Bush on the Economy: Too Bitter, Too Late

Bush conceded the economy was in bad shape on Tuesday. The man who doesn't look at the public opinion surveys may have noticed how little regard Americans have for his economic management according to the latest polls.

More to the point, people know how bad the economy is even as economists tinker cautiously around the technical edges. As I've said several times before, wages and family income haven't gone up in the 2000s, despite a growing economy, and now people will be hit by lost jobs and declining wages and salaries. And food and fuel prices keep rising with frightening speed. People are worried and scared.

The real problem, Bush tells us, is that America doesn't drill for enough oil -- all just to appease those environmentalists. It is the oil company mantra, of course, and Bush is an oil company guy. That's the extent of the Bush analysis, apparently. A minor tantrum bitterly thrown at the Democrats to dodge responsibility and for what he hopes is political advantage. Too bitter, too late.

There is no magic wand, he also told us. That is the mantra of the privileged, who don't suffer much in recessions, and the conventionally conservatives, who think government is bad most of the time. As the people know, Bush has been consistent: he has done little to solve the problems and he had done much to create them, not least by ignoring financial excess.

As some of the people may also know, or at least remember, the government can be constructive. All that Bush has done constructively so far, in fact, is to endorse the Democratic stimulus plan. Now that took some doing, because it was early. But Bush favored it because it was about giving taxes back.

Other than that, Bush, the ex-cheerleader, took to jawboning that all was ok, or at least not too bad. But it is better to call a good play than a good cheer.

What we have to be thankful for, besides the stimulus now having its early effects, is the lower dollar, which is spurring manufacturing, and a lot of Federal Reserve activity. The Fed moved quickly to supply liquidity and lower rates. Inflation hawks are screaming. The Fed knows the bigger risk than inflation is recession and a downward spiral in house prices. (I am writing this before we know what the Fed will do with rates this week.)

We also may need another stimulus package. I'd love to see infrastructure investment in it.

What else? Something to stem the severity of the housing crisis. The Democrats have a reasonable plan, not a perfect one. Bush is opposing it. Well, offer a better one. And move quickly.

That is the last piece. If something constructive about mortgage defaults is adopted, there is a good chance we will avoid the worst. So far, the government deserves kudos, and it was done all with a mostly absent president. The government deserve kudos? Yes. How 'bout that! Can't stop now.

Comments

[MetalCanuck]

A depression is coming folks, soon we will see the sins of paper money. Tis the Federal Reserve folks, when we had real money problems like this didn't happen without Federal reserve involvement. Ron Paul warned about this stuff but people wanted to vote what the media said was "electable" and people willfully parroted the bull$hit they spewed on the media about him and now we will ALL pay. Other countries have the livelihoods pinned on you people and through NO FAULT of our own. Please see through the media crap and the bull in both liberal AND NeoCon media.

[StanDaMan]

The source of much of the problem is that the big money lobbies have 98% of the politicians in their pockets and they dictate American policy across the board.

The oil companies undermine the search for alternatives and the implementation of conservation laws and encourage attacking Iraq/Iran to control resources and de-stabilize supply so that prices rise. The oil companies, the military hardware suppliers and the pro-Israel lobby dictate Mideast policy. The drug and insurance companies resist any public funding of health care. The lawyers block tort reform. Most manufacturers resist efforts to reign-in global warming. The NRA and the pro-gun lobby hamstring gun control (what little there is). Banks and other financial institutions resist regulation to avoid such calamities as the present subprime mortgage crisis. Etc.. Etc..

And the media play the 3 monkeys (see, hear and speak no evil) because, well, they're big business too.

Bush is just the current facilitator of the system, albeit a particular inept and corrupt one.

Until we get the money out of the lobbying/electoral systems, there's very little hope for positive change.

[WorkingClass]

Whatever America's sins, whether abortion and gay marriage or slavery and genocide, George Bush is the punishment.

[Mike169]

I don't think equating "sin" with punishment is quite apporpriate. If George Bush is a "punishment" for anything the American public has done then God is as big an asshole as Bush is. I'm assuming you're looking at the big picture here.

[jfor]

This is what the American people get for deciding to elect a man that they could drink a beer with even though he cannot drink beer due to his alcoholism. We deserve this. We will not learn from it as John McCains candidacy is proving each and every day. Congress should demand to know what went on during Cheney's secret energy meetings period. No ands, ifs or buts. Enough already. There are two Americas one for elected officials, corporations and mass media and the other for the rich the rest of us are like mosquitos buzzing in their ears.

I fear that we will continue to be divided by politics even though all of us except of course for the two americas that Bush, McCain and Clinton care about should all be on the same page. I for one am sick of incompetance, I am sick of greed I am sick of McCain, Bush and Clintons, I am sick of the gossip passed off as news and I am sick of geting the short end of the stick. Fuck you Republicans and fuck you Democrats you both have done nothing in the last seven years to make me proud to be an American.

[MissingAmerica]

Thank you, jfor! Well said, with one exception. Obama is not spouting the same old rhetoric, and is not one of the experienced who created this mess. It would appear, in fact, that he is still close enough to the people that he can restore that pride we once had in this country. I, for one, am using this opportunity to be positive. As for McCain, he's another Bush. As for Hillary, we don't need another dynasty in the White House. This is America, and we are not looking to put in another royal family!

[MilwaukeeMike]

I'm with you both.

[joebhed]

Jeff, and friends.
You know, it's really time to put that puppy to bed.
The "drilling for more oil/gas in the US is the answer to high oil prices" puppy.
It is often trotted out there for the ignorant pundits and scribes to repeat unchallenged.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
Once oil and gas drilling rights are granted, the power of the people to control the oil ends.
Once the rights are granted to get it out of the ground, it is no longer OUR oil.
OUR oil immediately, BY DEFINITION, becomes a commodity of the global market in petroleum products and derivatives.
It undoubtedly becomes the oil owned by a trans-national corporation with no allegiances to this country, or to its people.
As such, we pay the price at the pump that is commanded by the invisible hand of the oil futures traders, who bet up all that product the minute it hits the market.
Even if we were to find significant oil in this country, it is not our oil.
All Americans are going to pay the world oil price.
Welcome to capitalism.
If the politicians want to do SOMETHING about the price of oil, they need to revisit the futures trading schemes in commodities - a.k.a. meddle in the gaming of oil prices, in this country and the world.
PS Same for coal.

[WIpatriot]

Excellent post, joe.

You know what I say about that invisible hand? It comes with an invisible finger.

[shrugged]

Too much spending, too long. Congress and the President have bankrupted the country and destroyed the dollar. We are just seeing the value of the dollar drop, reflecting our out of control government spending.
We are also seeing the consequences of the neocons plans. Neocon plans for more big government to tell us how to live our lives and spend our money. The Democratic solution of spending our money will also be disastrous, but with less social control.
The solution is to reduce the government and reduce their control, social and economic.

[radiojunkie]

Bill Clinton, along with Robert Rubin deregulated much of the banking and financial sector at the behest of Phil Graham. Another free market strategy bust. Phil Graham is now advising McCain on economic policy. I'll swear folks, if the Republicans can create a greater mistake than Iraq, they'll do a number on the domestic economy. The likes we've not seen since the Great Depression!

[Sumocat]

"The real problem, Bush tells us, is that America doesn't drill for enough oil--all just to appease those environmentalists." -- What a load. I moved close to work and carpool with my wife in our Toyota Prius, mostly to save on time and money but cutting our gas usage to a fraction is pretty friendly to the gas supply. The average commuter in our area uses more gas in a day than we use in a week, and that's per person. How are folks like us to blame when we're personally using less gas than we ever did before? That's like blaming the guy who ate one slice of pizza for all the empty pizza boxes.

[Henry]

There is an uncanny parallel between the Bush and his father George H.W. That is the recession downturns that plague(d) each of their exists from office. George H.W. had the savings and loan crisis and the failure of the FSLIC fund prompting a government bailout by the disciples of "market discipline". The same for little George and the bailout of Bear Sterns.
What is it about these boys, uncanny coincidence or bad bad business ability?

In each case the government regulatory agencies could have stopped practices that were observable, known, and contrary to safe and sound banking practice. They did not. (Danny Wall, the head of the FSLIC for George H.W. was an architect and friend of Jake Garn, he of Garn St Germain infamey. He was not a bank regulator...pointing to the problems of "politcos" placed into positions of responsibility)