Chimpy aka George Bush falls off his segway

[Tumor]

Originally posted by AKS\/\/ulfe

Clinton and his administration was NOT responsible for the booming economy - the surplus of jobs AND the massive investments going on in these new fields generated the great economy, NOT Clinton or his administration. THAT's why the economy is in the toejamter, and was already well on it's way during Clinton's 2nd to last year- and had arrived in the septic tank right at the end of his 2nd term.
-SW

It is SO nice to see some folks actually paid attention in Economics!

Bush is not responsible for this one, Clinton was not responsible for the economic times during his administration...and so on, and so on.

To think the current president has any more than a "drop-in-the-bucket" effect on the economy of his time is [Drumroll] Simply Redikulous![/Drumroll]

[Nash]

I'm not even going to pretend that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to the economy, what ails it and what remedies are available Swulfe...

You're absolutely right that there are a number of factors that go into why the economy is tanked at the moment... just as you mentioned, the failed dot coms, 9/11, etc. And yeah, all are outside the president's control. However...

Despite the fact that he isn't directly responsible for it, you can't say that he is powerless to influence or affect it, and therefore outside of any blame (or credit) that goes along with it. The tax breaks being just one example of something that the president can do to steward the economy. Another president might not have chosen to go that route, or may have chosen a different kind of tax break.

I guess what I'm saying is... I hear all the time how Bush isn't responsible for the weak economy... but I don't buy that completely. In part, but not completely. He certainly is having an effect on it, and only time will tell if the fixes that he prescribes are the right ones.

Btw., does anyone know... The tax breaks that went through a year and a half ago (or so...)... Were there any estimates on when the effects of that were going to be felt by the economy, and to what degree they were supposed to stimulate it? I'm sure there were projections - does anyone remember or have a link that talks about this and if the tax breaks lived up to expectations?

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

Right, but Fishu is saying Bush is making it worse... can this even be proven?

So far, what we have seen is several tax breaks, stimulating the failing airline companies in several different ways so as to not create more job loss in that field, researching a new fuel source which creates new jobs because this field was until recently not as well funded, and the creation of a new homeland security department that while it was in direct relation to the recently exposed threat the US faces on it's own soil - it still created new jobs both in that department and in departments from which some employees were removed for the homeland security department.

This is being done in the face of millions of lay offs in the airline industry and the millions of unemployed, or poorly employed, IT specialists and other employees of defunct dot com businesses, and the reluctance on the behalf of the entire american population to invest and spend money because the economic future is - as of right now - unsure.

What I'm getting at is, I'm certain no administration would be having a positive influence on the economy on the rate many people think it should happen - as in going from a wallowing economy to a blooming/booming one. Simply put, that toejam just ain't gonna fly.

The US economy was in "The Great Depression" for several years, and despite the fact that there was atleast one great president/admin in power at the time- it took a world war, and the vast production lines that would require, to pull the US out.

So, in conclusion, presidents can have influence on an economic recession... but what kind of influence has Bush really had? As of yet, I have seen no evidence provided to support the claim that he's had a negative impact on an already faltering economy.
-SW