How did Bush contribute to our bad economy?

Question

People are always blaming Bush for the way our economy is, and I'm just wondering what it was he has specifically done that has made us go into the recession we are now. And if it wasn't solely Bush's fault than what other factors were there?

Unbiased answers please, I don't care whether or not you like the president. I don't like him either, but I just want to know what lead us to this state.

Answer 1

Is the President our leader? As our leader for 8 years he could or should talk to the CEO's of major businesses and people who run financial institutions and encourage them to do what is best for the American people. The war is a factor in our economy. I think if the President would speak to an individuals sense of doing what is right for others then we would not have problems like the mortgage crisis. Employers would'nt be so quick to send jobs to foreign countries.

Answer 2

War in Iraq has cost 100 billions of dollars that the US has borrowed from other companies.  This borrowed money made the Fed lower the interest rates.  This has dropped the value of the dollar against foreign currencies and commodities like oil, gold, and foreign foods and minerals.

He is the leader of our country.  There are hundreds of thousands of federal employees. And, tens of thousands of these employees work for the IRS, Federal Reserve, FTC, SEC, and other agencies in charge of supervising and administering the banking systems, credit and banking systmes that run our economy. THEY HAVE OBVIOUSLY FAILED AT THIS.

Further, as the political leader of our country - and social leader like some said Clinton was during Blow-gate - - He should have been on the forefront of the mortgage and gasoline crisis.  All of the president's men should have been able to forecast the housing collapse. I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.  Of course, no one wanted to listen to me and my bubble theory.  While the president was pressing the "benefit" of universal homeownership - I was warning people about buying houses they could not afford.  The BUSH ADMINISTRATION NEVER DID ANY OF THIS PUBLIC OUTREACH OR EDUCATION.

Answer 3

He started a lot of wars, and a lot of people are saying that it's never going to end, and some say that we will win. Bush agrees with the people who believe in US victory, so he continues to battle and....

war costs a lot

Answer 4

By getting elected twice.

Answer 5

Obviously neither the president or the congress are responsible for eveything that happens, good or bad although they tend to take credit for the former and get blamed for the latter.

Two things that Bush did that really hurt the economy:

1.  He borrowed to pay for a war, thus driving up the deficit and ensuring that the only Americans suffering from the conflict are the military and their families.

2.  He let congress spend like a bunch of drunken sailors.  I believe it was 2006 before he issued a single veto.

We are $9 trillion in debt which has contributed to the weakness of the dollar, and oil is priced in dollars so...well you can see where this is going.

Early on Cheney said "Reagan taught us that deficits don't matter" which is extraordinarily even for this particularly crass politician.

Answer 6

Bush has some responsibility for his involvement in the Iraq war.  The war has been costly and has led to an increased deficit.  Congress has backed the reckless spending through the spending laws they have passed.  The Federal Reserve is responsible for controlling the economy but has done a very poor job.

Answer 7

The President doesn't have a great deal to do with the state of the economy. The Federal Reserve Board has a larger role, and it tends not to listen to anyone.

That said, President Bush has been financing a costly occupation of Iraq for more than five years by merely borrowing money and not obtaining additional revenues through tax increases or other methods. That has caused some squeezing in the credit markets and hurt the value of the dollar.

If Iraq was worth occupying, it probably was worth the sacrifice of a bit of a tax hike to help pay for it. Right now, we're passing the burden of debt to our children.  

Answer 8

He addressed terrorism.

Answer 9

We have never before been in a war while taxes have been cut. Bush's tax cuts have lasted long beyond their ability to provide any stimulus effect they may have had. This, coupled with the war on terror, has created a record-setting deficit where once there was a surplus.

Conservative emphasis on deregulation helped create the housing bubble, which, having burst, is leaving many people destitute.

The slow pace of rebuilding New Orleans has hurt the economy in  that section of the country.

Failure to develop any comprehensive energy policy after 9/11 has helped create 44-plus gasoline.

Answer 10

There are a two stupid things Bush have done:

-doubled national debt = more interest to pay

-started two wars = waste of cash

Roots of the problem: The collapse of the real estate bubble and US consumers maxed out on debt.

Answer 11

Poor decision-making led to the state that we are in...Its only the fault of Bush because he should have seen it coming and should have made some decisions to change it...

Answer 12

Well, economy is a cycle, you always end up with depressions at some point, but he didn't help by going in a war he could not win