Saturday, August 7, 2010

The Geography of the Bush-Obama Recession - Graphically Displayed

7 comments:

Belle said...

I don't see the recession as being any of President Obama's doing. George Bush is responsible for the tax cuts to the rich, deregulations, tax breaks for corporations and two wars. President Obama was handed a catastrophe.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you, Belle except this started back further ... the deregulation, etc...
It just hit tip-over under Bush II.
Those who gained with all that are keeping up a steady stream of hogwash to keep us from working on considered decisons to fix the mess.
So far that has worked too well...
This Prez may not be as liberal as many hoped but I'm damned glad, every single day, that it's not John McCain in the White House right now...

alaskapi

Philip Munger said...

belle & alaskapi,

no president can avoid responsibility for a very serious recession that lingers well into the second year of his presidency. were he more agressive in dealing with this, I'd be more generous.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but doesn't that require a congress willing to push through his aggressive policies? The Dems watered the various proposed recovery programs down to try to get Repugs to play along....and they never intended to from the start.

Anonymous said...

Phil- I agree that no President can avoid reponsibility in a serious recession - it is the linkage to Bush I take issue with.

I have plenty of fears that President Obama is too moderate to really turn some of the entrenched corporate players out on the street but AM glad he rattles their cages enough that they are spending 3mil a week on lobbying against his policies (as reported by the WaPo ).

I am tired of so many obscurantic obstructionists in Congress wasting our time and money in the face of the pain so many are facing in unemployment, lost homes, etc . Far too many of those yahoos have no plan other than to stir the mess they have made and hope we all pass out from the stench so they can go back to the same old, same old which got us in this place.

I am tired of the neo-liberal ownership/privatization mantra and watching the Tea Parties run with it to the extremes they are is giving me permanent dyspepsia...especially since it plays right into the hands of the economic obscurantists.

I'm tired of big business witholding support and investment in this country to advance economic interests above human beings in a sick rerun of capitialism at it's worst...

This President is doing ok- but ok may not be near enough for these times we are in...
And that worries me.

But I'm still relieved beyond measure that John McCain is not sitting in the oval office playing whatever stupid game-of-the-moment strikes his fancy.

alaskapi

Belle said...

I agree with all your points alaskapi.

I also think that two years is not long enough to fix this terrible mess we are in, especially when the Republicans and corporations are fighting against everything President Obama is trying to do.

It took years and years to create the mess and it will take years and years to fix it.

If the Republicans get the majority in November and win the next election, it will never be fixed and we will be a nation of lords and serfs.

Anonymous said...

When it all hit the fan towards the end of the Bush malAdministration, economics experts were saying it was going to take at least a couple of years to turn it around, we were in for some tough times, and several referenced the Japanese economic collapse which they haven't yet fully pulled out of. So this doesn't surprise me.

What surprises me is that the republicans have their knickers in such a twist that they'll vote against help for the 9/11 first responders, and they'll vote against extending unemployment benefits. These are truly no-brainers and hopefully they'll be called upon to explain their decisions when election time rolls around.

Ivyfree