Truth be told, the 2008 economy was more than just Bush at the helm, like most collapses it was a culmination of too many people mishandling their money or just too many people with too much debt having their loans called in, yet they were unable to pay. Throw in student debt, a mess was inevitable.
The pulling of the plug in 2008 apparently started in Chicago. A FReeper posted a long piece that explained it, but I don’t have that anymore.
It was pulled just as McCain (Palin) were pulling farther ahead.
It was planned.
I didn’t think Bush II had much to do with the collapse at all; I think a large part of it was caused by the fact that the ramifications of massive job losses/outsourcing came to a head in one fell swoop - people had spent as though they would have their jobs until retirement, they used credit to maintain middle-class lifestyles, then they had the rug pulled out from under them. All of their debt (home mortgages, credit card debt, student loans) became fairly worthless paper immediately - for most it could never be re-paid with the McJobs that would be the “new normal” going forward.
I distinctly remember a panelist at the time saying the status symbol in the new normal would be having a job; his foresight was incredible. Anyone I know who lost their job then and found another since is making a lot less money (even if they are doing the same work - it is as though firms traded staff to reduce salaries and cut back on accumulated vacation time & such); most new jobs have not just low pay but horrible benefits. Americans will work more hours than they ever did before, and they will have less to show for it than before as well. The falling gasoline prices can’t mask what has happened to food prices over the past decade.