Bushs' Economy?

Question

Supporters of President Bush like to profess how good the economy is and that Bush is to thank for it. Does that mean they will accept responsibility for the crash of the sub prime lending market and the ripple effects of that crash?

He, like any other President, has very little to do with the overall economy but, hey, if you're going to take credit for the good, ya gotta take responsibility for the bad, right?

Countdown to blaming Clinton........10, 9, 8, 7.....

happy momma - bleeding are we?

Mike W - way to answer and stay on subject. jeez.

Read people, read! I never said the stock market crashed.

Answer 1

When the bush appointed Fed-head and the previous republican budgets causes so much damage that a massive cash injection and a rate cut is required as a surprise stop-measure, you can be sure things are getting really bad.

Answer 2

2 millions lost jobs, only 5 million new jobs in 6 years. Considering that 150,000 jobs have to be created each month to keep up with population growth. That means 10 million jobs needed to be created just to stay even with growth. There is 7 million jobs short fall there. Bush is the first president to lose more jobs since Hoover. During Clinton's 8 years 23 million new jobs were created. Even Carter managed to add 10 million jobs in only 4 years. Under Democratic Presidents, GDP is higher then under Republican Presidents. Income is up 12%, but if you take out the figures for the top 1%, income only went up 1.2 % for the middle and lower classes. The nation has a negative saving rate. Tax cuts, I've paid more federal income tax since Bush got appointed to the Presidency then any time in my intire life. I work full time and claim zero on my W-2. Also accounting fo economic growth, the Stock Market should be above 14000. Not at 13000 and falling. Walmart revised their sales report downward cause people aren't shopping there. If people can't afford to go to Walmart, the economy must be reall good!

Answer 3

Yes, they do. Just like Clinton's boosters liked to give him credit for the strong economy of the 90s. And, when the next recession or crisis hits, Bush apologists will deny any blame placed on him for it, just as Clinton apologists deny any blame placed on him for the collapse of the dot com bubble.

The truth is that the President has vanishingly slight influence upon the economy, and no President has ever been directly and soley responsible for an economic boom or catastrophe. Generally, at most, a government can make an economic disaster a lot worse or a little better with thier response to it - but, in America, it's the para-governmental Federal Reserve and the Congress that have the most influence over the economy (via monetary and fiscal policy, respectively), not the President. The President, at most, apoints a fed Chairman durring his term (Reagan apointed Greenspan, for instance), and provides 'leadership' - basically, tries to make people feel better with speaches and meaningless gestures.

Yet, Presidents tend to get all the credit or blame for economic trends durring thier presidency - even though the exact same things would likely have happened with anyone else in the Oval Office.

Answer 4

There are three fundamental things a president can do to affect the economy.

Taxes
Spending
Morale

Historically, cutting taxes has improved the economy and increased the per capita GDP and the National GDP.
This time was no exception.

Spending is at the core of deficits. This administration has been virtually veto free sending spending by both Republican and Democratic congress' to record levels even if you don't include the cost of the war on terror and the war in Iraq if you consider them exclusive of one another.

In spite of the fact that the president is regularly vilified as evil, dumb, short sighted, wrong on nearly every issue, paranoid, partisan and a host of others too numerous to mention, he has managed to keep the population economically cheerful and consumer confidence is high. Purchasing power is up and prolifically being taken advantage of. Savings is up and so is investment.

Bottom line: Two out of three ain't bad.

Answer 5

President Bush fought to get congress to lower taxes, and the democrats want to raise them. Lowering taxes stimulates the economy. The stock market was long overdue for a correction, and will still be strong.The war also helps the economy, and all the libs blame Bush, so he must be responsible for helping the economy by starting the war. Whining about a great economy will not help your cause in 2008.

Answer 6

The economy isn't good at all and more important the economy isn't benefiting ordinary Americans but the upper class and the war profiteers.
The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.
The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. That helps explain why the median household income of working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.
These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty - the highest rate since at least 1975.

Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett accused President Bush of "bankrupting" America and betraying the Reagan legacy

Answer 7

The President always get too much credit and too much blame for the economy. I also think the issues of the sub-prime market is largely the fault of the lenders not the government.

Answer 8

Clinton screwed up the economy in the first place. Bush has been battling back for nearly 8 years trying to recover what was lost.

Answer 9

It's true that the President had little to do with this.

But what about crude oil at $70 plus?

Answer 10

it didnt crash. the stock market corrected it self after a record high.