Bank failures, record foreclosures, worst inflation in 30 years, record budget deficits and national debt?

Question

record consistently high fuel prices, food prices sky rocketing, two on going wars with massive spending and no apparent end in sight...they are stealing manhole covers, cemetary vases, and parts of fire hydrants to sell for scrap for a few dollars, food stamps recipients rising fast.... etc...etc...

As President Bush get ready to leave office after 8 years of his GOP style presidency, the question must be asked......

What is going on with the USA???

Answer 1

Well don`t blame the banks for all evil`s of two wars that are going on so I am here today doing the unthinkable defending the banks  If only the American people had questioned the the slithery and slimmy movement of . policy when going to war against Iraq.  We the borrowers may not be in such a mess as fuel prices would not have rocketed so.  JUST THINK HOW MUCH FUEL IS BEING USED TO FLY THE TROOPS OF COALITION OF WILLING IN AND OUT OF iraq AND ALSO WHAT IS DAILY USED BY THE MILITARY THERE SO is the Banks at fault or BUSH AND CO????my guess is the latter.Do you not think so????

Answer 2

Only some of what you said is even close to the truth, and all taken place in the last 6 month of his office terms. Where have you been living the last Seven years, not 8? Unemployment was at an all time low of 4.5%, personal income up higher than ever, minimum wage increased to its highest mark, the manufacturing and service industry was at an all time high in decades, the stock market is Twice what it was under Clinton, first time home owners and buyers was the highest ever, the housing market sky rocketed (until the Individual over extended themsleves by taking sub-prime loans with no investment) the working wage went UP.

As to gas prices; With India and China consuming more and more, it has been and will continue to be a supply and demand issue, and the price being set by OPEC. The problem is that most people do not understand supply and demand economics and what the structure is of the cost of gas per gallon. Do you know that we are using more oil now than EVER before! People are driving at an alarming rate. Do you realize how much petroleum’s used in making plastics and then how many things we use are made of plastics? The oil company makes about 12 cents a gallon as profit. The rest is made up of Federal and State taxes, the cost of exploration and the cost of production, Refining and then the cost of the additives that we have to put in the gas (we call it designer gas, thanks to the environmentalist wacko's). Do you know that we have not built a refinery in almost 60 years? (thanks again environmentalist).  The refineries that we have are working at capacity and that is not enough to keep up with demand. Do you know that we hardly get any oil from the Middle East? Yes we are not in Iraq for oil, they have enough to export but not as much as you think. Even iran imports most of their oil. Most people think that is where it all comes from. Not true. We get our oil form Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and Africa, in that order. What we get from Saudi is a very small %. You want the cost of gas to drop....STOP driving or at the very least cut back 10% and you'll see gas prices drop. In addition to that we need to open up the ANWR for drilling and off our coasts  and the Gulf, as well as exploit the new found pools in the Wyoming Range (thanks again environmentalist) OR come up with an alternate fuel. Even if you had a viable economic alternative fuel source, the production and the distribution of it is  decades away. Wake up people, cut back!

Dude get an education!

Answer 3

The biggest problem that we have right now is lack of adequate oil supplies given the rapidly rising demand from India and China.

this is a problem that was over 30 years on the making.

The environmentalists shut down much of the oil drilling in the United States of America. That has limited our supplies of domestic oil and has forced us to spend billions of dollars overseas importing oil.

The import of oil causes a huge financial drain on the united States of America economy.

Also during the first oil crisis in the 1970s we developed a plan to build 2,000 nuclear power plants by the year 2000.

If we had built those nuclear power plants we would not have the energy crisis that we have now. We would have abundant supplies of cheap electric power.

Much of the energy supplied by oil can also be supplied by electricity.

We would be importing much less oil and we would have a much smaller drain on our economy.

Unfortunately Environmental hysteria over nuclear pwoer plants shut down the construction of the nuclear power plants.

We need to consider this crisis a wake up call. We need to stop policy making by environmental hysteria and base our policy making on what will give us the strongest economy.

We must start building those nuclear power plants with the same determination the we used to put a man on the moon in the 1960s.

Fortunately the battery technology for electric cars has improved dramatically over the last few years.

If we start building those nuclear power plants now we will have sufficient quantities of generating power coming online as we start seeing large numbers of electric cars and plug in hybrids coming on the market.

An electric car with modern battery technology can travel 20 miles on 5 to 10 kilowatt hours of electricity depending on the size and weight of the car.

Compare that with the cost of gasoline.

A nuclear power plant produces electricity at a cost of 3 cents per kilowatt hour!!!

Gasoline cannot compete with that on the basis of cost.

Also with the high cost of oil the cost of heating oil has skyrocketed.

Many people will not be able to heat thier homes this winter because they will not be able to pay for heating oil.

If we had cheap and abundant electricity from nuclear power plants they could heat their homes with electricity which is now much cheaper than oil if that electricity comes from a nuclear power plant.

Ironically far more people will die this winter from the cold and lack of ability to buy oil to heat their homes than have ever died in an accident at a nuclear power plant.

The fault lies with both the Republicans and the Democrats. Our politicians have shown a distinct lack of leadership and foresight in this area of energy policy and our economy.

Answer 4

Notice that all this started happening after the Dems took over Congress.

I'm not blaming anyone, but I'm just saying....

Answer 5

Amazing how the first six years of his Presidency moved forward with a positive economy and relatively cheap energy.  Everything started to slide badly after November 2006.  It is just an odd coincidence that there was an election then that removed the Republican majority in the Senate, thus turning the legislative branch strongly to the Democrats.  

I'm sure that had NOTHING to do with it, aren't you?

I saw your note re: the gas prices.  Take a look at the actual data.  The gas price per gallon in 11/06 was about $2.35.  Since then we have had an uninterrupted increase.  If you want to call someone a liar better have proof...

Answer 6

Bush's presidency WASN'T a "GOP style" presidency, it was a sad example of how the neo-conservatives have taken over the tradition conservative party.

I'm a conservative, and I've never, nor have any of the other true conservative people that I know ever associated him as a representatives for our beliefs.

Do a little research on classic liberalism and you'll see what I mean.

Us true conservatives are sick of Bush, and we're even more sick of the entire right wing being lumped into his category.

And by the way, Laissez fair was correct about the gas prices, he's not lying.

As far as bank failures, fuel prices, and the record foreclosures go, he only had a small stake in these failures.

The banks were stupid and lent money to people who couldn't afford it.

The foreclosures and "mortgage crisis" is a ruse. There is no mortgage crisis, there is a sub-prime mortgage crisis. People who bought houses they could afford with money that was borrowed in a responsible manner aren't experiencing any more foreclosures than normal. Stupid people who either weren't financially ready to buy a house, bought into the "house-flipping" fad, or just bought as much house as possible in a show of Federal Reserve-bubble-induced greed deserved to lose their houses. They made an investment, investments are risky, they gambled with the risk, they lost. They shouldn't be bailed out with my tax dollars.

And as far as fuel prices go Bush isn't at fault.

The high gas prices are caused by supply and demand, OPEC limiting supply, the Federal Reserve creating inflation to deal with bubbles they created thus destroying the value of the dollar, Democrats for not letting us drill our natural resources here that we purchased with the intent to DRILL, Republicans for multiple wars that have destabilized the Middle East, fuel hungry Americans buying large SUVs, China and India developing at a rapid rate, futures speculators, no new refineries being built since the 70's, the general public being too incompetent to realize the benefits and safety of nuclear power, people being unable to accept the idea of alternative fuels like compressed natural gas and clean diesel, lack of coal-to-liquid fuel, overfilling of the strategic petroleum reserves, Clinton's blocking of drilling in Alaska, and natural disasters.

Bush was responsible for one of those things. If I'm keeping tally correctly the Democrats are responsible for 3.

And Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid blocking even the VOTE to open up our natural reserves is just plain childish.

They should be put in the stocks and have rotten tomatoes hurled at them for putting the American peoples' energy future at risk just because their little brains are afraid to let it seem like Bush may have been right about something.

Those two little lapdogs of Satan make me sick.