Why is Bush to blame for the economy?
He is usually the first person to be blamed, but what specific things has he done to make the economy as bad as it is today?
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Nope. The Federal Reserve, World Bank, and IMF are to blame.
Watch at least the first 15 minutes of this to understand what I mean.
Fractional Reserve Banking is set up to fail.
Bush, McCain, Obama, Hilary, etc. are all nothing but puppets.
he isnt to blame for the economy, it was going to happen this way no matter who was president, people just like to take the easy way out and blame who ever the leader is, look at the great depression and herbert hoover, how long was he the president when he was blamed for the depression like 3 months
First, the sitting president is always blamed for bad things that happen when they are in office. To say he specifically caused it would be slightly incorrect, but
Working backwards:
-the current financial disaster was known to be a coming issue well over a year ago. Bush himself was told by Paulson several months ago. Bush just sat on all the input and did nothing until the very last minute (which is slightly better than his performance in responding to Katrina when, after being told by the National weather service, he hopped on his plane and flew to McCain’s birthday party rather than get FEMA mobilized). He could have gotten this going much sooner
-His getting us into the war and managing it so poorly has and continues to cause major tax spending.
-He grew government spending in general which is more tax dollars.
-He is a supporter/promoter of deregulation and deregulation of financial institutions is a huge part of this problem
-He is probably the first modern president who is disliked by everyone. He may not have been responsible, but all of his actions/non-actions are irresponsible and every seems to realize that.
@jvgr
I agree 100% with everything you just said. However, the root of the problem stems from the fact that the President, through the treasury and Federal Reserve, has the power to an almost unlimited supply of money. Not only do we have to pay back these debts, but also interest on top of the money created. It is a scam, a system setup to fail, to keep us in debt always, whether through personal debt or national debt. Everytime you say he, it should be them. It is not just Bush pushing for these things, it is the bankers and corporations controlling him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6V5ym9kx_8
@chris6137: I don’t disagree with you. Paulson is a presidential appointee who also informed Bush months before the bailout. Congress does have the power to over-ride the president on the spending side. Since Bush sat on his hands until the very last minute before telling congress is a problem.
Pelosi was interviewed by Charlie Rose yesterday. According to her, the Sec of the Treasury is supposed to advise congress of known upcoming problems. After the bail out was announced, Pelosi said she called Paulson and asked him why he hadn’t advised congress earlier. Apparently Bush directed him not to contact congress.
I don’t think we are in disagreement at the end of the day. Bush screwed up royally mostly because he did nothing. Had he acted a year ago, this whole problem could likely have been handled differently and less costly to us. The Bush/Paulson plan wasn’t the only option except Bush waited until there wasn’t time to look at many options and pick the best one.
And to make you feel worse, I heard an economist opine that he believes the total cost of the bail-out will be near $5 Trillion. Thanks for the clip.
I like to think he is the blame for everything that has gone wrong. It helps me cope.
@ccrash3: Feel free, he deserves it anyway.
Adding to the above the Bush loves war so much that he launched attack firstly on Afghanistan and then into Iraq. US was already in heavy debt before they attacked Iraq. Based on the decision that the mass descruction weapons are in Iraq, Bush decided to attack Iraq as well. The attack was proven to be wrong with no weapons found. Now the war cost them nearly 700b and will be reaching a trillion in the near future. During Bush administration US debt reaches 10 trillion. Highest debt in US history ever.
it’s the congress’ fault!
@mea05key
The reasons you stated are some of the reasons Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment.
Too bad Pelosi took that off the table before she even was Speaker.
haven’t you heard? Republicans are the source of all the problems in the world…..(if you’re a democrat)
No. They just refuse to take responsibility for anything. Why eight years into an administration take accountability for things under their watch?
@cheeb No one said all the problems in the world, but you. Bush, however, is responsible for a huge increase in the national debt and for not taking action to ameliorate or limit the current economic crisis. To fail to recognize and acknowledge that goes beyond partisanship into willful ignorance.
That said, no one person or party is to blame. I think this lengthy, but clear article at factcheck.org shows the complexity of the situation and how is has been building for some time.
Here is a very clear graphical representation of the growth of the national debt by President.
Here are some additional facts:
“it’s hard to crack down on somebody who gave millions of dollars to your campaign. For example, during his 2004 presidential campaign, Bush received $7.8 million from Ameriquest (a giant of the subprime mortgage industry). They also helped pay for his inauguration.” Source
“Enron is long gone, but this episode – as much a warning for our financial security as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was to the threat of wider terrorism – carries some telling lessons as our best minds struggle now to save the economy.An article about the meeting appeared a few days later in The Wall Street Journal. The next day, Mr. O’Neill was in Florida addressing chief executives of America’s top 20 financial services companies. They piled on. One told the Treasury secretary that he’d “rather resign” than be held accountable for “what’s going on in my company.” A phalanx of outraged financial industry chiefs, many of them large Republican contributors, called the White House. Real reform was a political dead letter.” Source
Bush made promises in his first campaign that taxes would be lowered and everyone would have lots o’ money due to trickle down economics. I think we have learned now that when a politician says anything about taxes and peoples money it means nothing because the people that got tax breaks under Bush lost their asses in the stock market. He is not directly to blame but he is the leader of our country and if I had my druthers we wouldn’t let some politician touch our money that has no educational background in economics or finance and has a string of failed businesses. He and his boys make up numbers and that bail-out shouldn’t have been signed until the CEO’s of WAMU, AIG, and all the others gave up their multi-million dollar pensions and bonuses that we paid for.
@Marina: great answer, great links. Thanks. I was going to post something along those lines, but you already nailed it completely.
Bush ownership soceity that causes the whole mess. Read the articles by squirbel. Bush envisioned this concept that causes the start of sub-prime mortgage issue that cases the fall of house prices and eventually destorys the liquidity of banks. In this concept, every citizen in US is encourage to have their own house, stock portfolio and should not be dependent to the government. This according to Bush will bring the nation forward. Subsequently banks start offering attractive mortgages that doesnt make much sense. Pretty every people in US could get a loan to buy their own house that is not within what they are capable of paying. More houses are build and the prices drop. Subsequently, many people fail to pay their loans and the bank has to take the properties back and now the properties becomes useless because of the drop of its value. Liquidity decreases and the economic start tumbling due to fail bank investment.
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