Get to know John McBush. McCain voted with President Bush 95% of the time. Four more years of GOP rule is four more years of G.W. Bush...perhaps more hawkish and even more extreme.

Sen. John McCain and President Bush, along with the GOP,  contend the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are sound. If the true test of this election hinges on the economy, it's only prudent to point out realities versus rhetoric..

The GOP has held the White House the past eight years. They held a majority in the senate until 2006. They held a majority in the congress for the first six years. During their tenure with responsibility for the state of the U.S. economy, here's what Americans got for their votes:

• The Clinton budget surplus has been turned into a nearly $9 trillion deficit in spite of GOP claims to hold the line on government spending.  
• A war that was projected to cost no more than $60 billion and last no more than six months has turned into a six year war with costs already approaching 10 times that amount.....over $600 billion. By the time this war ends, the cost could exceed $1 trillion. If the GOP remains in control, it could go to $2 trillion.
• All the while they ran up the above mentioned debts without asking for any sacrifice from the American people, Bush vetoed a children's health care insurance package that would have provided up to 1 million lower-income and medium-income children with much needed health care.
• The president promoted the cost of his Medicaid Part D prescription plan at $140 billion to $170 billion.
• When the official charged with administrating Bush's Part D program was called before Congress and asked to give a realistic projection of the actual costs of the new Part D, his estimate exceeded $450 billion. He was promptly dismissed for telling the truth to congress. The end cost of Bush's Medicare Part D prescription plan for the first year was $760 billion.
  
• Bush and the GOP legislature changed the bankruptcy laws which make it nearly impossible for working people to file bankruptcy, even when in severe need. At the same time, they gave the credit card company and banks unbridled authority to raise fees and make it easier to drive working people into bankruptcy, without the ability to seek any meaningful relief.
• The top 1% of the wealthiest Americans in this nation have benefited from 99% of the Bush tax cuts.
• Working, middle-class people have lost $1000  in purchasing power since Bush took office.
• The trustees that manage and administers Medicare has warned that Medicare will become insolvent by 2019. yet...there has not one been major effort during the past years to address this looming problem.
• Social Security will not be able to meet its obligations unless steps are taken now to address it. Nothing has been done to shore up SS in the eight years of Bush and GOP rule.
• Wage earners making less than $100,000 per year pay 7.65 % of income in Social Security taxes, matched by another 7.65% which is contributed to SS by their employer. People making above $100,000 only pay SS on the first $100K. This means wealthy income earners pay less as a percentage of their income. In some cases, this amounts to less than one tenth of one percent of income going towards SS taxes. And the McCain-GOP solution to Social Security? Allow people to invest a portion of their SS taxes in the risky stock market (think speculation)!  
• We now have the largest home foreclosure rates since WWII. When asked what working people could do to avoid losing their homes John McCain's response was "get a second job." At the same time, McCain's wife Cindy has an estimated worth of $300 million. The McCain's owns at least seven homes although when asked how many they owned, McCain couldn't remember. Talking about out of touch! They also fly around in a private corporate jet. 
  
• John McCain's chief economic adviser said Americans should "quit wining about the economy."
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country's largest mortgage guarantors were just bailed out by the federal government to keep them from going broke. 
• IndyMac and Bear Sterns (banks) were recently bailed out or taken over by the FDIC. More bank failures are projected and the costs involved could be unlike anything we've seen in modern times.
• Much of the oil prices are being blamed on importing foreign oil, lack of refining capacity, and speculators. Gas prices in some areas now exceed $5.00 per gallon. The average price of a gallon of gasoline is just under $4.00 at the current time. Before the Iraq war, a barrel of crude oil was trading at $22.00 per barrel. It recently traded at over $147 per barrel. Yet in spite of record oil profits that exceeded $100 billion to the oil companies last year, the oil companies have not built a new U.S. refinery in thirty years. This keeps the price high and the supply low for consumers while allowing oil companies to reap massive profits.
• The only solutions to the gas price crisis being promoted by McCain and the GOP is more offshore drilling.
  Oil companies already hold leases on 68 million acres for offshore drilling and have not drilled the first wells in these dedicated areas. Bush-McCain wants to provide another giveaway of millions more acres and are determined to lock it in before the White House turns over to Democratic hands. Why? Shouldn't the oil companies drill on the 68 million acres before asking for more & endangering the coastline. Even if drilling started today, it would take 7-10 years for it to have any impact on gasoline prices.
• Oil speculators trade oil on paper without actually taking possession of the oil. This speculative trading allows oil to be bought and resold up to eight times or more (on paper only) without ever reaching refineries which could use that oil to increase supply and lower the price for American consumers.
• The United States continues to face a staggering trade deficit 
• Up to 47 million Americans have no health insurance at all or are under-insured. They risk everything they have if one major illness disrupts their family's ability to care for a sick family member.
• Four out of five defined benefit (private) pension plans are insolvent, meaning they do not have enough assets to pay their obligations. State pension funds have obligations of $2.7 trillion and are severely under-funded. The same goes for local government pension funds. It looks like the foxes have been watching the hen house when it comes to pensions in this country. The baby boomers seeking to retire may get a rude awakening when they discover the pension they thought was sound is no longer existent.

Now you think the U.S. financial institutions are on a sound financial footing? Think again!

McCain has promised to continue the Bush economic plan with a few minor exceptions.

Want more of the same? Vote McCain.  Want Change? Vote Obama!

Eddie Ratliff authored this article. Eddie has managed such sites as VirginiaforObama.com, DraftMarkWarner.com, VirginiaforWesleyClark.com,  and Edwards2000 (John Edwards for Attorney General).