Obama is so bad that I sometimes forget about what I did not like about Bush. Here’s a reminder.
So here Bush admits he doesn't really know if he/they saved anything and they may well have wasted tens of trillions of dollars.
ping
Bullcrap. The worst is yet to come. Now the bad players are only bigger and deeper in bed with government.
Well George, maybe from where you sit and what you knew. But from where We the People sit and what we know, all you politicians in DC were and still are the problem.
Bush, on this, you are full of crap.
Sickening
(Of course, I still believe in the tooth fairy too.)
I wish President Bush a long, healthy RETIREMENT from political life, while others try to repair the damage he did to American conservatism.
Here are two posts, the first in which was published on September 30, 2008 in an attempt to balance ideology and practicality. To this day I do not know if the bailout done under Bush was well-founded or not. I suspect no one was published on this thread knows either.
The second post was published with the perspective of time.
I have not yet posted on the wisdom of the bail out because, frankly, I do not know what to say. I do not know what to say because of the things I do not know. First, I do not know if the bailout plan will work. Second, I do not know if the entire world system will crash without such a plan. Third, I do not know what the odds are of either a successful bailout or a world crash so I cannot weigh the severity of potential harm against the likelihood of the harm occurring.
I know what my ideology is, I am opposed to government meddling in the economy on the way up and on the way down either by picking winners or by rescuing losers. On the other hand, I recognize the extreme danger to the very survival of my ideology should the country descend into a depression. I am well read enough to know about the Great Depression and what it did to other democracies around the world and how close our own American democracy came to descending into communism. So, I do not know in which direction lurks a greater danger to the ideal of conservatism.
I do know that the Constitution as written prohibits virtually every facet of the proposed bailout plan. I know that no federal court that I can think of will conceivably declare any part of the plan to be repugnant to the constitution. Therefore, I know I cannot rely on the courts to protect the Constitution. However, I also know that the political will will triumph regardless of the Constitution and it is bootless to fall on one's ideological sword to no purpose.
I do not know what it is like to live through a depression although my father has described what it was like in the rural South when people literally had no money and had to contrive a barter economy. On the other hand, I do not know what it is like to live through a raging inflation such as was sustained here in Germany during the Weimar and even today in Zimbabwe. I do not know if doing nothing will generate a depression. I do not know if these bailouts will generate hyperinflation.
I do know that if abandoning my ideology long enough to countenance the bailout would save the country from a depression, I would do it in a heartbeat.
I am not sure that those people on these threads who on claim to know the answers to all these questions really know what they're talking about. I do not know if they are so sure about their facts only knew because they are so certain in their ideology. I do not know all if those people who are so certain in their bailout do so because otherwise their ox gets gored. So I do not know how to come down on one side or the other based on the motives of the partisans on either side of the bailout question. I simply do not know what their motives really are.
I do know that economics is called the dismal science and now I know why.
Given the state of my ignorance, I am going to embark on a new course, I am going to practice humility.
I have not yet posted on the wisdom of the bail out because, frankly, I do not know what to say. I do not know what to say because of the things I do not know. First, I do not know if the bailout plan will work. Second, I do not know if the entire world system will crash without such a plan. Third, I do not know what the odds are of either a successful bailout or a world crash so I cannot weigh the severity of potential harm against the likelihood of the harm occurring.
I know what my ideology is, I am opposed to government meddling in the economy on the way up and on the way down either by picking winners or by rescuing losers. On the other hand, I recognize the extreme danger to the very survival of my ideology should the country descend into a depression. I am well read enough to know about the Great Depression and what it did to other democracies around the world and how close our own American democracy came to descending into communism. So, I do not know in which direction lurks a greater danger to the ideal of conservatism.
I do know that the Constitution as written prohibits virtually every facet of the proposed bailout plan. I know that no federal court that I can think of will conceivably declare any part of the plan to be repugnant to the constitution. Therefore, I know I cannot rely on the courts to protect the Constitution. However, I also know that the political will will triumph regardless of the Constitution and it is bootless to fall on one's ideological sword to no purpose.
I do not know what it is like to live through a depression although my father has described what it was like in the rural South when people literally had no money and had to contrive a barter economy. On the other hand, I do not know what it is like to live through a raging inflation such as was sustained here in Germany during the Weimar and even today in Zimbabwe. I do not know if doing nothing will generate a depression. I do not know if these bailouts will generate hyperinflation.
I do know that if abandoning my ideology long enough to countenance the bailout would save the country from a depression, I would do it in a heartbeat.
I am not sure that those people on these threads who on claim to know the answers to all these questions really know what they're talking about. I do not know if they are so sure about their facts only knew because they are so certain in their ideology. I do not know all if those people who are so certain in their bailout do so because otherwise their ox gets gored. So I do not know how to come down on one side or the other based on the motives of the partisans on either side of the bailout question. I simply do not know what their motives really are.
I do know that economics is called the dismal science and now I know why.
Given the state of my ignorance, I am going to embark on a new course, I am going to practice humility.
Here's the second post:
I have often put myself in Bush's moccasins when he is told by his Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve that if he does not act within hours the entire financial system of the Western world will crash, that nation will be devastated, millions will be thrown out of work, that the implications extend even to starvation and rioting in the streets.
If one acts precipitously one sets a bad precedent and wastes a couple of hundred billion dollars. On the other hand, if one fails to act when required, the consequences are horrible. You cannot investigate the situation and determine who is right in a few hours available, you can only look into the eyes of the man who implore you to act and hope what your read is more accurate than when you looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes.
Given that scenario, I think I would have made the same choice Bush made.
Do you know of any studies since the events which come down one way or the other?
Bush had a Republican Congress for six whole years, and didn’t find time to shame it into fixing the severely flawed lending practices that were sure to cause severe damage to our economic system.
I don’t get a kick out of giving Bush grief, but if he is going to continue to shoot his mouth off, I’m going to verbally kick him in the family jewels every time he does it.
His prescription addition to Medicare was another great society level program. His refusal to live up to his oath of office to protect the states from invasion, was grounds for impeachment.
His continuous demands that Israel use restraint when under attack made me furious at him.
This guy has no room to talk at all, and I wish someone who cares about the guy would clue him in. Shut the hell up George. When you figure out who was able to gain the leadership of our party after the shambles you left it in, I think you’ll welcome and abide by my advice here.
Just shut up!
As far as the addition of a supermajority of Dims, I think that we can blame Bush for not being conservative enough. Then again, would it have mattered with the corruption of ACORN, more mindless libs running around than ever before, and the idiotic campaigning of John McCain?
Two decades of manipulated “Free Trade” destroyed the economy.
Bush was a disaster for the Republican party,
and the US economomy.
with that said, the US economy has/had many problems
and those who would cause the economy problems.
He must be drinking again.
Go away, George.
Go away, Barack.
Does that mean all those Non Free market steps he took to save the Free Market can be put back in place now?
What preceded the economic collapse of the US in 2008, was the collapse of the US dollar. Guess what is happening right now, once again ?