Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman sheds some light on the president's relationship to the floundering economy:

"What we have here is a form of looting." So says George Akerlof, a Nobel laureate in economics, of the Bush administration's budget policies — and he's right. With startling speed, we've blown right through the usual concerns about budget deficits — about their effects on interest rates and economic growth — and into a range where the very solvency of the federal government is at stake. Almost every expert not on the administration's payroll now sees budget deficits equal to about a quarter of government spending for the next decade, and getting worse after that.

Analyzing Bush's tax cuts, which are ultimately being paid for with this deficit spending, he gives the following analogy:

George W. Bush is like a man who tells you that he's bought you a fancy new TV set for Christmas, but neglects to tell you that he charged it to your credit card, and that while he was at it he also used the card to buy some stuff for himself. Eventually, the bill will come due — and it will be your problem, not his.

Not to be outdone by Reagan's failed Trickle-Down economics, the Bush administration appears to be standing by its own variation, Trickle-On economics, to the bitter end. Let's just hope that bitter end is Bush's tenure in the White House, and not our country's first-world status.