I thought this was interesting, correct me if I'm wrong. Republicans took over Congress in 1994. Democrats took over Congress in 2006.
seems to me the two bumps in that graph are from 9/11 and the 08 financial/housing crash. neither can easily be blamed on the actions of congress in the preceding few years. and its a lot more complicated than that anyway.
It is also true that Clinton took over in 1993 and Bush took over in 2001. Near the end of Clinton's term a normal business cycle recession began. Bush over-reacted in attempting to deal with it, left interest rate too low for too long, failed to regulate mortgage lending practices, his SEC changed the net capital rule to allow only the biggest banks in the country to TRIPLE their LEVERAGE which necessitated the TARP to prevent them from failing. Bush cut taxes twice (01 and 03) but with the annual deficit this will never be paid back (it is just like the stimulus), fought a war in Iraq that we didn't need to fight (1 trillion) with no tax to pay for it, passed Medicare prescription drug coverage for $720 billion for the first 10 years with no tax to pay for it. He doubled the national debt from $5 trillion to $11 trillion in his 8 years. The republican easy money policy combined with lack of regulation created the fiscal crisis in 2008 (they owned the house, senate and white house from 2001-2006, who else owned it?), and the high unemployment beginning it 2008 under Bush's watch will be hard to bring down. The republicans created the crisis. Obama and the dems have been tapped to handle the recovery. What Bush and the repubs did to the economy in 2001-2006 is no different than what Fuld did at Lehman Bros. over the same timeframe, they jugged the horse so it would run faster and faster, right up until the horse died.
Wow...I didn't realize Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid were Republicans. I also didn't realize the Congress that put the brakes on Clinton were Democrats.
The repubs had the house, senate and white house from 2001-2006. They had it all, all the majorities. Why are they not responsible?
They are responsible.............for the level line during that time. Dems take over and...whoosh! Oh yeah, I forgot the mantra.....
Let's see, the banking meltdown occurred in the fall of 2008, on Bush's watch. TARP was done in the fall of 2008, on Bush's watch. That was the financial crisis, on Bush's watch. See when the housing bubble grew up, 2003 - 2006, on the republican watch. It was a multi-year problem in its creation, on the repub watch. Sure unemployment stayed low, based on loose money and low interest rates. Anyone can produce a hot economy for a few years, if you don't understand or care about the consequences of poor policy that will result in ensuing years. Growth of sub-prime lending We have this from the Chicago Fed in 2007: Comparing the prime and subprime mortgage markets - Chicago Fed Letter Articles | Find Articles at CBS MoneyWatch.com The fiscal crisis was created while the repubs had control of the house, senate, and WH in 2002 - 2006. The bubble really burst 2 years later in fall 2008, which just shows that what happens today is not created today, many of these issues take years to create and the effects don't roll through the system for more years. Most folks recognize this is the way things work. A graph can show anything. Let's look at Merrill Lynch's profits for a few years (in Millions): http://www.ml.com/annualmeetingmaterials/2007/ar/pdfs/ar_2007_sel_financial_data.pdf Looks pretty good, except the company was being run in the ground on excess leverage and excess risk, and they were sold for .30 on the dollar in 2008, in a deal where Bank of America overpaid at that price and their shareholder value was so diminished they fired their CEO for doing the deal. Merrill Lynch was crashing. And as the US govt. under the repubs was creating a housing bubble that did not exist in 2001 but did exist in 2006 under their watch, the US economy was about to come crashing down. There are appearances, then there are realities. Like I said, anyone can make a set of number look good for a while, if you don't care about the eventual outcome and long term affects. Do you believe that the 9/11 attack, 9 months into Bush's presidency, and 7 years into republican house and senate control, was 100% the responsibility of the republicans, or "was it Clinton's fault"?
All after Dems took over Congress. The rest of your post doesn't change a thing about what the graph tells me. I blame the fanatical muslims that planned and carried out the attack. So, I see you're someone who blames America for everything. I see why you're an Obamapologist.
Good thing you live in Houston. Try coming back to Louisiana where we've been led by Democrats (almost completely) for the past 100 years. Why are we last in education, income, health, quality of life, etc.? It's a one word answer...DEMOCRATS! How are you going to blame that one on Bush? :hihi: Also go back and check again on the housing bubble. If the bleeding heart liberals weren't attemtping to buy votes from minorities and un/undereducated people, we wouldn't have had this mess. Thanks Barney Frank! Also...just curious. Why do you live in Texas? Are you another of the many who had to leave the state because of the mess the Democrats here have left us with?
So, Merrill Lynch should be doing great also, if multi-year trends can always be believed, and they mean just what the graph looks like? Go try to buy some Merrill Lynch stock; it does not exist anymore. Also, are you telling me the congress runs the country, and the president doesn't do anything? What was Bush's role in the financial collapse in 2008? Did Greenspan have a role (he retired in 2006)? Are you saying the president has no responsibility to protect the nation? That doesn't make sense. It is interesting that NewsMax, a right wing organization was clearly attacking Clinton in this article, so the right thought the president played a role, and that is was Clinton's fault, not Bush (who was president at the time, and had been for 9 months). But, "it's Clinton's fault".
