Everybody knows about Bush Derangement Syndrome and its hilarious side effects, but nobody ever talks about its complement, Bush Defense Syndrome. One of the symptoms of the latter has lately been to say "What problem with the economy? The economy is strong under the Dear Leader!"
Uh, yeah. Maybe not so much.
Come on...you know how the game is played:
ReplyDeleteIf the economy tanks under your boy, you point out that it takes years for economic policies to start having an effect, and you blame the last guy from the Other Party.
"The economy was great under Clinton because of the policies Reagan initiated!"
When the economy is good under your boy, on the other hand, you take immediate credit.
So, it's all Komrade Klintoon's fault...and if the economy picks up under Obama, they'll waste no time giving a shout-out to Dubya.
Of course, all those cheering and/or booing seem to forget that the President has only marginally more of an effect on the economy than he does on the weather.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait... Bush has ruined the weather, too. ;)
Every time I see Rove on O'reilly or Hannity and Dumb, I reflexively yell "Idiot!".
ReplyDeleteHe and Bush had a chance to reform the government, but they decided to ruin the Republicans instead
Let the blaming begin!
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB121581435073947103.html
Upchuck Schumer strikes again.
You're right Tam, the President really has nothing other than taking credit or blame with how the economy performs.
Robert, the Republicans ruined themselves by being Democrats. 2006 didn't happen because of Iraq, it happened because the Republicans couldn't stop spending like drunken sailors.
...on Iraq.
ReplyDeleteI suggest that Chucky Shumer's release of confidential information, leading to a 1.3 Billion dollar withdrawal by depositors in 11 days, may be a more proximate cause for the bank failure.
ReplyDeleteRecession is defined as 2 consecutive quarters of Negative Growth in GDP. We haven't yet seen even quarter of negative growth.
There are weaknesses in this economy, as there are in any economy. The weak areas of this economy include housing (which over-built) and morgage lending (which lent, with no down payment, based on the bubble values of housing).
In the last 5 years, the US economy has grown by the size of the economy of China, in large part due to the increased efficiencies of WarMart and its imitators.
Should have said "We haven't seen even one quarter of negative growth."
ReplyDeleteOne factor in the ability of the housing segment to quickly overbuild was the high proportion of low wage illegal aliens in construction trades. Normally attempts to overbuild would lead to wage inflation, which would act as a drag on higher rates of construction. This drag was missing.
Don,
ReplyDeleteI respect your determination to see that the glass is half full. May I suggest that there are as many different definitions of "Recession" as there are scents of poop chutes?
My favorite?
"Slowdown": You've heard of people losing their jobs.
"Recession": You know people who've lost their jobs.
"Depression": You lose your job.
And as far as the "It's Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) fault", might I reply that any explanation for the current fucked-up state of the economy (and anyone who claims it's not is either blind, too dumb to read, or is sticking their fingers in their ears yelling 'LaLaLaLaLa!') is too large to be laid at the foot of any individual, party, corporation, or industry.
We can argue that IndyMac would have failed even without Schumer causing a run on the bank. What we do know is tha the bank DID fail after Schumer caused a run.
ReplyDeleteBush can be rightly blamed for lots of things, but I'm not holding my breath seeing Chuck face any consequences for his asinine and irresponsible behavior.
Tam said:
ReplyDeleteMy favorite?
"Slowdown": You've heard of people losing their jobs.
"Recession": You know people who've lost their jobs.
"Depression": You lose your job.
What do you call it when you personally have overseen the "termination" of nearly 15,000 employee records in your firm in 6 months, and the company stock has dropped by 40%?
(ok, ok, that doesn't count new hires, but there's been a freeze on and off since January - and btw, the firm is NOT going out of business)
"Negative growth" hahaha
ReplyDeleteTell me that term isn't spin,like "advancing to the rear" or perhaps "honesty challenged"
Nothing to see here folks.
Maybe all of this mess is why I can't bring myself to vote Democrat OR Republican. I just don't see either party having a clue. They both need to grab their ears and pull until they see daylight.