Romney campaign seems to have forgotten about Bush’s economic crises

The Washington Post ^ | April 30, 2012 | Ezra Klein

[C19fan]

There’s not much in politics that allows me to say, “I’m old enough to remember when.” But here’s one: I’m old enough to remember when George W. Bush was president.

It was, after all, only four short years ago. And it didn’t go so well. The Bush economy is one of the worst on record. Median wages dropped. Poverty worsened. Inequality increased. Surpluses turned into deficits. Monthly job growth was weaker than it had been in any expansion since 1954. Economic growth was sluggish. And that’s before you count the financial crisis that unfurled on his watch. Add the collapse to the equation, and Bush’s record goes from “not so good” to “I can’t bear to look.”

[C19fan]

Romney is bringing all of Bush The Younger's economic team.

[Da Coyote]

Dear WaPo...take all of your negative descriptors of the Bush team, multiply them by a very large number, and we can then apply them to your cretinistic quota baby president.

Shove it up your smelly collective Obamas, journo-holes, your first grade understanding of econ doesn’t hack it any more.

[mnehring]

The Bush economy is one of the worst on record.

Actually, it wasn't. The two dips during President Bush's terms were mild compared to some we've had and the gains were some of the strongest. Just because the media and politicians called it the 'worst economy in 50 years' doesn't make it so. You can't argue with the math.

[ilgipper]

Ezra Klein needs to have his parents get him back to his pre-school class. They are about to have milk break.

[Gay State Conservative]

This,I guess,would be the crisis caused by Attorney Corporal Reno having warned mortgage lenders that any such lender who denies a loan to a member of the victim class will have the entire US Department of Just Us dropped on top of them.

[concerned about politics]

Yeah. That 4.3% unemployment was a real bitch. Oh, and those record stock market numbers were real killers. Even worse - gas prices were only about $1.60!

Good thing the democrats housing bill did something to stop the horrors. Good thing Oboma was elected on"hope and change" to keep poverty in the U.S. alive and well !!

Go welfare! Go Food stamps! Go homelessness! Go Oboma!

[Iron Munro]

And no one at all seems to be curious about who caused the financial panic in Sept. 2008 that put Obama in office.

[mnehring]

GDP averages for every President since 1948.

1948-1952 (Harry S. Truman, Democrat), +4.82%
1953-1960 (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican), +3%
1961-1964 (John F. Kennedy / Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrat), +4.65%
1965-1968 (Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrat), +5.05%
1969-1972 (Richard Nixon, Republican), +3%
1973-1976 (Richard Nixon / Gerald Ford, Republican), +2.6%
1977-1980 (Jimmy Carter, Democrat), +3.25%
1981-1988 (Ronald Reagan, Republican), 3.4%
1989-1992 (George H. W. Bush, Republican), 2.17%
1993-2000 (Bill Clinton, Democrat), 3.88%
2001-2008 (George W. Bush, Republican), +2.09%
2009 (Barack Obama, Democrat), -2.6%

[silverleaf]

Bush inherited the Clinton/Greenspan recession (the one republicans weren’t allowed to talk about because it was caused by us talking about it...sarc)

and then after 9 months in office, he and Cheney steered our nation and our economy through the worst domestic attack since Pearl Harbor, right in the heart of our nation’s financial center

Oh, and our last REAL MAN of a president took the battle against terror to the terrorists’ sandboxes instead of ours

and also talked India and Pakistan out of nuking each other over terror attacks in Kashmir

Miss Him Yet?
YEAH Baby!

[what's up]

It was remarkable how Bush sustained the economy even with a horrific terror attack (funny how everyone seems to forget that) and then 2 hard wars.

The week it looked like the surge was working Pelosi and her MSM friends started attacking the economy and they never let up until Obama was riding high in Fall of '08 and sure enough people got terrified of the socialism coming and the economy crashed.

The headlines were relentlessly focused on the WOT until the surge. It was amazing how fast the media high-tailed it and turned to economic issues when Bush won in Iraq.

[mnehring]

Unemployment, Bush v Obama

2002- Bush	5.8
2003- Bush	6.0
2004- Bush	5.5
2005- Bush	5.1
2006- Bush	4.6
2007- Bush	4.6
2008- Bush	5.8
2009- Obama	9.3
2010 - Obama	9.6

[RightWingConspirator]

It seems to me that the US economy really started to sink when Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took control of the Congress in 2006.

[Zman516]

Ezra seems to have forgotten that the RATs essentially took control of the economy when Pelosi and Reed became House and Senate majority leaders in January 2007. That, coupled with the seven RINO Senators like McCain so eager to please the RATs left GWB essentially helpless.

[mnehring]

Romney is bringing all of Bush The Younger's economic team.

That may be one of the first smart things he's done.

[silverleaf]

Never mind your lying eyes, comrades!

FORWARD! FORWARD!

for the commander in chief
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_z_pHUKajc

[Falcon4.0]

"The Bush economy is one of the worst on record."

Lesson.
This is what happens when you are "Bi Partisan" with democRats and give them "half" of everything they want.

[RightWingConspirator]

Of course the Dems count on their old saw, “If you tell a lie often enough, pretty soon people start to believe it.”

[nathanbedford]

You certainly wouldn’t think we’d just emerged from a decade in which large tax cuts and financial deregulation led to major economic distress.

Actually we just emerged from a decade which government overspending and government meddling in the housing mortgage industry led to a leveraging by derivatives of government forced loans which led to "major economic distress".

The problem was not generated by Bush who attempted to regulate the grotesque interference by Congress and the Clinton Administration who forced banks to make uneconomic loans to minorities and aggravated the harm with shameful cronyism of Democrats and the bureaucrats in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who personally profited from cooking the books.

The problem was not Bush, nor was it lack of regulation but too much regulation and it certainly was not deregulation that led to "distress", it was government spending and government meddling.

This is an illustration of the truth being unable to get its boots on before the lie has gone halfway around the world.

[Psalm 144]

Your reccolection is correct.

[Psalm 144]

But my spelling isn’t!

“Your RECOLLECTION is correct!”

[EternalVigilance]

This is an illustration of the truth being unable to get its boots on before the lie has gone halfway around the world.

Well, especially when the Republican Party is being run by people who refuse to boot up.

[CMAC51]

Actually the true measure of the Bush economy should start post 9/11. The post 9/11 crash had nothing to do with Bush’s economic policies, but the dramatic recovery sure did.

[Vendome]

To the author:

You need to get off the bar stool and stole living in the past. We are still four years into the saviors administration and nothing has improved.

Would that your team of psychologists could help you steer your life to the present and address the issues important now.

[SoldierDad]

But here’s one: I’m old enough to remember when George W. Bush was president. It was, after all, only four short years ago. And it didn’t go so well. The Bush economy is one of the worst on record.

Why does everyone leave out of the equation some very important facts:

1) 9/11/01 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

2) The mess created by the democrat's attempt to manipulate the housing market (Freddie Mack/Fanny Mae which CAUSED the market crash 3) The democrats took control of Congress (both houses) in January 2007, placing road block after road block in the path of the Bush Admin with respects to domestic items. 3) Democrats impeding nearly all of the Bush Admin domestic policy beginning shortly after Bush's inaguration in 2001, and continuing through 2008.

Anyone who tries to pin the entirety of the economic mess we are currently in to G.W.B. is a liar.

[Obadiah]

Ezra Klein

Journ-O-List

[elpadre]

Before you heap all of these problems on President Bush, remember the Democrats had control of both Houses during his last two years and they were working fervently to destroy the economy in order to set up Obama as the savior.

[CaribCarter]

Are you certain about the GDP for 2009? I’m not denying it; I’m just curious as to where you got it (and the whole list for that matter).

Thanks.

[mnehring]

I’ll have to google again. It was something like WSJ or IBT. Remember that it was revised a few times so that may be either post or pre-revision which may be why you think it is different.

[mnehring]

This article explains the difference a bit. It was revised down to -3.5%.

http://useconomy.about.com/od/grossdomesticproduct/p/GDP-For-2009.htm

IE, worse than what the other source had.

[Republican Wildcat]

It was, after all, only four short years ago. And it didn’t go so well. The Bush economy is one of the worst on record. Median wages dropped. Poverty worsened. Inequality increased. Surpluses turned into deficits. Monthly job growth was weaker than it had been in any expansion since 1954. Economic growth was sluggish. And that’s before you count the financial crisis that unfurled on his watch. Add the collapse to the equation, and Bush’s record goes from “not so good” to “I can’t bear to look.”

I guess you can say things like that when factual information doesn't apply to your worldview. The majority of the time the economy was sizzling after we came out of the Clinton-Gore recession he inherited (exacerbated by 9/11). The surpluses never materialized - there never was a surplus, and the deficits were back before Bush ever enacted his own budget. The financial collapse his administration repeatedly warned of starting his very first year of office and Democrats pooh-poohed - some even calling efforts to reign it in over the years as racist (a 'lynching' of Franklin Raines, etc.). The fiscal situation was problematic before, but skyrocketed once Pelosi and Reid (with Obama's help as a U.S. Senator voting for the legislation) took the reigns of Congress and it has been all downhill since then.

Timeline shows Bush, McCain warning Dems of financial and housing crisis; meltdown

How The Democrats Caused The Financial Crisis: Starring Bill Clinton's HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo

Cause of 2008 financial crisis - Democrats block regulation

Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam

[CaribCarter]

Thank you. That helps. I guess the bottom line is that no matter what the real GDP figures may be, once Obama is reelected, they will be routinely adjusted to reflect rapid growth and a booming economy.

[Col Freeper]

Read the Party's file on this American FIFTH COLUMN Member: