During the first six years of George Bush's presidency, America prospered. During the last two years, we experienced a harsh decline, that accelerated even faster over the next few years after he left office. So, because the decline began during his term, it MUST have been his fault, right?
I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that.
You see, the President does not have complete power. In fact, he is just one aspect of the federal government. In fact, when the congress is against him, he's actually over-powered by them.
For example, during Clinton's term, he was out numbered. He began his presidency acting very liberally, doing things like trying to enact universal healthcare. However, he could accomplish very little due to his being outnumbered. It's a good thing. We have a system that prevents the President from being able to do whatever he wants throughout his entire term by giving the people the opportunity to have him outnumbered every two years. But I digress. It was clear that he could not enforce his agenda, so he took a more conservative approach by giving in, mostly to Newt Gingrich, and doing things like cutting spending, and balancing the budget.
By 2006, Bush was outnumbered 2-1, and was forced to cooperate with liberals in order to get anything done. Things like bailouts, and stimulus packages, and expansion of wasteful government programs. These led to huge damages to our economy. After Obama took office, he then amplified these things by enacting them in a much bigger way. But that's another story altogether.
But Bush took us into an illegal war, using lies to justify! Also not true. Not one law was broken in order go to war. All congressional approval necessary was given, and even voted on by many of the liberal politicians condemning it. And no lies were told in order to go to war. False intelligence does not mean that it was a lie, it just means that it turned out to be wrong. It happens. In fact, during Bill Clinton's term, he strongly advocated that we go to war with Iraq, because of WMD's. As did MANY democrats, whom after the fact, suddenly act as though they were against it from the start. It's like when a bunch of kids are playing around, knock over a lamp, and then all but one of them jump away from the lamp, and then point their fingers at the one.
Neither of these things, however, are what caused the collapse that we're facing now. It predates Obama, and it predates Bush. It even predates the first Bush. In fact, it goes all the way back to Jimmy Carter.
The real cause of the collapse was the Community Reinvestment Act. If you don't know about it, research it. Read the actual act. Signing this into law guaranteed the eventual collapse of the housing market, and thus, everything else.
The Community Reinvestment Act forces banks to give loans to people who cannot necessarily afford them. In order to comply, a certain percentage of loans had to be given to those in lower income brackets. What this meant is that even if the vast majority of people in a certain income bracket were considered huge risks, it didn't matter. If these banks wanted to stay in business, they had to grant a certain number of loans regardless of risk. When a person with a high lending risk takes out a loan to buy a house, then the risk is that they will default. Banks can't afford to just buy houses for people, so they are inevitable forced to foreclose on the home, which costs more money than it does to have a lender that makes their payments.
This law was then amplified over the next few decades by liberal politicians, like the Clintons and Janet Reno.
This resulted a large housing bubble. Hundreds of thousands homes were being purchased, that otherwise would not have been. This was the housing boom that we experienced a few years ago. It was a great deal for many for a short period of time. Houses were being built all across the country, and home values were at an all time high.
But, it was artificial, and doomed to implode.
Inevitably, a few short years into the artificial boom, hundreds of thousands of homes were defaulted on, forcing banks into issuing foreclosures. Now you have way more homes than you have homeowners. Hundreds of thousands of empty homes. Supply and demand forces the value of these homes down, since there is a far greater supply than demand. Now even those who can afford to keep their homes owe far more than their homes are worth to begin with. People all over the country lost astronomical amounts of money in their real estate investments, damaging companies, which eventually led to fewer jobs, as everything began to collapse.
Bush didn't destroy the economy. If you want to blame someone, blame Jimmy Carter. Blame Bill and Hillary Clinton. Blame Janet Reno. Bush's hands are clean on this one.
I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that.
You see, the President does not have complete power. In fact, he is just one aspect of the federal government. In fact, when the congress is against him, he's actually over-powered by them.
For example, during Clinton's term, he was out numbered. He began his presidency acting very liberally, doing things like trying to enact universal healthcare. However, he could accomplish very little due to his being outnumbered. It's a good thing. We have a system that prevents the President from being able to do whatever he wants throughout his entire term by giving the people the opportunity to have him outnumbered every two years. But I digress. It was clear that he could not enforce his agenda, so he took a more conservative approach by giving in, mostly to Newt Gingrich, and doing things like cutting spending, and balancing the budget.
By 2006, Bush was outnumbered 2-1, and was forced to cooperate with liberals in order to get anything done. Things like bailouts, and stimulus packages, and expansion of wasteful government programs. These led to huge damages to our economy. After Obama took office, he then amplified these things by enacting them in a much bigger way. But that's another story altogether.
But Bush took us into an illegal war, using lies to justify! Also not true. Not one law was broken in order go to war. All congressional approval necessary was given, and even voted on by many of the liberal politicians condemning it. And no lies were told in order to go to war. False intelligence does not mean that it was a lie, it just means that it turned out to be wrong. It happens. In fact, during Bill Clinton's term, he strongly advocated that we go to war with Iraq, because of WMD's. As did MANY democrats, whom after the fact, suddenly act as though they were against it from the start. It's like when a bunch of kids are playing around, knock over a lamp, and then all but one of them jump away from the lamp, and then point their fingers at the one.
Neither of these things, however, are what caused the collapse that we're facing now. It predates Obama, and it predates Bush. It even predates the first Bush. In fact, it goes all the way back to Jimmy Carter.
The real cause of the collapse was the Community Reinvestment Act. If you don't know about it, research it. Read the actual act. Signing this into law guaranteed the eventual collapse of the housing market, and thus, everything else.
The Community Reinvestment Act forces banks to give loans to people who cannot necessarily afford them. In order to comply, a certain percentage of loans had to be given to those in lower income brackets. What this meant is that even if the vast majority of people in a certain income bracket were considered huge risks, it didn't matter. If these banks wanted to stay in business, they had to grant a certain number of loans regardless of risk. When a person with a high lending risk takes out a loan to buy a house, then the risk is that they will default. Banks can't afford to just buy houses for people, so they are inevitable forced to foreclose on the home, which costs more money than it does to have a lender that makes their payments.
This law was then amplified over the next few decades by liberal politicians, like the Clintons and Janet Reno.
This resulted a large housing bubble. Hundreds of thousands homes were being purchased, that otherwise would not have been. This was the housing boom that we experienced a few years ago. It was a great deal for many for a short period of time. Houses were being built all across the country, and home values were at an all time high.
But, it was artificial, and doomed to implode.
Inevitably, a few short years into the artificial boom, hundreds of thousands of homes were defaulted on, forcing banks into issuing foreclosures. Now you have way more homes than you have homeowners. Hundreds of thousands of empty homes. Supply and demand forces the value of these homes down, since there is a far greater supply than demand. Now even those who can afford to keep their homes owe far more than their homes are worth to begin with. People all over the country lost astronomical amounts of money in their real estate investments, damaging companies, which eventually led to fewer jobs, as everything began to collapse.
Bush didn't destroy the economy. If you want to blame someone, blame Jimmy Carter. Blame Bill and Hillary Clinton. Blame Janet Reno. Bush's hands are clean on this one.
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