A lot of credit for this situation has to go to the Bush Administration for their misguided 'pro-business' approach which included helping businesses shed costs by helping companies to export American jobs overseas. Think of the irony of tax dollars being collected from your paycheck and then given to your employer to help them eliminate your job!
They were so successful in eliminating American jobs that there weren't enough people left with paychecks to buy cars and other consumer goods, which is one cause of the current recession.
Isn't that typical for George W Bush? His pro-business policy ends up destroying business! Heck of a job, there Bushie!
After 8 full years of this being done in plain sight, it is maddening to see GOP politicians wag their fingers at Obama for the 'jobless recovery.' You help to suck jobs out of the country for years and then point a finger at someone else for the lack of jobs!!! That really takes the cake.
A typical response from you two guys .... blame Bush for EVERYTHING. Govt has been tweaking stats for decades.
If you know many unemployed people... how are they doing finding a job .. a job that won't go away after Christmas sales season? I know plenty of people who were laid off, and can't find jobs still .. plenty of college graduates with excellent school records and degrees that can't find a job.
If you actually look - you can see where current administration has given billions of dollars to foreign companies for oil (Brazil) ... millions to Finland for exotic electric cars. Out govt gave bailout money so taxpayers could help subsidize foreign car makers ... WTF is up with that? Japan made out the best out of that fiasco.
Take off those silly democrat sunglasses you guys are wearing and look at the country through American eyes and not republican or democrat sunglasses.
A house divided against itself cannot stand alone.
If you are a believer that the US is being run by Corporate and Wall Street oligarchy then Divide and conquer would apply as well. It is hard pressed not to see that the country is being run by a few elite as opposed to the will of the people. Even a democrat should be able to see that .. instead of it's all the republicans fault.
You make a good point, Big T. Bush isn't really the cause of the problem. He, and to some extent, his predecessors were just pandering to the corporate interests that pushed for the bad policies that have led us to this point.
I mentioned the tax credits companies got for outsourcing jobs as just one of those bad policies that we saw under Bush. But again, Bush was just the guy who was doing the bidding of the real villains in this story. And of course it was Clinton that signed the law that allowed banks to get into investments, which has caused so much damage.
So maybe Bush & Clinton were just the stooges for the guys who got their way and screwed us all over.
Something to think about.
Something to think about
and vote third party for a real change ... at least vot out the incumbents. The srawback to voitng third party is that anyone can be bought off and just voting third party won't gurantee a chnage .. but IMHO it would be a step in the right direction. You see guys like Newt pandering to the 'new conservative' movement across the country, and you know what Newt is about already. His contract with America did bring postive changes .. the balanced budget was the best thing that happened in years in DC .. however the corporations also go much power during those 'deregulation' years. You cn't necessarily blame it all on deregulation - because there is supposed to be govt people (agencies)watching these clowns .. and they did not do a very good job. This is what happens when there is not enough folks watching the foxes and those watching the foxes weren't as sharp as the foxes are ... the chickens get eaten up.
."If you are a believer that the US is being run by Corporate and Wall Street oligarchy"
If anyone believes this, they just aren't paying attention. The government wrecked this economy through years of meddling with housing. The meddling by federal regulators on lenders and lending practices is well documented. Unfortunately the govt. continues to sell the notion that big, bad corporations and wall street are responsible for this mess.
You don't have to believe me. Read:
The Role of Government Affordable Housing Policy in
Creating the Global Financial Crisis of 2008
STAFF REPORT
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
111TH CONGRESS
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
JULY 7, 2009
INTRODUCTION
The housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to a financial crisis can be traced back to federal government intervention in the U.S. housing market intended to help provide homeownership opportunities for more Americans. This intervention began with two government-backed corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which privatized their profits but socialized their risks, creating powerful incentives for them to act recklessly and exposing taxpayers to tremendous losses. Government intervention also created 1Caffordable 1D but dangerous lending policies which encouraged lower down payments, looser underwriting standards and higher leverage. Finally, government intervention created a nexus of vested interests 13 politicians, lenders and lobbyists 13 who profited from the 1Caffordable 1D housing market and acted to kill reforms. In the short run, this
government intervention was successful in its stated goal 13 raising the national homeownership rate. However, the ultimate effect was to create a mortgage tsunami that wrought devastation on the American people and economy. While government intervention was not the sole cause of the financial crisis, its role was significant and has received too little attention.
In recent months it has been impossible to watch a television news program without
seeing a Member of Congress or an Administration official put forward a new recovery proposal or engage in the public flogging of a financial company official whose poor decisions, and perhaps greed, resulted in huge losses and great suffering. Ironically, some of these same Washington officials were, all too recently, advocates of the very mortgage lending policies that led to economic turmoil. In a number of cases, political officials even engaged in unethical conduct, helping their political allies, family members and even themselves obtain lucrative positions in the mortgage lending industry and other
benefits. At a time when government intervention in private markets has become
alarmingly common, government 1Caffordable housing 1D initiatives offer important lessons about the dangers of government efforts to manipulate or conjure outcomes in the market.
Here's a link to the PDF
lamparty
This originally brought to us by the Reagan Administration, so Republicans, don't b*tch about them using it now! It still s*cks though!