Posted on 07/25/2015 1:24:41 AM PDT by familyop
Donald Trump was asked today to explain why, as he has said, he has identified more with Democrats than with Republicans. The answer, he claimed, is that the economy crashed in 2008 because of mistakes made by President Bush.
This may be a good answer (or the best one available) from a political perspective. Trump is appealing primarily to disaffected Republicans who believe the GOP hasn’t stood up for them sufficiently on issues relating to the economy (immigration is the best example). Attributing his pro-Democrat leanings to Bush’s handling of the economy makes political sense.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t make historical sense; nor is it an honest explanation. The Bush administration certainly isn’t blameless when it comes to the 2008 crash. But, as we have argued and New York Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson and her co-author Joshua Rosen have shown, it was mainly the imposition of race-conscious lending practices on the banking industry that led to the financial crisis.
In 1994, Bill Clinton proposed increasing home ownership through a “partnership” between government and the private sector, principally orchestrated by Fannie Mae. Lenders proceeded to promote reckless borrowing, knowing they could offload risk to purchasers of bundled loans, and especially to Fannie. In 1994, subprime lending was $40 billion. In 1995, almost one in five mortgages was subprime. Four years later such lending totaled $160 billion.
The Bush administration warned as early as 2001 about the problems these lending policies were creating, and in 2003, through Secretary of Treasury John Snow, pushed for reforms to address the issue. But congressional Democrats, led by Barney Frank, blocked reform legislation.
Yes, Bush should have done more to alleviate the situation. But no, Republicans don’t bear primary responsibility for the 2008 crash.
Nor did a belief to the contrary cause Trump to tilt to the Democrats. According to this account, Trump was a registered Democrat from 2001-2008. He switched his registration the very year that, in his telling, the Republicans “crashed the economy.”
In truth, Trump is a natural Democrat. His views on major issues are — or were until recently — standard-issue liberal.
Peter Wehner has the details.
[Trump] has supported massive tax increases on the wealthy, a Canadian-style single-payer health care system, and is a fierce protection. He once declared himself “strongly pro-choice” and favored drug legalization.Earlier this year, he accused Republicans who want to reform entitlement programs — the essential task for those who favor limited government — of “attacking” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Barack Obama couldn’t have said it better.
And Barney Frank couldn’t have better stated the Democrats’ line on who caused the 2008 financial crisis.
We need not consult Trump’s revisionist history of that crisis to figure out why he was a registered Democrat for most of the last decade. On key issues his views align closely with those of the Dems.
It’s as straightforward as that.
He was pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-2nd amendment, for nationalized healthcare all because of Bush.... I don’t think so. He was a Democrat before Bush2 too.
Yup.
...this is going to burst some bubbles......too bad none of us saw this coming.....oh,wait......
If the housing bubble had burst just one year later, a plausible narrative would be how the economy was fine until Obama screwed everything up.
That makes no sense, since it was actually a year later that he jumped from being a Democrat.
This will only make the Trumpites more fervent and more sure he is a total movement conservative. All facts are a plot by the media!
Remember under George Bush when The GOPee had control of both legislative houses plus the white house? Yep another lack luster time of majority for the GOPee. Instead of working on reversing bad economics that led up to the housing finance crisis, they gave us Medicare D. So yeah, the GOP in a roundabout way can share the blame.
I’d like to remind you that When the democrats got their gubby mits back on the house and senate in 06 the unemployment rate was 4.6%..within two years of Democrat control it was over 10%.
The Democrats tanked the economy on purpose.
We usually make fun of liberals swooning under the "hope and change" glamour.
Trump is a great performer and opportunist. He has made-for-TV reality show presentations. Many conservatives are willing to overlook everything else for some great antics that are directed at liberals, by a liberal. Of course that is the only way a liberal can win next year.
People shouldn’t forget that Trump was/is also a great fan of Kelo vs. Connecticut where the SP ruled that people’s property could be taken away for private financial gain. He enthusiastically endorsed that. Think about that when you’re forced to move out of your home for one of Trump’s casinos.
I have no delusions that Trump is a died-in-the-wool conservative. He thinks he is, and if he has had a change of heart about abortion, gay rights, etc., then - that’s wonderful. People do change. Other than Cruz, there just isn’t anyone else running that I care for. Maybe Walker, but, he seems to be owned by the COC people. I also think that Trump is smart enough to change his mind on issues if he is given the facts. I will NOT vote for Bush, I can’t stand the man. Trump needs to brush up on many things and issues before taking the helm of this great nation. Like I said, he isn’t stupid and can learn. For now, I am enjoying the Donald and the way he is bi*** slapping our enemies. I often wonder if a true Conservative can ever again win the WH. It has been many, many years since Reagan, and so many things have changed in this country.
“Instead of working on reversing bad economics that led up to the housing finance crisis, they gave us Medicare D. So yeah, the GOP in a roundabout way can share the blame.”
Very true. When the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress under Bush, they went on a spending spree while Bush kept his veto pen in his pocket. Bush inherited a balanced budget from Clinton and the GOP Congress. When Bush’s term began there were projections the national debt would be paid off by the end of the decade. Instead, at the end of his two terms ended the national debt had doubled.
Not only did we get Medicare D, the bloated Department of Homeland Security, we got the Patriot Act, huge federal intervention in education with massive increases in spending and “No Child Left Behind”. We got new trade bills resulting in the export of American jobs and Congressional earmarks building $200 million bridges to isolated towns in Alaska. We got lax border enforcement. We got silence from the bully pulpit when it came to the President standing up for conservative principles and even his own moderate to liberal policies. We got Ben Bernanke appointed to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner appointed to head the New York Federal Reserve, and the Chairman of Goldman Sachs Henry Paulson appointed to head the Department of the Treasury. All in place to manage the financial crisis by saving the Wall Street Banks at the expense of the taxpayer. All of this on Bush’s watch.
As to the financial crisis, there was a housing bubble but the trigger for the meltdown in the fall of 2008 was a run on the banking system, specifically money market funds. In the weeks after the meltdown one Congressman did publicly state the fact a run on money market funds triggered the collapse. He was shut up. The mystery is what caused the run? Was it Soros and a few billionaires? Was it China and Russia acting in concert? Why didn’t the Bush administration tell us? Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner and others, including the President, had to know. Who were the specific speculators, institutions, and possibly foreign governments conspiring to bring down the banking system and the US economy in September 2008? Neither political party has dared to publicize who was behind the $500 billion run on the banking system in a single day which caused the Federal Reserve to dump trillions of dollars into the banking system in order to keep it from collapsing. Why?
Note that Bush turned over administration of the financial system to the Wall Street banking cartel through his appointments to Treasure and the Federal Reserve, and his administration bailed out the Wall Street Banks in September of 2008. Yet in the 2008 election campaign Goldman Sachs and the other big banks poured their money into the Democrat campaign coffers. Why?
Finally, Obama has shown the President can affect policy by ignoring laws he doesn’t want to enforce and using executive orders to implement policy via the bureaucracy. Republican’s say Bush couldn’t do anything his last two years in office because the Democrats controlled Congress. Well Obama has accomplished his objectives the past six years with Republicans controlling the House. Since the Republicans took control of the Senate this year nothing has changed. Obama is getting everything he wants. It can be done if the President doesn’t back down.
Bush may have warned about Fannie and Freddie early in his first term but what did he do about it. If he really believed the economic system was in danger, why didn’t he use the bully pulpit to warn the country and demand a fix? Why didn’t he use his executive and regulatory authority to reign them in. Why didn’t he use the Department of Justice to charge bad actors with crimes? Why didn’t he defund Fannie and Freddie in his budget requests? Why didn’t he have a GOP Congressman or Senator actually introduce legislation to reign in Fannie and Freddie? Why didn’t he use the SEC to force more disclosure regarding the risk in the sub prime loan packages being hawked by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citibank, Bank of America and others? Why didn’t he use anti-trust laws to break up the “too big to fail” banks? Talk is cheap, actions take effort and the real truth is Bush did not put any effort into reigning in Fannie and Freddie, the bundling of subprime loans, the consolidation of the banking industry into a few corrupt mega banks, or the excessive speculation in the stock and bond markets.
Could the truth be the Wall Street bankers funding the GOP liked making money on government insured sub prime loans? Could it be they were making millions packaging the Fannie and Freddie sub prime loans into financial instruments and selling them around the world? Don’t listen to a few words in a single long speech warning about Fannie and Freddie. Watch behavior and follow the money. The truth is those who fund the GOP were earning big money speculating with sub prime mortgage packaging. Bush did nothing because the people funding his campaigns and the RNC did not want the punch bowl taken away.
The American people deserve to know who caused the run on the money market funds in 2008. Why are both political parties covering up this truth?
The American people deserve to know who caused the run on the money market funds in 2008. Why are both political parties covering up this truth?
Because both are guilty - that’s why. Look for something to happen again this September too. In Sept. 2001 we had the Twin Towers attack. In Sept. 2008 - the near total collapse of the economy. There are 7 years between those 2 happenings, and this Sept. there will be 7 years after the economic collapse and 2015. The Bible teaches about Jubilee - which is a 7 year period. You’ll have to do some research to understand this, but, it makes sense.
Mark my words, Donald Trump WILL screw conservatives hard.
I was pretty sure Trump would be pro-abortion and pro-homosexual, but I didn’t hear anybody saying anything about that, which I found puzzling.
Conservatives disappointed in the Bush economy wouldn’t turn Democrat for all the tea in China. They’d go after Bush! Who runs to join the far left when the moderate isn’t “right” enough?
I think Trump is serving a good purpose - then he’ll drop out.
Sure, he may not be perfect, but he now calls himself a Republican. And, if we just elect enough Republicans, not just a majority, but supersaturation—then a chemical reaction occurs and all Republicans change state and become conservatives.
Besides, he’s popular. Who was the last Republican who was popular?
It really disturbs me that Trump was a Democrat, and now it disturbs me severely that he would casually fart out an enormous lie about why he was....
Additionally, he was a Democrat during the worst of the years right after 9/11, when we were at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our men and women were dying daily over there and the Democrats were here in Washington doing everything they could to sabotage our winning and smearing our troops as Nazi’s and cold-blooded murderers.
I will never be able to relate to or trust any grown-up American who was a Democrat during those years and didn’t switch to either GOP or another party.
Ever.
Another vain, narcissist/ego-maniac in the White House? God save us.
And I’m truly afraid that Trump will not drop out, but either win the GOP nomination or worse, go 3rd party.
He’s liberal in far more ways than conservative - but all that is being ignored by both the media and his true conservative opponents in the GOP field.
They need to start exposing his hidden liberal side ASAP.
My two favs are Cruz and Carly, and I wonder why Cruz is being so cozy with Trump - he has to know Trump’s core beliefs as being classic NY liberal......and how many wives has he had?
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