Bill Clinton Asked On Today Show If He Should Take Blame For Current Financial Crisis (VIDEO)

Bill Clinton was interviewed Monday morning by the Today Show's Ann Curry, who asked the former President whether he should take any blame for the current financial crisis. Clinton answered, "Oh no... My question to them is: Do any of them seriously believe if I had been president, and my economic team had been in place the last eight years, that this would be happening today? I think they know the answer to that: No."

Watch the video from NBC:

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Comments

[LeeHInAlexandria]

09:53 AM on 02/18/2009

Hmm...Here's Clinton saying 'I should have better regulated derivatives.' So, which Bill Clinton is right?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/16/bill.clinton.qanda/

[LeeHInAlexandria]

11:31 PM on 02/17/2009

Hmm, Ann Curry convenient left out the fact that the the regulatory changes to the CRA Bill Clinton himself ordered in in 1994-1995 actually started us down this road. Maybe the question should have been... When you ordered these changes and had Janet Reno enforce them over these banks (98% that didn't want to do it at the time), couldn't you have foreseen this coming when thousands of economists said this exact thing was going to happen in 1995?

In reality though, maybe Clinton shouldn't be held accountable. Democrats usually aren't. Most avoid paying their taxes (Kathleen Sibelius, Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner - and now he gets to run the IRS? I don't know about you, but I'm not paying taxes anymore) or run into major tax trouble (Charlie Rangel, Bill Rostenkowski, etc).

[Petesdaddy]

01:43 PM on 02/18/2009

Clinton made mistakes. I voted for him twice, but I disliked a lot of his decisions; however, the fact that he left a budget surplus and a a booming economy suggests that he probably did something right.

[LeeHInAlexandria]

04:01 PM on 02/18/2009

Hmm...you conveniently forget that the overall budget deficit increased under Clinton as well. I always tell people that Clinton was the greatest Republican the Democrats ever had. He did have a budget surplus in 1999 however the amount of the surplus declined with the 2000 budget and the economy was headed for a recession. Bush inherited a 6.8 trillion dollar deficit from Clinton.

In 2001 what pulled us out of the recession? Across the board tax cuts, tax cuts for everyone (including myself as my taxes went down by almost 40%). People had more money in their pockets and started spending money, going on vacations again, and feeling good about themselves.

When the Bush tax cuts expire, you can bet yours and my tax will go up equally.

[Rule Of Law]

01:12 PM on 02/17/2009

I voted for Clinton twice. He's a likable, engaging guy who of all the presidents I've voted for would be the one I'd like to drink with--a little too old to hang with O on the basketball court!

That said, he is also his own best public relations machine--when he's not getting caught in flagrante delicto, which I've always believed was just another way to get attention, but let's let that pass for now. In Europe they laugh at our uptight attitudes in any case.

When you begin to dissect what Bill did while president it becomes clear that he was not a populist as he wanted us to believe, and certainly not a progressive. He was a centrist. The Welfare Reform Act took hot meals away from schoolkids who could least afford to lose them, while making their oftentimes single mothers even more desperate. His championing of NAFTA/GATT has led to the destruction of jobs, homes and lives in Mexico and in the US and played a huge role in the increase in illegal immigration. And the repeal of Glass-Steagall and enactment of the Commodities reform made financial monopolies and the weapons of mass destruction, Derivatives, possible. None of these things benefited the working people of America.

[beef33]

02:40 PM on 02/17/2009

yet he smooth talked you into voting for him twice. Obama is similar. smooth talk. help out his rich pals. no change until we get a nader or a ron paul running the show. period.

[Rule Of Law]

03:22 PM on 02/17/2009

Yep. Twice burned--gee, I don't know--real shy? The People need to run the government.

[Badfickle]

06:14 PM on 02/17/2009

Oh man Ron Paul would be worse than what we have now. He's still bowing down to the alter of deregulation and voodoo economics.. He's what we have now on steroids.

[Wildscribbler]

02:50 PM on 02/17/2009

I think you hit the nail on the head that Clinton was neither a populist nor a progressive. But rather than a centerist I would classify him as a wind-sock - he goes where the wind blows.

I'm sure Bill would be fun to have a beer with. My friend Brian is fun to have a beer with, but I don't want him to be President.

[Rule Of Law]

03:26 PM on 02/17/2009

Was that Brian last night up on the bar? He couldn't be any worse than Dubya!

[pb28]

01:02 PM on 02/17/2009

While not perfect Clinton oversaw one of the biggest economic booms our country has ever seen. When he left office we had a $300 billion surplus that was quickly squandered by Bush and the republicans. Hell they will blame Clinton for everything. I hear got blamed for the civil war and for the Cubs losing in the playoffs again

[Lemmy]

01:21 PM on 02/17/2009

We now know that some of the prosperity of the 90's was attained on borrowed money (or none at all) that is not able to be paid pack

[MadeinAmericaProud]

02:55 PM on 02/17/2009

You have forgotten we had to bailout Japan and Mexico. I just remember where the money came from to help these two countries but it did happen.

[Badfickle]

06:10 PM on 02/17/2009

You are absolutely right. However that has been true ever since the early 1980's when Reagan began vodoo economics. Wages in this country have not increased since 1982. Before 1980 they went up every single year along with productivity. Without increased wages the only way to maintain the economy has been through debt private and public.

[GrkAm]

01:48 PM on 02/17/2009

I agree. The GOP dogged him night and day for years. Kenneth Starr became a household name and was made rich trying to dig up ANY kind of dirt on both the Clintons.

Clinton was instrumental in making and keeping us the strong country that we USED to be. Was he perfect? No. Who is. But, he was a good POTUS--when you add up his positives to his negatives.

He implemented certain things that were supposed to be for the betterment of this country according to the 1990's economy.

It was the Bush administration that totally destroyed it.

[beef33]

12:46 PM on 02/17/2009

this guy is incredible. Anyone who has read anything on this stuff knows this "crisis" did not happen overnight. The seeds were sown many years ago. All the books by Bob Kuttner, Kevin Phillips, Dave Sirota, Morris berman,Ralph Nader and so forth are fraught with plenty of blame for the democrats. In particular Clinton and his pal Robert Rubin who engineered all this deregulation that led to these swaps,mortgage backed securities and out of control hedge funds. He was in the pocket of Wall STreet from the get go. that is why they bankrolled him against Tsongas. Plus he gets all defensive saying he was so wonderful. Ask all the people out of work because of NAFTA how wonderful they think he is. Just another smooth talking elitist furthering his own agenda. Just like 95% of Washington including Obama, Schumer, Hillary,Judd "gutless" Gregg, McCain, Bush, Cheney etc. etc. they are all the same and they are all to blame.

[Lemmy]

12:17 PM on 02/17/2009

“I think the responsibility the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Bill Clinton

[sandbeach]

12:13 PM on 02/17/2009

For history, context and more info on this issue, go here:

http://thestrangedeathofliberalamerica.com/foreclosed-blame-bill-clintons-repeal-of-glass-steagall.html

If you believe, as I do, that certain aspects of de-regulation enabled the current crisis then of course Clinton bears some responsibility! That doesn't give republican philosophy a walk in my book, it's just ironic that a democratic president would have bought into regulatory changes that could allow ever more concentration and abuse of wealth and power.

[IGGHY]

12:35 PM on 02/17/2009

I agree with you. Bill Clinton is certainly responsible for some of the regulatory changes that were hard to reverse.

[Tags]

12:04 PM on 02/17/2009

We need balm, not blame.

Let's fix the damn thing and to hell with pointing fingers!

!!!

[Rule Of Law]

12:58 PM on 02/17/2009

Wish it were that easy, but when you are sold out by your own side, well, you know the saying about those who don't know the past are bound to repeat it...

[Repub4Obama]

11:39 AM on 02/17/2009

I say blame Clinton. He's the dunderhead that actually SIGNED the (Phil) Graham-Leach-Bliley act into law. You know - the one that deregulated EVERYTHING and made Enron possible, along with the housing bubble, the finacial meltdown, etc. If he had vetoed the bill, we would still be well regulated, and none of this would have happened.

And for those of you who don't know, the above act was called the "banking modernization act", and got rid of all the controls and regulations that were put in place with the Glass-Steagal act. It was put in place after the Great Depression, when we wanted to try and prevent it from ever happening again. We got rid of it with Graham's act. We're in another depression. Not a surprise, but definately Clinton's fault for not being a progressive and acting like a Republican.

[liberalNmoderation]

12:15 PM on 02/17/2009

he did sign that bill...but also presided over the most prosperous 8 years in this country in a long while.
Some blame may be laid on him, but the VAST majority of said blame can be laid squarely on the shoulders of the GOP.
Almost immediately after seizing power in 2000, bushco pissed away our surplus.
THAT, to me is what started this free fall. The utter incompetence/corruption of bushco.

[Lemmy]

12:16 PM on 02/17/2009

The housing bubble was made possible by another Clinton action - retinkering the CRA and having Fannie Mae lower lending standards.

[Badfickle]

12:46 PM on 02/17/2009

No the CRA had very little to do with this. CRA banks made only 1/4 to 1/3 of all subprime loans. The CRA had much stricter standards than did the private mortage lenders many of which did no income verification or credit checks at all. CRA banks had lower default rates than private lenders, were more likely to carry their own loans rather than sell them off. CRA banks made subprime loans at a ratge of 19% of their total 1st mortgages compared to 40% from private banks. The number simply do not substantiate the premise that the CRA caused this probelm. The CRA is put out there as an excuse by people who don't understand the economics or who are trying to find political cover for failed deregulation policies.

[ramal]

11:38 AM on 02/17/2009

Typical of the first Baby Boomer President and an entire generation of Americans: "It's not my fault; I never did anything wrong."

[Paul Hutcherson]

11:37 AM on 02/17/2009

Blaming Bill Clinton for the current ECONOMIC CRISIS is like blaming Barack Obama for the Iraq DEBACLE; are you kidding me? You can't be serious. The nation PROSPERED under Bill Clinton and the nation is in RUINS because of the Republicans and George W. Bush!

[Rule Of Law]

12:16 PM on 02/17/2009

No, it would be more like blaming Woodrow Wilson for the Depression because he signed two bills--One creating the FED, the other enacting the income tax. Both made the Depression possible.

[WindyW]

12:25 PM on 02/17/2009

The republican-controlled congress could have overridden any presidential veto to the Republican-introduced bill. From Wikipedia:

The bill that ultimately repealed the Act was introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa) in 1999. The bills were passed by Republican majorities on party lines by a 54-44 vote in the Senate[11] and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives[12]. After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8 (1 not voting) and in the House: 362-57 (15 not voting). Having majorities large enough to override any possible Presidential veto, the legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act

[TommyMcCarthy]

08:49 AM on 02/18/2009

That's a good one........the income tax made the depression possible

Is the sunrise CAUSED by the roosters crowing?

[Nova16]

11:28 AM on 02/17/2009

Bill Clinton's administration will be rememberd as the "Golden Age" in America by historians similar to the golden age in Greece under Pericles. The nation enjoyed a period of great properity--high employment, 22 million good paying jobs created, a united country, energy costs under control, America respected around the world, a flourishing economy and a stock market poised to reach 12,000, reduced government payroll and a surplus in the budget. All this was accomplished in spite of a republican majority in congress and their hatred for Clinton who finished his 2nd term with an approval rating of 68%. What have we today but economic disaster for years to come, never ending war in Iraq, a sorely divided nation as a result of eight years of GWB and his republican cronies in and out of congress. Vote republican at your peril.

[flyteeskee]

03:57 PM on 02/17/2009

i agree.

[johnnynyc]

11:28 AM on 02/17/2009

Didn't anybody see the report from the Fed: NO NEW WEALTH CREATED IN THIS COUNTRY SINCE 2001?

It stands to reason if no new wealth was created then in order for someone to get richer someone has to get poorer.

In other words as the gap between rich and poor grew during the past 8 years Bush presided over the greatest wealth redistribution in our history. Wealth was trickling up!!

You can try to blame Clinton, FDR, the government or poor people for the current state of affairs but only if you ask us to believe the fantasy Redistributor-in-Chief Bush isn't the main culprit here.

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

12:23 PM on 02/17/2009

Your right. In the last 8 years the richest 400 families in America have seen their wealth increase by over 600 billion dollars. This at the same time as average wages are going down and working families are being thrown out of their homes.

[labman]

11:24 AM on 02/17/2009

Why not ask him if he is to blame for the Asian tsunami too?

[BeefJerky]

10:54 AM on 02/17/2009

Excuse me, Bubba, didn't you repeal the Glass-Steagall Act?

[TheDarkKnight]

11:37 AM on 02/17/2009

Exactly! I just wish Ann Curry had called him on it. By not bringing up the relevant point, she just let him wriggle right out of taking responsibility for his part in the problem.

[WindyW]

12:20 PM on 02/17/2009

Yes he did. He could not veto the Republican-introduced bill. From Wikipedia:

The bill that ultimately repealed the Act was introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa) in 1999. The bills were passed by Republican majorities on party lines by a 54-44 vote in the Senate[11] and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives[12]. After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8 (1 not voting) and in the House: 362-57 (15 not voting). Having majorities large enough to override any possible Presidential veto, the legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act