31 Responses to “Ok, no BS or spin libs…why do you all blame Republicans and Bush for the economy?”

1. LadySmith says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   Many of our woes are a direct result of congress and how they legislate.The decent bills are so overfilled with "pork", the president must veto it. The bailout was filled with pork also. Somebunny even tried to sneak $ to ACORN!

   The last two years have been worse. Gee, could that be because we’ve had to deal with a Democratic majority the last 2?
   Now they want to take over our 401ks. And it’s brazenly and openly said now…it’s to spread the wealth around!

   Vote Pelosi and Reid, and all of the bugger Democrats out before I go completely broke!
   President Bush will some day be remembered as the President who freed a whole nation of people oppressed, tortured and killed by Sadam Hussien.
   As for the economy…you can safely blame congressional Democrats. Their records are your evidence.
2. wilderness says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   It’s because the Republicans have been all about "deregulation!" "deregulation!" for the past twenty years. John McCain said in an interview last March that he was essentially for deregulation. One of his closest financial advisors, Phil Gramm, has been the author of major banking deregulation.

   Well, we used to have laws that would have prevented the type of risky loans that banks and the mortgage industry were giving out. These loans were so risky that they were giving out houses to people with no proof of income! The people on Wall St. were making a fortune in the short term, selling these risky investments bundled up in such a way that people didn’t exactly know what they were investing in ("derivatives").

   Basically, if we had had proper regulation and laws that prevented these risky loans, and bundling them into these investment packages that have very little visibility, we would not have seen the collapse of all these major banks.

   Part of the problem is also the lack of long-term incentives for Wall St. Everyone is paid on their annual or even quarterly performance. However, the economic repercussions of these sub-prime mortgages didn’t hit until years later, because interest rates and payments would not be raised for 5 years in many cases.

   Finally, there is the issue of government spending. Bill Clinton worked hard to create a budget surplus. That’s right – we had a budget surplus under him! A lower national debt basically gives the country a better credit rating. This leads to lower interest rates, which stimulate the economy.

   The Bush administration has spent like crazy in the last 8 years and left that surplus far behind. We will have spent a trillion dollars on the Iraq war. Now, I know people say we’re better off without Saddam, but really, considering we never found WMDs and that’s not where Bin Laden is — was it worth a trillion?

   Hope that helps.
3. PrivacyNowPlease! says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   President for 8 years, control of Congress 6 years, 17+ vetoes for the 2 years the Democrats had a majority. Appointments to the supreme court by both Bush Senior and Bush Junior.
   Gee, I don’t know why we would think Republicans had anything to do with it. Do you?
4. Receiver of Light says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   bi-partisan Senate and House committees are set up that way for a reason: they allow for a check and balance. So BOTH parties are to blame. Bush has his economic advisors so he is culpable as well.
5. daryl c says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   Who’s has the majority in Congress?Democrats,they make the laws and then it is vetoed or passed to the president,then the bill can either be brought up and changed or just thrown out.
   Democratic propaganda has run especially in the last 2 years because of the elections and the Democrats have done everything they can do to make the Republicans look bad.
   Barney Frank wrote a bill that it was discrimination to ask what race you are and how much money you made when you apply for a bank loan.
   How come there is 2 ceo’s from Freddy Mac and or Fannie Mae on Obama’s Election Staff?
6. d_dock_2000 says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   It’s the Republicans fault because they didn’t run Barney Frank out of Washington when he was caught with a male prostitute:

   "At the least, Frank’s judgment was appallingly naive. After an initial encounter in which he paid Steve Gobie $80 for sex, the Congressman says he tried to lift the younger man out of drugs and prostitution by hiring him to run errands. He wrote letters to Gobie’s probation officer and paid his psychiatric bills. He allowed Gobie the use of a car and sometimes his apartment when he was out of town.
   After 18 months, Frank says, he dismissed Gobie upon discovering that he was bringing clients to Frank’s apartment."

   AND they didn’t run him out of Washington here either…
   When Frank was shacked up with a Fannie Mae exec:
   "The July 3, 1998, Reliable Source column in The Washington Post reported Frank, who is openly gay, had a relationship with Herb Moses, an executive for the now-government controlled Fannie Mae. The column revealed the two had split up at the time but also said Frank was referring to Moses as his “spouse.” Another Washington Post report said Frank called Moses his “lover” and that the two were “still friends” after the breakup."

   Any other Washinton dude would have been sent packing over these (Except, perhaps, WhoME? Clinton).

   Instead, they let Frank stall and cover for all his DEMO-buddies over at Fannie Mae who were looting and running. You know…Raines and Johnson, who (almost) got away with …What? Nearly $200,000,000. Had to give back some worthless stock options, tho.

   oop. Sorry. gotta edit. saw all those "repubs didn’t do anything" beg to differ, friends… and ya really gotta read this.

   "In fact, here’s a New York Times story from September 2003, clearly showing that the first substantive Fannie and Freddie reform from inside government came from the Bush administration. Spurred by worries that Fannie and Freddie were cooking their books and taking too many risks, Treasury Secretary John Snow proposed placing the companies under Treasury oversight with strict controls over risk and capital reserves. The NYT labeled the proposal "the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago" and noted:

   Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the companies.

   So five years ago, there was one of those rare moments in Washington when the branches and personalities of government—in this case, the Bush administration—are less interested in protecting or expanding their turf than in fixing a looming catastrophe. What was Frank’s response to the proposal?

   "These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

   Oh, Dear! Looks like old Barney Frank was doing a little ‘stonewalling’, too.
   Please note where the first substantive efforts came from. And that the Bush admin was actually trying to fprevent a potential catastrophe. And that Barney Frank was saying everything was just cool.
7. kingblue125 says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   It’s really funny you know how G.W.B is just one man and how the Democrats are in control of congress. Ain’t facts great?
8. Anna P says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   Not ALL Republicans, but many. And Democrats. It’s complicated of course. Yes, people who couldn’t afford them bought houses. But the REAL money was on Wall St. turning millions of those into exotic financial instruments that no one could understand. THAT is a cause of the crisis as well. PLUS, supply-side economics is at the heart of all this–let us get filthy rich and we’ll tinkle some down for the rest of you. Unfortunately, a rising tide does not lift all boats.

   Why aren’t you angry at the CEO of Lehman, Fuld, for getting a $45 million salary while bankrupting Lehman? I’m sure he’s a Republican who tinkles down the supply of money (maybe a slow drip), and is now unrepentent out it.
9. Spock (rhp) says:

   January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   because that’s the way to win the election, silly.

   winning is everything — or hadn’t you heard??
10. Glen B says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    When he’s the head of the totem pole it’s easy to blame whoever is highest…

    (libertarian)

    edit; Remember, it WAS the Clinton camp that created the toxic housing market by letting damn near everyone under the sun be able to "buy" a mortgage for a home. It’s the same setup Bush has on his retarded idea for no child left behind Act.

    Both were ignorant.
11. shellybelly0 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Starting wars based on lies is a good place to start
12. Mooshy says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    it’s what is fashionable at the moment
13. rambofm says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Had money in my pension plan during Clinton. Now it is gone. Any more questions.
14. M.V.P says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    When you have control for 8 years, its your fault. I love how all the right wingers try to blame Clinton
15. Jasper says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Do you want an answer or a debate? Just look around you the GOP has FUBARed the country

    Outing an active CIA field agent is high treason the republican controlled legislative branch swept it under the rug. Can there be any better reason than high treason????
16. Quake22 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Simple: Bush was president the past 8 years and the GOP controlled house/senate 6 of those 8 years.

    PS: I used to work for a major mortgage lender and the fallout from the mortgage crisis IS due to loans made from 2002-2006, well before the Democratic congress was sworn in. There was too little regulation of the mortgage and finance industry thanks to poor GOP leadership.
17. Biore says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    They are too much of cowards to admit it. And then people want to vote for a democrat president
18. mike truss says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    It’s just mud slinging going on just like in 2000, 2004 only this time those who supported bush back then are supporting Obama this time. The kicker is they have another new generation of first time voter’s who haven’t a clue what the heck is going on so they just sling the crap.
19. ed_man118 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    The accusations are coming from democrats. It is easy for them to point fingers at the executive and it is a bit more difficult to come up with a counter.
20. spinoc666 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    It is entirely all on the Democrats. Clinton wanted poorer families to have the same oppurtunities as richer folks so they set the interest rate for them really low on housing. Now that the time is up for them, the interest rates shot up and here we are.
21. greendayrockgods says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    It’s everybody’s fault, simple as that. But why don’t we spend our energy trying to fix the problem instead of pointing the finger at somebody else? Don’t you think that would be a better use of our time?
22. ConSmack 2008 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    It comes directly from the "no government interference" espoused by hard core rightests and championed by Greenspan and his cohorts. Its gotten so that if anyone suggests that government step in, they are declared as anti-American
23. dedmunne says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Leave out the "Make it detailed, intelligent, and concise." and THEN you will get some responses from the Libs.
24. fsjs614 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Because the TV told them so.
25. samantha r says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    I agree with Glen B, someone has too be the blame. Why not the other party? Freakin Liberals!
26. David K says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Because 6 of his 8 years had a republican dominated congress and with a multiparty in charge it’s extremely hard to get anything done right. So those first 6 years were wasted.
27. mcq316 says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    I never blamed Bush for the economy. I do blame him for starting a war under false pretenses that currently costs us ten’s of billions of dollars each year. I also blame him for running a deficit after Clinton gave us a budget surplus.
28. Rico says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Honestly? As a businessman myself (I think I understand the meltdown), it’s not a Democrat or Republican thing. It’s a greed thing and crosses party lines.

    But if you want to blame the Bush administration, you can blame them for ignoring the warnings about oversight on derivatives. The sale of bad mortgages was insured by credit default swaps and the administration decided that they didn’t need to be regulated like insurance. So when the mortgages began failing, the insurance dissolved.

    Got it?
29. Michael S says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    I don’t blame Bush for the downfall of the economy–not directly. The direct cause was the failure of the lending industry to police itself. Lenders and the people who bundle and sell packages of mortgages ("collateralized debt obligations") grossly underestimated the risks in lending and constructing their financial products. Bush didn’t cause that–not directly. He’s not smart enough to have recognized the existence of the problem, but then, neither were the Democrats.

    The real question now is who has a better plan to fix the problem. And I’m convinced that Obama has the better plan.
30. The Blonde Bird says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Paulsen and others when at Wall Street pushed through Republican led Congress de-regulation of insurance and security regs that allowed the mortgaged backed toxic instruments, leveraging and risk mitigation vehicles (swaps) to be promulgated and spread around the world.
31. Justin H says:

    January 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Basically it comes down to the fact that the Republicans have been running the country for the last 8 years – 6 years with a Republican President. During that time they’ve been spending about $10 billion a month on the war in Iraq, they have deregulated Wall Street which is part of the reason for the problems. And we’ve seen a continued trend toward outsourcing.

    While the Republicans may not be entirely responsible for all of these issues, they haven’t done anything to change things.

    Before someone starts blasting the current Congress, just remember that they can’t do ANYTHING without Bush signing off – at least nothing that involves fixing problems.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Leave a Reply