The Dwindling Republican Business Base:

It's the Economy, Stupid
By JOHN W. DEAN

As the stock market gyrated wildly this week, given the precarious state of the American economy, the New York Times published a table relating to anti-recession efforts in times past. In scanning it, I could not help but notice that among the last eight recessions, all but the first, in 1948, occurred during Republican presidencies. (The first occurred when Republicans controlled Congress.)

Here are the recessions and their Republican presidents: August 1957 to April 1958 (Eisenhower), April 1960 to February 1961 (Eisenhower), December 1969 to November 1970 (Nixon), November 1973 to March 1975 (Nixon and Ford), July 1981 to November 1982 (Reagan), July 1990 to March 1991 (Reagan), and March 2001 to November 2001 (Bush II).

As we all have watched the stock market this week, thoughts of past major crashes have no doubt popped into the minds of many. Republican presidents oversaw them. Herbert Hoover, of course, was president when the great crash of 1929 occurred, and Ronald Reagan was president with the most recent serious crash - Black Monday in 1987.

The Republican Party has long been the favorite of the business world. But when one steps back to look at the facts objectively - as business leaders who want to remain in business must do, and now seem to be doing - the question must be asked: Is a Republican bias actually good business?
Which Political Party Is Better For Business?

Which political party is actually best for business? To pose the question is easy. However, to answer it objectively and honestly is not possible, for all business is not the same and the answer depends upon what kind of business one might be addressing.

For example, hedge fund managers, who have walked away with billions in untaxed profits under Republican tax policies unavailable to other people, love the GOP. CEOs with humongous salaries and endless stock options also love the current Republican attitude of demanding tax breaks for the very rich. Big businesses with high- powered lobbyists in Washington on their payrolls to protect their interests find Republicans far friendlier to their concerns than they do Democrats. These people, of course, are among that less than one percent of Americans who have profited so gloriously under the Bush-Cheney economic policies.

Mid-sized and small businesses - which are the overwhelming majority of businesses in the United States - have, until lately, thought that they were better off under Republicans, but they are wrong. They are just now remembering that when recessions come, they are easily wiped out, while big businesses merely make less money and often take advantage of the downturn. These people are the upper middle class and middle class of America - the people that the Republicans are slowly bleeding into non-existence, until there will be no middle class, only rich and poor.

Fortunately, increasing numbers of all levels of business people are realizing the economic incompetence of Republicans, and their protection of the super-rich is, in the long term, bad business for everyone. Accordingly, growing numbers of voters have come to the conclusion that Republicans are not good for business. "GOP Is Losing Grip On Core Business Vote," an above-the-fold headline of the Wall Street Journal screamed last fall.

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