Last edited by Andres; 10-31-2008 at 15:55.
Andres is our Lord and Master and could strike us down with thunderbolts or beer cans at any time. ~Askthepizzaguy
Ja mata, TosaInu
There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford
My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation.
No one person even the president of the united states can be blamed for what is going on...
he didn´t help none...that´s for sure....but saying it´s his fault is going too far.
"If given the choice to be the shepherd or the sheep... be the wolf"
-Josh Homme
"That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!"
- Calvin
Administrations do influence the economy, as do various tax/estate/regulatory laws etc. enacted by Congress. At best, government is only one player in a very complex game. The problem is that they think their role to be more central than it can be.
The important thing to remember, in assigning blame, is that there is almost always a multiple-year lag time between government change and economic impact.
E.G. Congress' efforts to promote minority home ownership were begun in the latter-1990s. They did not intend to create a sub-rime lending derivative market...but that is what happened as Wall Street pursued the high basis point return and accepted the risk that went with it. Obviously, 12-15 years later, there are some problems with this. Good on intentions, not so good on long-term unintended consequences.
On the bright side, there's plenty of blame to go around. Congress was controlled by the GOP at the time, so they signed off on it even though the Dems led. Then, with GB43, a GOP admin pushed to continue these programs with Congressional Dem support against those who sought to reign in FM & FM. Then, the "money is the greatest game" crowd packaged all the debts into seemingly lucrative bundles of joy -- and lots of folks bought into it.
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Do you hate Drug Cartels? Do You believe that the Drug War is basically a failure? Do you think that if we Legalized the Cannabis market, that use rates would drop, we could put age limits on cannabis, tax it, and other wise regulate it? Join The ORG Marijuana Policy Project!
In American politics, similar to British politics, we have a choice between being shot in our left testicle or the right testicle. Both parties advocate pissing on the little guys, only in different ways and to a different little guy.
Bush deserves blame. Clinon deserves blame. Bush I deserves blame. Reagan deserves blame. Carter deserves blame. Bankers deserve blame. Credit agencies deserve blame. Mortgage companies and housing builders deserve blame. Congress deserves blame. And, most of all, the American citizens deserve blame for becoming lazy and apathetic, not doing our utmost to root out our own corrupt officials and spending like there was no tomorrow.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then, the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
If the economy were going swell (which you are hard pressed to find it doing under a Republican in modern times) he would take personal credit. So yes, personal blame for when it falters is only applying the same standard he himself (or any President really) would have you apply if things were looking up. He got up and bragged everytime the overall trend of job loss was temporarily in reverse, so why not blame him when things are bad?
Koga no Goshi
I give my Nihon Maru to TosaInu in tribute.
Bookmarks