ABSTRACT
The Bush team promptly ambushed both the Democratic success story and the conservative ideals of a balanced budget and a limited government. The Bush administration expanded the federal debt in two ways. First, it cut taxes-so that government revenues decreased in 2001-2002 and then could not keep up with mounting outlays for the Iraq war and other defense spending. The war in Iraq also expanded the government payrolls as Washington hired more private contractors and mercenaries to do jobs that might have been done by civil servants and soldiers. The Bush administration's penchant for favoritism and special interests reinforced that of an alliance of lobbyists and Republican legislators known as "the K Street Project", which developed after the 1994 elections gave a majority of seats to Republican candidates. The author of Das Kapital oversimplified, but the greedy behavior of many in the Bush administration makes Karl Marx cheer and proclaim: I was right: Economics determines politics, law, and culture.
