Scapegoats
In another group someone claimed George W Bush was a “scapegoat”. With that in mind, let's catalog the drivers that have created this Recession, and make sure we agree when these collective actions happened.
KidzRgone has chosen to keep his LifePath private.
First, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. During the 8 years the Bush administration was in charge, we saw a dramatic expansion in available credit to borrowers who where not able to quality for conventional mortgages. This boom in new buyers drove up housing prices, creating a bubble of newfound wealth in the equity of homes, and creating a cycle of borrowing against newly inflated home equity. This bubble was evident to economists and consumers alike, yet in the absence of any legislation or government controls - the trend continued to balloon.
Second, Iraq. The cost of our dramatic increase in military spending provided a huge drain on the Federal Budget, as services that were heretofore part of the military budget became privatized and outsourced. Companies like Blackwater and Halliburton received huge military contracts to provide services - often without bids or oversight. Now, seven years later, we're uncovering fraud, waste, and violations of human rights that reflect both the size of the contracts and the Government's basic lack of ability to oversee or administer these programs. The elixir of privatization and deregulation created an environment that was ripe for fraud and misuse. In hindsight, is this any surprise?
Third, abandonment of a US economic vision. For 8 years the Bush administration focused on security and fear, while any vision of our economic future got put on hold. Gasoline taxes, emission standards or innovation in our core sectors were all either ignored or frowned upon.
Fourth, the environment. As George Bush dragged his heals on any environmental science, things like Kyoto were left unsigned. As former Vice President Al Gore raised the nation's awareness of Global Warming, the Bush Administration sought to minimize and obfuscate the science around climate change. As a result, government funding for new energy was back-burnered, and industries that count on the Government to legislate change and create a level playing field continued to build and produce gas guzzling trucks and automobiles. While world governments have used gas taxes to drive both conservation and innovation, the Bush administration essentially subsidized fossil fuel burning automobiles. The result, our energy industries are desperately behind, and our automotive industry is almost a decade behind in thinking about alternative energy.
Fifth, Wall Street and Banking. For 8 years there has been a dramatic expansion in the services and fast consolidation of what had been separate and in some cases regulated industries. As banking, brokerage, insurance, and financial services companies acquired and merged - the speed of these transactions far exceeded the regulatory ability or resources (not by accident) resulting in such things as credit default swaps that now even seasoned wall-streeters say were hard to understand.
The Bush Recession isn't the result of a single bad decision, or even actions out of our control. For 8 years Bush allowed a handful of private industries to operate without oversight or review, with a focus on short term gains, as environmental and world economic issues have loomed large. view link
Second, Iraq. The cost of our dramatic increase in military spending provided a huge drain on the Federal Budget, as services that were heretofore part of the military budget became privatized and outsourced. Companies like Blackwater and Halliburton received huge military contracts to provide services - often without bids or oversight. Now, seven years later, we're uncovering fraud, waste, and violations of human rights that reflect both the size of the contracts and the Government's basic lack of ability to oversee or administer these programs. The elixir of privatization and deregulation created an environment that was ripe for fraud and misuse. In hindsight, is this any surprise?
Third, abandonment of a US economic vision. For 8 years the Bush administration focused on security and fear, while any vision of our economic future got put on hold. Gasoline taxes, emission standards or innovation in our core sectors were all either ignored or frowned upon.
Fourth, the environment. As George Bush dragged his heals on any environmental science, things like Kyoto were left unsigned. As former Vice President Al Gore raised the nation's awareness of Global Warming, the Bush Administration sought to minimize and obfuscate the science around climate change. As a result, government funding for new energy was back-burnered, and industries that count on the Government to legislate change and create a level playing field continued to build and produce gas guzzling trucks and automobiles. While world governments have used gas taxes to drive both conservation and innovation, the Bush administration essentially subsidized fossil fuel burning automobiles. The result, our energy industries are desperately behind, and our automotive industry is almost a decade behind in thinking about alternative energy.
Fifth, Wall Street and Banking. For 8 years there has been a dramatic expansion in the services and fast consolidation of what had been separate and in some cases regulated industries. As banking, brokerage, insurance, and financial services companies acquired and merged - the speed of these transactions far exceeded the regulatory ability or resources (not by accident) resulting in such things as credit default swaps that now even seasoned wall-streeters say were hard to understand.
The Bush Recession isn't the result of a single bad decision, or even actions out of our control. For 8 years Bush allowed a handful of private industries to operate without oversight or review, with a focus on short term gains, as environmental and world economic issues have loomed large. view link
about 1 month ago
Even though we are a nation built on commerce we seem to forget that people need money to buy the things our businesses sell. As home values skyrocketed so did real estate taxes, in addition credit companies raised interest rates and the government decided to increase the minimum payments. Heating fuel and transportation costs also skyrocketed around the same time. As expenses rose families could no longer purchase luxuries (and in some cases necesities). As people stopped eating out and buying goods, businesses had to cut back on employment.
I agree that all the things mentioned in the first reply contributed to the current state of our economy but we also need to look at what is happening to the consumers in our country.
I agree that all the things mentioned in the first reply contributed to the current state of our economy but we also need to look at what is happening to the consumers in our country.
about 1 month ago
State and local taxes, including real estate taxes, increasd because the federal governmnet did not give states the money that it formerly received. This was due to a revenue shortfall caused by tax cuts to the rich and the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The cost of the wars was exacerbated by the unbidded private contracts, i.e. Whitewater. Credit Card companies raised interest rates because they were largely unregulated and laws were passed by congress that allowed them to raise the rates. Heating and fuel costs skyrocketed in part due to the Iraqi war and the oil industry which met with the President Bush and Vice-President Cheney to insure their interests were met. A lot of the misery of the American consumer was caused by the philosophies of the Bush administration and the blind allegiance of the Republican congress.
President George, Jr. gave every advantage to the rich and gave very little in comparison to the working class.
President George, Jr. gave every advantage to the rich and gave very little in comparison to the working class.
about 1 month ago
LLL - I'll only comment once because you're hopeless, but it would be really swell if you actually knew some history. Just once...
The boom in housing and attendant easing of credit (and the invention of derivatives, etc.) all date back to the Clinton years. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (or "Fweddie Mac," as Barney Fwank would - and does - say) were leveraged to the point of insanity by 1998, and it only got worse from there - with Banking Committee chair Fwank assuring everybody as recently as July of 2008 that there were no problems with Fannie and Fweddie. (And the Bush administration in fact tried to bring some of this stuff under control in 2004, and again in 2006. You may notlike that, but it is a fact, readily accessible in your Google.)
A lot of stuff the military used to do has been outsourced. This is because one of our political parties continues to cut the military budget. (In fact, our Chairman of the House Banking Committee, Mr(?) Fwank said a couple of weeks ago he wants to cut the Pentagon budget by "25%.") The military is - literally - half the size it was in 1990. Now - when you saw those lovely pictures of tanks driving down the highway on their way into Baghdad, what you didn't see was the column of fuel trucks about two miles behind them. They're necessary because M1-A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks do rather less well on a gallon of fuel than your Volkswagon does. More a question of; howm any gallons to the mile than it is how many miles to the gallon. The Army used to have guys driving fuel trucks - and in fact used to have the fuel trucks - to keep such columns supplied. They don't any more. Thus Halliburton, which has some subsidiaries willing to accept the risk of, basically, driving along right behind the tanks through active battle zones and keeping them supplied. There aren't too many volunteers for this. The Army used to have engineers and equipment to arrive in town and immediately construct helicopter landing pads. They don't have those engineers any more, owing to budget cuts. Halliburton does, and are willing to do it, while ducking bullets flying over their heads. The Amry used to have manpower to spare for such mundane tasks as guarding and transporting prisoners, guarding "safe" zones for diplomats and visitors to battle zones, guarding motor pools, etc. Owing to the last fifteen years of budget cuts they don't have those guys any more - but Blackwater does. And, as much of Blackwater's personnel are ex-military, they'll go out and guard Congwessman Fwank's fat ass when he visits a battle zone and not be too worried about being shot at. (Not that Congwessman Fwank ever has or ever will visit a battle zone.) That's why youhave Halliburton and Blackwater - and go find somebody else willing to do what they do. They're "no-bid" contracts becausde they've been previously bid on and arranged, in advance of being needed. (When you need their services, you don't generally have time to play around with a government bidding process. You need them because the bullets are flying -now.)
The US economic vision has always been that we are a free-market, capitalistic society. I doubt if even you think Bush changed that.
Kyoto was not signed in the Clinton years, as it was seen everyone in Congress that it was nothing more than an attempt to stifle the western ecomomies. I note in passing that all of the countries around the world - ALL of them - who did sign have in fact had their carbon emissions rise. We didn't sign it, ours have gone down. Go figure. I also note that the upcoming update of the Kyoto deal hasn't even met yet but it's already dead, as both China and India have looked at it and said, "nope." They'll have their little meeting, but zip will come out of it, and not because of us.
The warmest year in history, by the way, was 1998. Every year since then has been cooler.
You view the world through an odd, but eminently predictable eye, in which actualy facts and genuine history don't much participate.
The boom in housing and attendant easing of credit (and the invention of derivatives, etc.) all date back to the Clinton years. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (or "Fweddie Mac," as Barney Fwank would - and does - say) were leveraged to the point of insanity by 1998, and it only got worse from there - with Banking Committee chair Fwank assuring everybody as recently as July of 2008 that there were no problems with Fannie and Fweddie. (And the Bush administration in fact tried to bring some of this stuff under control in 2004, and again in 2006. You may notlike that, but it is a fact, readily accessible in your Google.)
A lot of stuff the military used to do has been outsourced. This is because one of our political parties continues to cut the military budget. (In fact, our Chairman of the House Banking Committee, Mr(?) Fwank said a couple of weeks ago he wants to cut the Pentagon budget by "25%.") The military is - literally - half the size it was in 1990. Now - when you saw those lovely pictures of tanks driving down the highway on their way into Baghdad, what you didn't see was the column of fuel trucks about two miles behind them. They're necessary because M1-A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks do rather less well on a gallon of fuel than your Volkswagon does. More a question of; howm any gallons to the mile than it is how many miles to the gallon. The Army used to have guys driving fuel trucks - and in fact used to have the fuel trucks - to keep such columns supplied. They don't any more. Thus Halliburton, which has some subsidiaries willing to accept the risk of, basically, driving along right behind the tanks through active battle zones and keeping them supplied. There aren't too many volunteers for this. The Army used to have engineers and equipment to arrive in town and immediately construct helicopter landing pads. They don't have those engineers any more, owing to budget cuts. Halliburton does, and are willing to do it, while ducking bullets flying over their heads. The Amry used to have manpower to spare for such mundane tasks as guarding and transporting prisoners, guarding "safe" zones for diplomats and visitors to battle zones, guarding motor pools, etc. Owing to the last fifteen years of budget cuts they don't have those guys any more - but Blackwater does. And, as much of Blackwater's personnel are ex-military, they'll go out and guard Congwessman Fwank's fat ass when he visits a battle zone and not be too worried about being shot at. (Not that Congwessman Fwank ever has or ever will visit a battle zone.) That's why youhave Halliburton and Blackwater - and go find somebody else willing to do what they do. They're "no-bid" contracts becausde they've been previously bid on and arranged, in advance of being needed. (When you need their services, you don't generally have time to play around with a government bidding process. You need them because the bullets are flying -now.)
The US economic vision has always been that we are a free-market, capitalistic society. I doubt if even you think Bush changed that.
Kyoto was not signed in the Clinton years, as it was seen everyone in Congress that it was nothing more than an attempt to stifle the western ecomomies. I note in passing that all of the countries around the world - ALL of them - who did sign have in fact had their carbon emissions rise. We didn't sign it, ours have gone down. Go figure. I also note that the upcoming update of the Kyoto deal hasn't even met yet but it's already dead, as both China and India have looked at it and said, "nope." They'll have their little meeting, but zip will come out of it, and not because of us.
The warmest year in history, by the way, was 1998. Every year since then has been cooler.
You view the world through an odd, but eminently predictable eye, in which actualy facts and genuine history don't much participate.
29 days ago
So many brilliant examples here as to how Bu$hco wasn't a scapegoat (he was Rove's bitch, however). I'm no Clinton aficionado (I'll never be over NAFTA and the Salvage Rider), but Bu$h should be jailed for his misdeeds.
I like havemercy's "President George, Jr. gave every advantage to the rich and gave very little in comparison to the working class."
Michael Moore's first book: "Stupid White Men" 's first pages are filled with GWB's first 100 days of destructive legislation that weakened environmental protections, civil rights, gave corporations more power, on and on. GWB destroyed what so many of us worked years to put in place to give our Grandkids some kind of chance for a decent environment, job and life. If anyone has the stomach to read it .... it's disgustingly fascinating.
I like havemercy's "President George, Jr. gave every advantage to the rich and gave very little in comparison to the working class."
Michael Moore's first book: "Stupid White Men" 's first pages are filled with GWB's first 100 days of destructive legislation that weakened environmental protections, civil rights, gave corporations more power, on and on. GWB destroyed what so many of us worked years to put in place to give our Grandkids some kind of chance for a decent environment, job and life. If anyone has the stomach to read it .... it's disgustingly fascinating.
29 days ago
...you are unbelievable to try to blame Clinton lol:
view link
...and you still believe the world is cooling lol:
The statisticians, reviewing two sets of temperature data, found no trend of falling temperatures over time. And U.S. government figures show that the decade that ends in December will be the warmest in 130 years of record-keeping.
view link
...and being typically bad-mannered angry Conservative to try to change history in this group. In November of 1998 Gore "symbolically" signed the accord but refused to allow the Republican controlled Senate to decide on the Kyoto Protocol; they would have sabotaged it. Check it out dude lol ...
view link
...and you still believe the world is cooling lol:
The statisticians, reviewing two sets of temperature data, found no trend of falling temperatures over time. And U.S. government figures show that the decade that ends in December will be the warmest in 130 years of record-keeping.
view link
...and being typically bad-mannered angry Conservative to try to change history in this group. In November of 1998 Gore "symbolically" signed the accord but refused to allow the Republican controlled Senate to decide on the Kyoto Protocol; they would have sabotaged it. Check it out dude lol ...
29 days ago
The warmest year in history, by the way, was 1998. Every year since then has been cooler.
BREAKING NEWS STORY: Dagon sleeps through multiple record breaking years!
Further more Dagon, temperature averages plot just like the stock market. Amidst your ups and downs, intelligent people will be able to discern trends. My advice to you is stay out of the market!
Either, you're not acknowledging the warming trend because you don't want to accept it, or you're too lazy to do some really easy research for yourself, or you're swallowing deniers deliberate misinformation without expending one gleaming drop of criticial thinking of your own.
In Alaska the average temperature has increased almost 5 degrees!
The AVERAGE Alaska temperature is 5 degrees higher, not .5 or 1.3. When I walk out my door and expect the normal sensations but instead I get a face full of warm wind it feels like I'm in a science fiction movie and it's alarming.
From NASA: view link
BREAKING NEWS STORY: Dagon sleeps through multiple record breaking years!
Further more Dagon, temperature averages plot just like the stock market. Amidst your ups and downs, intelligent people will be able to discern trends. My advice to you is stay out of the market!
Either, you're not acknowledging the warming trend because you don't want to accept it, or you're too lazy to do some really easy research for yourself, or you're swallowing deniers deliberate misinformation without expending one gleaming drop of criticial thinking of your own.
In Alaska the average temperature has increased almost 5 degrees!
The AVERAGE Alaska temperature is 5 degrees higher, not .5 or 1.3. When I walk out my door and expect the normal sensations but instead I get a face full of warm wind it feels like I'm in a science fiction movie and it's alarming.
From NASA: view link
29 days ago
I just stay in and crank the A/C.. No warming problem.
29 days ago
By the way Dagon, did it ever occur to you that the military could 'reduce' their budget by contracting out while doing something that in theory should actually pour money back into the economy? That's the WHOLE philosophy behind outsourcing!
Think about it...IF the money was removed from the budget to begin with where would it have come from to then give away to Haliburton, Blackwater et al?
Hmm?
The military finally catches on to Reganomics.
Think about it...IF the money was removed from the budget to begin with where would it have come from to then give away to Haliburton, Blackwater et al?
Hmm?
The military finally catches on to Reganomics.
29 days ago
If you believe, as Al Gore does, that science is done by 'consensus,' then it seems the consensus may have shifted, and so far from having been asleep the last ten years, I may be the only one here who's actually been awake enough to notice that the received wisdom took a belt in the nose last year. view link
Why you all didn't hear about this (31,000 scientists - that's a hell of a lot of scientists! That includes pretty much all the climatologists - one of which James Hansen is not. And 9,000 PhDs haven't agreed and signed on to any one thing since the invention of the PhD.) I can't say. But there it is, and maybe your complete ignorance of this tectonic shift in the scientific world has to do with the news sources you patronize.
The reason this is an ongoing debate is because it's quite a long way away from being settled. I'll dig out the link for the assertion that 1998 is the warmest year, but warn you that you won't be able to read it - it's not really in English, it's in science. (Lots and lots of math and absurdly lengthy equations with ridiculous terms. Impossible to read, unless you live it.) I'll dig it out, just for a laugh.
LLL - I don't blame Clinton, he was a non-entity. But the government of this country certainly did decline to sign the Kyoto Accords while he occupied the white house.
If you'd like to interpret that as 'blaming' him, feel free.
The funding for the ancillary stuff was removed from the running budget, hooda, for the obvious reason that we're not always at war. You don't need the services all the time - so why pay for them all the time? (Even sort of makes sense.) But, when somebody starts shooting, then you do need those services, so you go to the contractors. What does reagonomics have to do with it?
Why you all didn't hear about this (31,000 scientists - that's a hell of a lot of scientists! That includes pretty much all the climatologists - one of which James Hansen is not. And 9,000 PhDs haven't agreed and signed on to any one thing since the invention of the PhD.) I can't say. But there it is, and maybe your complete ignorance of this tectonic shift in the scientific world has to do with the news sources you patronize.
The reason this is an ongoing debate is because it's quite a long way away from being settled. I'll dig out the link for the assertion that 1998 is the warmest year, but warn you that you won't be able to read it - it's not really in English, it's in science. (Lots and lots of math and absurdly lengthy equations with ridiculous terms. Impossible to read, unless you live it.) I'll dig it out, just for a laugh.
LLL - I don't blame Clinton, he was a non-entity. But the government of this country certainly did decline to sign the Kyoto Accords while he occupied the white house.
If you'd like to interpret that as 'blaming' him, feel free.
The funding for the ancillary stuff was removed from the running budget, hooda, for the obvious reason that we're not always at war. You don't need the services all the time - so why pay for them all the time? (Even sort of makes sense.) But, when somebody starts shooting, then you do need those services, so you go to the contractors. What does reagonomics have to do with it?
28 days ago
