Posted on 12/17/2008 6:10:44 AM PST by meandog
US President George W. Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles to save the economy from "collapse." "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system," Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision "to make sure the economy doesn't collapse."
Bush's comments reflect an extraordinary departure from his longtime advocacy for an unfettered free market, as his administration has orchestrated unprecedented government intervention in the face of a dire financial crisis.
"I am sorry we're having to do it," Bush said.
But Bush said government action was necessary to ease the effects of the crisis, offering perhaps his most dire assessment yet of the country's economy.
"I feel a sense of obligation to my successor to make sure there is not a, you know, a huge economic crisis. Look, we're in a crisis now. I mean, this
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Yeah, well shame on us. Shame on us doubly for not having the numbers, will, energy, and persevereance to actually get a genuine conservative constitutionalist through the primaries and into nomination. This goes for McLame as well.
“This is not a ship nor is it a dictatorship...”
The ship is America and the captain is the POTUS. I don’t care how many times you try to deny it.
Dictatorship? You betcha! Just this week, even though the senate rejected the bailout for ford gm and chrysler, Bush has positioned himself to defiantly intervene tapping TARP inspite of the Senate vote, our Constitution, and the will of we the people.
Such an act of defiance would certainly be more akin to a dictatorship than a Constitutional Republic. Not that you would know the difference based on what I have read thus far. Truth is, I know a bushbot when I see one. Still worshipping inspite of the reality. Now that’s pathetic.
He's in effect saying that he believes only socialism (the more accurate term for Bush's so-called "compassionate conservatism") can save our economy. GWB: socialist, globalist, corporate welfarist, and destined for the trash heap of Presidential history.
bump
That line joins a select few in the pantheon of "most stupid things said by a person who should know better...
Right up there with the infamous "... we had to destroy the village in order to save it..."
“I hope they love cheering for a man who will uphold the Bush legacy, Baraq Hussein Obama!!!”
Bush sacrificed thousands of lives and trillions of taxpayer dollars for “Iraqi freedom” while crapping all over our own Constitution and our own freedom.
Now we have this so called “bailout” for special interest power brokers. Bushbots would like to see Bush cleared of any wrongdoing involving the economic crisis brought on by the war and sub-prime lending schemes. Problem is, Bush is on record applauding Raines, Fannie, and Freddie for their work in securing homes for all Americans...including borrowers with no proof of income and a horrible credit history. Bush gets no pass on this. He also gets no pass on the bailout he supports and is poised to defiantly subvert the will of our senate.
So no doubt, following the path Bush burned, Obama will be in a much better position to up the ante...and he will.
I too hope bushbots will love cheering Obama as much as they have Bush. Our forefathers are regurgitating in their graves after hearing a President of the United States say,
“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system...” Translated: I abandoned capitalism for socialism.
You've nailed it. The price for this entitlement will be a further encroachment on our rights.
You know, the thing that angers me most about our current situation is that he and his father both pushed globalism down our throats and destroyed America in the process. Our jobs are gone. Middle class America has been sacrificed for globalism. Our land and God knows what else is owned by communist and Islamic countries, and he says "he's sorry to have to do that?" What a sorry pos he's turned out to be. I am sooo sorry I voted for him, twice!
Frankly, I think the timing of the 'collapse' is suspect. The fundamentals of the economy WERE sound, but I believe there was a LOT of manipulation going on of which the President was unaware. I'm unsure as to whether or not Paulson knew about it, in which case, if he did, he did a great disservice to this nation.
The President tried, TWICE, with legislation, to rein in the mortgage markets, and both times, hit a solid Democrat wall, about which, by the way, the Dems were extremely proud, and to this day, don't accept the fact that they are largely responsible for the problems in the mortgage market which helped create the problems in the real estate market.
As for his 'abandoning the free market' in order to try to save the economy, the problem was that the free market wasn't working already! If it had been, most of the people with bad loans would not have gotten them to begin with! If financial institutions hadn't been forced, by Congress, to lend money to folks who should never have bought a home, they wouldn't be in such dire straits. Of course, there were some financial institutions which saw an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and they made it worse.
George W. Bush didn't create this boondoggle. Barney Frank, and his Democrat buds, in Congress, and the financial markets, did this.
......George W. Bush didn’t create this boondoggle.....
Being a conspiracy lover, I wonder if that is truly the case. If not, why did he choose to announce the crisis so soon before the election? Would a few weeks have mattered?
He has nothing to lose, he is outa there.
He assured the defeat of McCain. He made the rats face the reality of the financial problem. He allowed banks to borrow an increase in assets to strengthen balance sheets. He is going to reduce the UAW stranglehold. He smoked out all the hidden decay amd some that was really hidden. He got revemge for Hank Greenburg. He killed Leahman Brothers. He has Venezuela nad Russia on their financial knees. He set Obama up with multitudenous disasters to cripple the leftist surge before it can begin. He forced them all to react rather than act. He gets revenge for the sleezy Clinton non transition.
His announcing the crisis didn't CAUSE the crisis, and everyone could see it anyway. Not announcing it wouldn't have made any difference in the McCain campaign. Folks were mad about the economy, and since the MSM laid ALL the blame for it at the feet of Bush and the Republicans, voters decided that if they changed to the Democrats their problems would be solved. McCain, and the Republican party did a pi$$-poor job of explaining how the financial mess was created, and by whom it was created. THAT'S why McCain lost; oh, yeah, and the 20% of conservatives who inexplicably voted for Obama didn't help either. I guess they were the folks who truly wanted to 'bomb the village, in order to save it".
What a disappointment Bush has become.
It’s unfortunate that Clinton was more fiscally conservative than Bush was...
Just what I’ve been sayin’
“free trade” ISN’T
I don’t know. It seems on the street, these people are basically gamblers. The Madoff scandal indicates a need for serious regulation. The ‘little as possible ‘ regulation is what allowed Madoff, Wachovia, Goldman -all the bad actors to fly under the radar for so long essentially bankrupting this nation.
In the case of most of the other travesties in the financial sector, I will stand by the notion that the FedGov had the law and the manpower in place to prevent the problem, but they failed to do their jobs. Bureaucrat 101.
More government IS NOT and never is the answer.
Actually-he had registered hedge funds. People had expressed concern to the SEC and nothing was done. We absolutely need more regulation. These people have bankrupted this country with their outright criminal behavior. I think more will do the perp walk before this is over. How many more are out there? In the 80’s deregulation lead to an Savings and Loan scandal. It’s always the same old story...once regulation are relaxed we have major problems.
Yeah, that's right. It's the lack of sufficient government. So, can we get a refund from the regulators we've been paying all along to prevent this sort of thing? Like Dodd and Frank and every single SEC official for the last 30 years? Can we hold them civilly liable for the destruction they allow, even encouraged, on their watch? No, I didn't think so.
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