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.