> > < The irony here is that in a little over six months in office Obama > has > increased the debt by half the figure George Bush increased it over all > eight of his years, and he still has the nerve to blame Bush for the > fiscal > mess he inherited.> > > so u r saying the mess ISNT Bush's??? >
I used to debate whether you were deliberately dense, or just an idiot. If you think one man or one party created the crisis, you're genuinely an idiot. Both parties used government to force the mortgage industry to approve loans they would not otherwise have approved. Insofar as Bush bought into the "compassionate conservative" lie that government can legislate that everyone owns a home, he takes part in the blame. Had government not forced mortgages to accept this high risk, they would not have invented credit default swaps, which was their way of "spreading the risk around." Problem was, the market had no experience with such levels of risk, and the pricing of these devises was rather like shooting blindfolded. Turns out the gun was pointed at the shooter. We've plainly refuted the lie that Bush didn't want to regulate anything---there is plenty of CSPAN footage of the Republicans pushing for regulation in 2005 and the Dems pushing back against it on the grounds that there was nothing whatsoever wrong. You wish to believe otherwise, you're being deliberately dense. So, yes I think Bush is partly to blame, but no, I don't think it's entirely his mess. Like all great disasters in our history, it was a bipartisan effort. Don't forget, besides a president we also have a bicameral legislature, and other layers of government at the state and local level. Obama somehow walking in like he, or the statist policies he supports, had nothing to do with it is just as offensive as someone categorically absolving Bush. Or did Obama not vote for TARP 1? Did he not push TARP 2? Has he not taken the practice of deficit spending to levels heretofore thought altogether ridiculous? Is he not, in fact, pushing an ideological agenda against all economic data? For that matter, is he not polarizing and agitating old divisions? You have to be pretty dull to continue to believe he's a "healer" or "uniter" let alone a competent steward of our fiscal policies. Which is why he's losing moderates left and right, and sinking in the polls. Earlier than I thought he would. What concerns me now is a new manufactured crisis to arrest his freefall. Don't count it out. He is a dictator-in-waiting, and I believe will seize any opportunity to grab all power. I recall when he was just president-elect, he complained in one interview that he was afraid because "I don't yet have the reins of power". He has altogether too much confidence in his ability to make "good decisions" and altogether too little confidence in anyone else's -- a terrible temperament for a commander in chief. - Bob _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
