June 18, 2009

"If you do not move strongly... you will be a president overseeing a depression that will ultimately be greater than the Great Depression."

What George W. Bush says he was told last fall. He says: "I firmly believe it was necessary to put money in our banks to make sure our financial system did not collapse. ... I did not want there to be bread lines, to be a great depression."

65 comments:

Stephanie Tanner said...

How rude!

DKWalser said...

I disagree with much that Bush did in response to the recession in his last months in office, but I never felt he wasn't acting in good faith.

ricpic said...

Doubleya closed ranks with his class: the Hank Paulson class; the Greenwich Connecticut class; the Bar Harbor Regatta class: it's that simple.

Jeremy said...

"I firmly believe it was necessary to put money in our banks to make sure our financial system did not collapse. ... I did not want there to be bread lines, to be a great depression."

And this is contrary to what Obama has done?

Anonymous said...

Bush put money into banks.

Obama has put a gun to the banks' heads, and refused to let them pay the money back.

I'm not a fan of either. But I really hate the latter.

Jeremy said...

rocketeer67 said..."Obama has put a gun to the banks' heads, and refused to let them pay the money back."

What the hell are you talking about?

Are you saying Bush bypassed the people who ran the banks...and that banks aren't paying back TARP funds as we speak?

Read a newspaper, Dude.

hdhouse said...

rocketeer67 said...
"Obama has put a gun to the banks' heads, and refused to let them pay the money back."

And for damn good reason too. without re-establishing just a modicum of regulation these "expert bankers" would plow the same field again..if you have some control over them financially, then you have a chance. if not then you get yet again what you got last fall.

don't be blind.

Jeremy said...

Rocket Man - 10 Banks Paying Back TARP Funds

The Treasury Department has decided to allow 10 large banks to pay back their TARP funds:

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, American Express Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., BB&T Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., Northern Trust Corp., State Street Corp. and U.S. Bancorp.

“These repayments are an encouraging sign of financial repair,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement today. “But we still have work to do.”

Freeman Hunt said...

And this is contrary to what Obama has done?

There is surgery and there is evisceration.

rhhardin said...

Bailing out the banks was right - and the bank owners were not bailed out, just the obligations of the banks. Otherwise credit would have disappeared for everybody, and credit is how you get capital from where it is not needed to where it is needed. Which is to say, how you can get the economy to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing.

Stimulating the economy is a mistake, and a completely different thing, even if it's done without rampant corruption. People have to stop doing the wrong thing and do the right thing. Layoffs and closings is how that's done.

Summary, Bush was right (except at the end, when he did what Obama wanted), and Obama was and is wrong.

The Real Barack said...

Freeman:

Would you like a new job? You sound much smarter than Gibbs.

Jeremy said...

Freeman Hunt said..."There is surgery and there is evisceration."

Yeah, Bush was quite the surgeon.

Instead of "surgically" searching out and killing off Osama and his gang of thugs, Bush felt it was better to invade a sovereign nation and kill off 100's of thosands of civilians, 4,000+ American soldiers and leave another 30,000 wounded.

He left Obama holding the bag on the economy and now has the balls to say he really wanted to do something, but just didn't have time.

Right.

Jeremy said...

"Summary, Bush was right (except at the end, when he did what Obama wanted), and Obama was and is wrong."

And the alternative was?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

One thing is for sure, Bush sounds more like a president than Obama.

Automatic_Wing said...

I had to wait in an arugula line yesterday. It was horrifying.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I am sorry but is anyone else getting all horned up watching the Iranian Protestors.

There is some hot hog on those streets.

Great hair, eyes, beautiful arms, I am fucking horny for Iranian Protest Hog big time.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

also, as far as Bush goes he did nothing wrong ever.

He was the best. Love him to death.

$9,000,000,000 Write Off said...

You can't be said to hold conservative principles when you abandon the principles the first time you get scared.

I don't see Uncle Ronny or his daddy handing over $800,000,000,000 to a couple of guys shoving a note under the plexiglaas that says: "Trust us, we've got a Great Depression."

Balfegor said...

He says: "I firmly believe it was necessary to put money in our banks to make sure our financial system did not collapse. ... I did not want there to be bread lines, to be a great depression."

Well, if the banks pay all that money back, then it's sort of no harm, only half a foul (because of the implicit guarantee that we'll do it again if they run into trouble in the future).

On the other hand, what Bush II is saying sounds very good re: banks, but how does he explain propping up uncompetitive domestic automanufacturers with TARP? I mean, he even went to Congress to get authority. They denied it (correctly), so he turned around and used funds earmarked for a completely different purpose to prop up these shambolic industries. Whether Obama asked him to do it or not, he's the one who decided to do so.

And we won't see a penny of the money we shoveled at those automakers. That money is gone.

T Mack said...

Althouse, let is not forget that you voted for Obama the bastard.
You have guilt your head, and when the destitute riot in every corner of America, blood on your hands.
How will you feel then?
You won't, because you will be on honeymoon lake surrounded by tenure land, no worries in the world, the rotten world, you helped create.
Satisfied?

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

There also looks like there is some good pussy under those Iranian Women's birkas.

knox said...

T Mack, chill

traditionalguy said...

The banks are still being controlled by the Federal Reserve Bank which will still not let them lend out the money until the economy gets better. That's a chicken-egg reasoning. No lending allowed without more paid in capital, which means the economy crashes anyway and the few strongest banks will win the last man standing prize. This is a controlled crash test for the creation of bank monopoly power for picked friends of Obama/Soros, and you and I are being used as the the crash dummies.

Roger J. said...

Maguro wins the thread early!

bearbee said...

The arugula stimulus has not hit yet?!! I feel your pain.

Prior to 1930 the country experienced depressions following the Civil War and WW1 that ended in 12 months or so. The government kept out of the way of the private sector and allowed excesses and imbalances to correct. The Great Depression lasted for 10 years and the government (Hoover and FDR) attempted to micromanage every possible aspect of the economy.

Obama is modeling the Great Depression.

If Bush were still in office would he be taking similar actions?

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I bet at least 1% of the millions of Iranian protesters are going to do the dirty downlow tonight and for that I am grateful and incredibly horny.

Yike, T Mack. Life isn't that bad.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I bet there is quite a bit of guilt and shame and maybe even praying when the Iranians do the downlow...that's hot.

Freeman Hunt said...

One thing is for sure, Bush sounds more like a president than Obama.

There are men and there are...

A.W. said...

I have long felt that this just proved that when the chips were down, bush didn't believe in free markets.

Sad really.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I want to be on the streets of Tehran and smell the sweat of the Iranian protesters. I want to lick their armpits, bite their biceps and watch their hogs grow.

That would be so hot.

There is cruise areas in Tehran. I would love to go there and get some Iranian hog. Their eyes are beautiful too.

Roger J. said...

Titus: are you reunited with the rare clumbers?

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I would like to take a Q Tip and clean any smegma or cheese from their uncut hog and then save it for a dipping sauce on my flight home.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

Yes, one of them is having back problems though and has been very very slow this week.

I have to hold her ass when she shits so she doesn't fall down.

But as a parent those are the things you have to do.

Iranian Protesters, wow. Just wow, they really are beautiful.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

Why couldn't our teabaggers be as hot as the Iranian protesters?

Jeremy said...

Lem said..."One thing is for sure, Bush sounds more like a president than Obama."

That explains the 27% approval rating he carried on the way out.

Very Presidential indeed.

Duh.

knox said...

Maguro wins the thread early!

Second that.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I hope I stop being horny someday. It can become all consuming and distracting.

I think I would be fine with no sex drive.

I always tell myself that by the time I reach 40 I have to stop wanting sex all the time. Also, I am going to get in a car accident some day as I look every which way at hotties on the street. I actually whistle out the window at them and yell, "hey baby, want a blowjob".

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I got my hair done today and my hairburner is a slut. She always has like 5-6 guys she is doing at the same time. They come in and bring her flowers, fix something in the salon, text her, etc. I want on her facebook page today with her gay son at the salon looking at all the hotties she is doing. They were shirtless and hot.

She is hot though and she likes sex too. She is 48 but looks about 30. She only does guys in their 20's. that's hot.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

the democrats beat the republicans in softball. This is a disgrace. The democrats are a bunch of pussies.

Love said...

Titus, Have you ever licked Meade's asshole?

garage mahal said...

Althouse, let is not forget that you voted for Obama the bastard.
You have guilt your head, and when the destitute riot in every corner of America, blood on your hands.
How will you feel then?
You won't, because you will be on honeymoon lake surrounded by tenure land, no worries in the world, the rotten world, you helped create.
Satisfied?
.

This reads like a goodbye letter penned on a seat in a moving rental truck full of fertilizer.

Love said...

T Mack has an unusual website:

It's title: "Libertarian Milita"

Interesting.

paul a'barge said...

Remind me again ... who voted for OBama?

Jeremy said...

paul a'barge said..."Remind me again ... who voted for OBama?"

69,456,897 Americans

Too bad you didn't or couldn't vote.

Fuck off.

Chase said...

This reads like a goodbye letter penned on a seat in a moving rental truck full of fertilizer

garage, I rarely find myself in agreement with you, but that comment was excellent!

Ralph L said...

Why couldn't our teabaggers be as hot as the Iranian protesters?

Young people don't pay much in taxes--but they will when these new debts come due.
Titus, most Iranians are Muzzie, and all Muzzie males are cut, as are all Jews, except Michaelango's David.

Cedarford said...

T Mack said...
Althouse, let is not forget that you voted for Obama the bastard.
You have guilt your head, and when the destitute riot in every corner of America, blood on your hands.
How will you feel then?
.


Much as it pains me to admit it, the meltdown truly was set up under Reagan, when both Bretton Woods II and wholescale dereg of the financial industry occured.

Then Bill Clinton made it worse with Fannie and Freddie "reforms" and buying into the party line Jewish and WASP masters of Wall STreet laid out that Bretton Woods II may gut American industry, but we -will-all-get-rich, rich!! building mansions for illegals and devising triple leveraged financial derivatives. And that Magical High Tech would replace manufacturing jobs.
Dubya then spent most of his 8 years obsessing about 5,000 lightly armed Islamoids who knocked down a few buildings and his beloved noble, purple-fingered Iraqis. (Who now approve by 80% to 9% with the guy that threw shoes at him). Bush did little good, but grave harm instead with his Administrations complete negligence of the economy. The two centerpieces - tax cuts for the rich paid for by borrowed dollars from China, and "The Ownership Society" - made our national economic health even more precarious.

Obama may have to answer for bad fixes for the steaming pile of shit handed to him by Dubya....but the wreckage was not his doing.

And voters that saw half their wealth destroyed by October were left with a choice between one incoherent old dimbulb idiot that did not understand the economy, and one person as ready to lead as his teleprompter writer was. And their two idiot VPs.

No Romney, even a Jud Gregg, Jindal - or 20 people more qualified than Obama on the Dem side.(Weeding out the Dem crooks like Frank, Feinstein, Dodd who may be smart but are corrupt).

Many people voted for Obama simply because the more they saw of McCain, the less and less confidence they had in crusty, clueless codger.

DaLawGiver said...

He left Obama holding the bag on the economy

Really. Was that like Clinton left Bush holding the bag on the economy? In early March of 2001 the market began a dramatic fall that lasted about a month. Some would say, "Bush had only been in office 30 days, it's Clinton's fault!" But by late May of 2001 the economy had made a remarkable recovery and was chugging along nicely until 9/11. If Bush left Obama holding the bag then Clinton left Bush holding the bag. 2001 George Bush got us out of Clinton's financial hole. All Obama has done is spend trillions more than Bush ever dreamed of.

Quit your whining your guy won. The only bag Obama is holding is a steaming load of crap he keeps to feed you guys.

Alex said...

Leftists make many mistaken assumptions:

* Just because a person voted for Obama doesn't mean they hated Bush

* Disapproval of Bush doesn't mean they hate him

Bottom line is the lefties like to project their hatred of the man onto everyone else.

Thank god President Bush has broken his silence. He still has a bully pulpit and I hope he continues to speak out against the rampaging socialist in chief.

Alex said...

I never seen more bitter winners then the lefties after November. You'd think they'd be able to let go of all that hate - but no. Never.

An Edjamikated Redneck said...

Hell, it's either hate Bush or defend Obama.

Apparently they would rather still hate BUsh.

An Edjamikated Redneck said...

Last September I knew we needed the TARP, as it was designed, to take the the garbage out of the banks books. Similar to what was done with the S&Ls 20 years before.

I wasn't in favor of it, but it was either governemnt money or the failure of, by one estimate, 1100 banks by the end of 2008.

The money was misused by both Bush and Obama.

Now we have government owned (for all practical purposes) banks and corporations, a massive debt AND a looming depression.

You cannot spend you way to prosperity. Why can't these assholes figure that out?

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

Wait a minute I know my hogs well. I thought muzzie hogs were uncut. I know jewish hog is cut that is a given.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

That is disugsting about someone asking if I licked Meade's ass.

No I have not.

He is white, gee.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

I saw The Dark Knight last night.

It was very Dark.

David said...

ricpic said...

"Doubleya closed ranks with his class: the Hank Paulson class; the Greenwich Connecticut class; the Bar Harbor Regatta class: it's that simple."

Like, you think Ben Bernanke is part of that group? A Jewish kid from a little town in South Carolina?

Had Bush not acted, we would all be part of the "Your ass is grass" class.

TitusWantsToDoIranianProtestors said...

"Doubleya closed ranks with his class: the Hank Paulson class; the Greenwich Connecticut class; the Bar Harbor Regatta class: it's that simple."

The one redeeming quality of Bush. It's really not Bar Harbor though. Think more Kenneckbuckport, fabulous.

Anonymous said...

Rocket Man - 10 Banks Paying Back TARP Funds

Wow! 10 banks!

605, most of whom had the funds literally forced on them against their will, to go.

bagoh20 said...

I won't pretend to know how to save an international banking system, I doubt, Obama, Bush, or any other President does either. so when the numerous "experts" say "do this", I think you do it. Wouldn't it be irresponsible to not?
-
This makes ideology very important. If your experts follow ideology that has never succeeded at firing up an economy or raising standards of living on it's own (socialism), you are a dangerous dreamer.

That's why this lifelong Democrat hasn't voted blue since Carter. Damn, kids are stupid.

Jason said...

Here is what I wrote at the time the first bailout package got shot down by Congress... I supported the bank bailout at the time, and I still think it was the right thing to do. Here's the conservative case for it, in my book:

I hope I've got good street cred among most of my conservative readers. I'm a conservative. Almost libertarian (though I'm personally not comfortable with abortion, and dislike the isolationist kook fringe of the libertarian party as well as the Ron Paul morons). Look, I grok the small government idea. I'm down with the right on that.

But the time to be sticking to those principles was a decade ago. Small government studs should have deflated Fannie and Freddie 10 years ago, when we could have done so without causing a major dislocation. If we were serious about small government, as conservatives, we should have been manning the barricades when regulators pushed banks into making more questionable loans. There were a few voices in the wilderness. But the Denny Hastert Congress went along to get along.

The time for small government idealism is in preventing the need for a large bailout package. But having winked and nodded at the "implicit" (?!?!?!?!) backing of Fannie and Freddie for a generation, even as warning signs piled up, now we find ourselves in the position where the U.S. Treasury is the ONLY player left in the marketplace who can function as a marketmaker for very foundational assets.... assets which actually have an intrinsic value, unlike those stupid internet stocks in the last bubble... and these Republican retards who all wax rhapsodic about the benefits of a free and fluid market at all other times, decide to throw a crowbar in the spokes out of a mistimed adherence to a free market principle which they don't really understand.


The whole thing is here: http://iraqnow.blogspot.com/2008/09/dc.html

somefeller said...

"That's why this lifelong Democrat hasn't voted blue since Carter. Damn, kids are stupid."

Carter's last election was almost 30 years ago. Whatever kind of Democrat you might want to say you are or were, you sure aren't a lifelong one.

Eric said...

Bush's weakness is that he's basically a decent guy, and Paulson took advantage of it.

And he was never a fiscal conservative, so it's not like he was abandoning principles - what did people think "compassionate conservatism" meant?

Methadras said...

I'm just going to have to say this. If Bush hadn't passed a new entitlement in the form of prescription drug care for the elderly to the tune of over a trillion dollars, we might be in this mess. If he passed some modicum of welfare reform coupled with social security reform instead of abandoning it at the first sign of resistance, we wouldn't be having this issue. If he had actually spent time reducing the largess of government like he said he would, we wouldn't be dealing with this issue. If he had been actually put in as much effort on the domestic front as he did on the war and his foreign policy, we wouldn't be having these issues. There is so much more that he could have done with respect to curtailing the ever present growth of government into our lives in the form of new taxation offsets, a more forceful approach to domestic policies, and not worrying about the pussy leftist had to say, we wouldn't be in this mess. President Bush might be trying to rehabilitate his image and that's fine on the war and the foreign issues, but domestically he was pitiful and it showed.

Anonymous said...

Althouse doesn't have to explain to anyone her reasons for voting Obama. I asked twice and never got a reply. On the other hand, she doesn't need to be defended by others as I am sure she can rip a new one into to anyone she pleases. Whatever her reasons, and my thoughts on the subject don't wander too far from T Mack's, except for leveling blame (she is a professor at a left wing school) I do wish she did not pull the Obama lever. I found Wally Ballou's response quite "interesting". Sic 'em, boy!

bagoh20 said...

"Carter's last election was almost 30 years ago. Whatever kind of Democrat you might want to say you are or were, you sure aren't a lifelong one."

Yea , I know. I'm afraid to change registration now: This administration might label me "disoriented and confused". Of course that's more accurate than "democrat" for me.

I bet a lot of people are like me though. You register Dem as a kid, cause that's what kids do. Then life happens and you grow, but never bother to change your barcode.

I do enjoy the campaign mail around election time. It's amazing what crap is fed to the home team.