General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDid Bush screw up the economy or not?
Posted last night about Bush commenting on Obama, I basically said Bush was a failure, had civil discussion, seems like a long time Duer says Bush not to blame for economy
was it the system or was it Bush's policy that were directly responsible or combination of both?
pscot
(21,024 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)is put in front of him from Congress. Perhaps more VETOs from him may have helped. He was unable to communicate very well which was a huge problem. If we go with he was responsible overall regardless then he is to blame. Not easy being the final say.
Kingofalldems
(38,469 posts)VETOS of what, by the way?
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)That would have been a start. Oh funny how you miss me sticking up for Hillary....how convenient.
elleng
(131,073 posts)A long time duer said bush not to blame???
DJ13
(23,671 posts)Bush took it from there.
pscot
(21,024 posts)Bush had no choice but to make huge tax cuts for 1 percenters.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)It's Clinton's fault that the Bush SEC stopped enforcing the law. If you say so.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)Marie Marie
(9,999 posts)Paying for 2 wars "off the books" sent our deficit soaring. Tax cuts for the rich plus allowing Wall Street to run amok with subprime mortgages and turning a blind eye to any type of oversight on the banks and Wall Street (then bailing them out when it all came tumbling down) sent our economy spiraling downward. JMHO....
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)and also slapped an additional tax on the investment income of the wealthiest to help pay for Obamacare.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)the repeal of Glass-Steagell.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,376 posts)who promised an override of a veto.
Had he vetoed it, it would not have stood.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,376 posts)your veto would have been overridden.
Clinton was/is no dummy. He knew what would happen.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)had been written by GHW Bush. Then he does not fight back on this which ended up letting a lot of innocent people lose their savings.
We are now furious at President Obama for doing exactly this with the TPP. Why not look at the entire history of this whole sellout to the corporations?
It is not that he would have been overridden. It is did he fight the effort to take the savings of a lot of people and give it to the gamblers?
Enough of this playing along with the Rs. They are not working to help the average person.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,376 posts)I agree the repeal was a bad idea, but I am convinced of one thing;
I am convinced it is made VERY clear to the president elect that there are certain things he can do and certain things he can't. One of the things he can't do is dramatically change the way this country operates or change the way things are in a truly significant way.
The last two presidents who did so (or attempted to do so) were shot in VERY public ways.
Now, you can call that opinion anything you want, but I still feel the message to any president is clear: Do as we wish or you're a dead man.
Money and profit trump everything in this country. Everything. It trumps the public good in spades. If it hurts profits, it's a bad thing. That is what we have been fed forever and that's the way it is. Want to change it? Well, you can't, as long as the politicians get to pick the voters instead of the other way around, nothing will change.
Clinton did the best job he could under the circumstances, just as Obama is doing. Bush however, was/is an idiot, just as Reagan was and did exactly as he was told.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)of JFK and I also fear that.
One proof of what you say is the crazies that Rs run for president. The PTB do not care because they know that even if elected none of them is actually going to call the shots. This has been clear in the Rs party but not so clear with Democratic presidents. I have thought of it as one reason President Obama would back the TPP. But because Bill Clinton was so popular I did not think in those terms about what he was doing.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)Clinton with Robert Rubin
Clinton with Larry Summers
Robert Rubin was a senior partner, VP, and chairman in Goldman Sachs, and Larry Summers was his protege. Both ended up being the Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton Administration. Both of them worked with Congress to get Glass Steagall repealed.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,376 posts)But it has been said many times over the years, that one of the jobs the president has is reaching a compromise or consensus.
You just can't please everybody.
Again, I am convinced that this falls under the realms of "There are some things you can do and some that you can't"
None of us are privy to the private conversations that go on.
I suppose I am excusing what is barely excusable, but I try and be pragmatic.
trumad
(41,692 posts)8 years later under Bush it crashed.
that was easy.
onecaliberal
(32,887 posts)Same time he waged war in two countries. Unprecedented. Yes it IS the fault of bush economic policy.
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)The bursting of the Housing Bubble led to the great recession.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)I think Clinton, GHWB, Reagan also played roles in it.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)Johonny
(20,879 posts)the second was so much worse. You know who did the same thing... Reagan. Yes, GOP economics suck. He left the country with a banking crisis, an energy crisis, a debt crisis, a hopelessly low tax situation, an endless war debt, a second endless war debt... and no plan how to deal with them. Yes, the system isn't great, but Bush's response to every problem was classic neocon GOP policies which only set the country up to spiral further into the rabbit hole. Hence Bush is to blame. Bad things happen to every president, but not every president responses with bad policies. When the tax cut didn't work, he didn't do a thing to change it. When Enron was shown to basically loot California, he did nothing in energy reform. When Iraq spiraled out of control he simply let it with no plan on how to get out. He sucked. The worst president possible.
TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)It seems about every president for the last 100 years didn't mind giving it a bit of a nudge towards the cliff in one way or another.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)He signed what he was told to sign--no more and no less.
merrily
(45,251 posts)as Gramm, Leach, Bliley, or "deregulation" of banks under Bubba had a very sizeable role in the ability to deal in mortgage derivatives, which also led to a housing bubble. It was a lot.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)The proof is in the pudding.
One_Life_To_Give
(6,036 posts)There is no shortage of people who bear responsibility for the Mortgage Crisis/Crash. That would include the then current administration it's predecessor administration. But much more so the DOJ, SEC and FED for their failures and omissions. However principal primary responsibility has to lie with the corrupt people on Wall Street and the Banks who ruined the lives of hundreds of millions to make a couple quick bucks.