quite mad?

Oh, yeah? Well, with all due respect, if you can, you are in total, frightening denial. You need to exhale, loosen that old chastity belt and take a closer look at what's exploding around you on Planet Earth.

While you're at it, check out Bush's feverish activity on the domestic pantleg. Each hump is an assault on civil society -- on labor, the elderly, science, the environment, civil rights -- and each hump becomes law at blinding speed. There is no time for discussion or debate -- only lies, followed by new offensives and more lies...

In no domestic area has more damage been wrought than in the economy. Unfortunately, in order to get elected in 2004, Bush must convince people that the U.S. economy is good -- and (hump, hump) getting gooder (hump) and gooder (hump, hump, hump).

Bush is on the campaign trail, spreading the word that we have just experienced the highest quarterly growth rate in nearly 20 years. He's getting standing ovations with his "I toldja so" mantra that his tax cuts to the nation's wealthiest corporate donors were what it took to stimulate the sinking economy that he inherited from the Clinton administration.

Bush is having no trouble selling his economic snake oil. Humping right along with him are most mainstream media and all right-wing pundits -- their distorted cacophony drowning out the more measured tones of economists like the New York Times' Paul Krugman, who said...

"This can't go on — in the long run, consumer spending can't outpace the growth in consumer income. Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley has suggested, plausibly, that much of last quarter's consumer splurge was "borrowed" from the future: consumers took advantage of low-interest financing, cash from home refinancing and tax rebate checks to accelerate purchases they would otherwise have made later. If he's right, we'll see below-normal purchases and slower growth in the months ahead."

Even so, Bush told the applauding denizens of Alabama last week that America is the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known. "We've got more dollars than anybody," he said.  According to Bush, figuring out the economy is simple. If enough consumers demand a product, corporations are going to produce that product -- and round and round we go...

However, Bush failed to explain, if we're so rich, why more and more Americans are going hungry.  According to the Agriculture Department, as many as 12 million American families last year couldn't afford to buy food. The U.S. media will not address, nor will it ask Bush to explain to hardest-hit Americans such as those in Ohio, why they are forced to stand in soup lines to stave off hunger, even starvation.

The Guardian's Julian Borger says the "recovery" is mostly a jobless one. According to Borger, "The three million Americans who have lost their jobs since Mr Bush took office in January 2001 have yet to find new work in a largely jobless recovery, and they are finding that the safety net they assumed was beneath them has long since unravelled. There is not much left to stop them falling."

Why is it that Americans must look to another part of the world to discover the truth about what is occurring in this country?  For example, Borger writes that the rise in the demand for food stamps since Bush took office has burgeoned from 17 million to an astonishing 22 million. 

Borger says the 34.6-million Americans who are struggling below the poverty line represent one in eight of our population. "Over 13 million of them are children," Borger reports. "In fact, the US has the worst child poverty rate and the worst life expectancy of all the world's industrialised countries, and the plight of its poor is worsening."

Do I hear a "Standing O" for these accomplishments, other than from the corporate media and its pantleg-humping, tax-cutting front man?  I thought not.

Admidst a growing scandal in the mutual fund industry and abusive market-timing practices, all eyes are on the DOW, which corporate behemoths manipulate up and down like a grotesque musical scale. Nobody seems to notice that, in addition to jobs being outsourced overseas at an alarming rate, thousands each month are being lost due to corporate downsizing and restructuring.

For example, the industrial giant, Tyco, announced today that it lost $297.1 million in October -- this country's "highest growth" quarter -- and will cut 7,200 jobs in a reconstruction effort that will cost its investers $400 million in 2004.

The October good news, it seems, is nothing more than a surge in corporate profits, brought on by pocketing the salaries and costs of benefits of employees who were axed.   CBS Market Watch reports today that layoffs more than doubled in October, according to a monthly report by outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The Challenger survey shows that October's layoff notices increased by a whopping 125 percent. "The auto industry sacked 28,363 workers, followed by 21,169 in the retail sector. Telecommunications companies cut 21,030," the report said. "So far in 2003, 1.04 million job reductions have been announced, the third year in a row exceeding 1 million.  In 2001, 1.96 million jobs were cut; in 2002, 1.47 million jobs were cut."

Challenger warns that factors like technology, outsourcing and consolidation work against job creation, and we shouldn't expect any job market rebound in the near future.

So, what's the deal with the economy? Is Krugman right that Bush's triumphant glow from the October spike is due to fade?

Richard Walrath, an astute observer of the economy from Ohio and Axis of Logic contributing writer, says, "jobless claims and payroll figures are all I really pay much attention to. Falling wages, however accomplished, are part of deflation, wherein prices usually fall first. However," Walrath said, "this time, increased productivity is leading the way because of loss of jobs, absence of unions and outsourcing of jobs overseas..."

Walrath agrees with Krugman that, like all bubbles, this one is destined to burst.  "As long as productivity is greater than economic growth, the economy grows by reducing the cost of labor. This may be good for business profits and the stock market in the short run," Walrath said, "but it can't last much longer."

Walrath says that wages are under constant downward pressure, which he attributes to "a concerted effort by Republicans to eliminate overtime for millions of their workers."

All of this does not bode well for the magnificent recovery heralded by the Bush administration, especially for the jobless and the increasing numbers of Americans sinking into hunger and poverty.

Millions of the unemployed have given up in despair and no longer look for nonexistant jobs. Since they are no longer counted, they are invisible to the media -- they've become this country's "disappeared." This is good news for Bush as he revs up his 2004 presidential campaign. Now he doesn't have to worry about a particular voting bloc because (hump, hump) -- it's simply "not there."

It appears that Richard Walrath and Paul Krugman may be correct in their prediction that this faux bubble cannot last.

No biggie. Bush will be the first to admit it doesn't have to last forever -- just until November 2, 2004, and the next leg-humping round of tax cuts.