Bush's Recession, Rooted in Self-Interest
While there are many technical explanations for the current recession, the underlying cause is the pervasive ideology of self-interest that has guided President Bush's administration and permeated mainstream American ethics.
While George Bush ran for President as a born-again Christian and "compassionate conservative," his behavior indicated he was guided not by the principles of Jesus but rather by a narcissistic morality of personal advantage. While making a revealing documentary about the 2000 Bush campaign, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi asked the candidate why she should vote for him; Bush replied. "It's in your interests." Pelosi observed, "He didn't push my country's interest - but rather, my own." Bush's primary consideration was what's in it for me?
As President, Bush conflated his personal interests - strengthening his power - with those of the United States and political considerations governed all White House decisions. In late 2001, after leaving his appointment as head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, John DiLulio observed: "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm."
Presidential decisions were determined by the toxic alchemy of power and greed. Major legislative initiatives - energy and healthcare - were written by corporate lobbyists to benefit their interests at the expense of average Americans. And the President's self-centered attitude influenced both Main Street and Wall Street.
Bush promoted a national culture of profligacy. After 9/11, when asked how Americans should respond, he advised us to "go shopping." Rather than call on our patriotism, the President appealed to consumerism; citizens responded by running up huge credit card debts and dipping deeply into their home equity. During the Bush Administration, Americans borrowed $6.2 trillion, doubling their debts and causing the U.S. to have a negative savings rate.
At the same time, the President expressed absolute confidence in the wisdom of the free market and expanded the dangerous deregulation begun during the Clinton era. Among the consequences of Bush's extreme laissez-faire ideology were the accelerated flight of decent-paying jobs from the U.S. and pillaging of the environment. As Americans shopped until they dropped, financial-sector profits surged: by 2007 the finance industry represented a record 25 percent of US stock-market capitalization.
Aided by the loosening of regulations, banks such as Citgroup, broadened their scope of business and began to engage in a wide variety of financial activities. With this expansion came problems of control and oversight. The increased size of financial institutions made them more difficult to manage as executives were pressed to make profits beyond the range historically associated with banks.
At Citigroup, earning pressure caused bond traders to increase their participation in risky markets, particularly collateralized debt obligations (CDO's), which repackaged mortgages - notoriously sub-prime mortgages - for resale to investors. The expansion of this niche business was fueled by its profitability - fees were unusually high and, therefore, traders made million in bonuses - and the lack of oversight. Because of deregulation, there was no Federal oversight of the CDO marketplace. Financial industry supervision supposedly came from rating agencies, such as Moody's and Standard and Poor's, but they failed to exercise the required due diligence. So did internal auditors, such as Citigroup "risk managers;" who were impeded both by the Byzantine nature of CDO's and their perceived value as major earnings generators.
As the credit bubble grew, two pernicious moral propositions blinded top managers at Citigroup and other greedy banks to the ever-increasing probability of calamity: everyone else is doing it, so it must be okay and the ends justify the means . Over the course of the Bush Administration, the worldwide CDO market grew to near $500 Billion, resulting in gigantic executive bonuses and corporate earnings. Understandably, none of the participants was eager to jump off the gravy train.
Lurking behind this frenzied momentum was a naïve faith in the wisdom of the marketplace: the belief that whenever excesses occurred, the market would gracefully adjust. Recently, financier George Soros criticized "the prevailing theory of financial markets, which... holds that financial markets tend toward equilibrium and that deviations are random and can be attributed to external causes." He observed: "This theory has been used to justify the belief that the pursuit of self-interest should be given free rein."
The President of the United States has a dual responsibility to make key decisions and set a moral tone. By promoting a climate of unfettered self-interest, George Bush precipitated the current economic meltdown. American's eagerness for the onset of the Obama presidency indicates our need for a leader who will establish a public morality that emphasizes the common good.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
What do you expect when you elect a spoiled little rich kid who never had to work for anything in his life to the highest office in the land, just because he puts on a fake texas accent and says he is born again?
Remember, a good half of this country (arguably the less-educated half) supported him for most of his two terms. Blue collar Americans proudly supported the guy they wanted to have a beer with. Now these same people are wondering where their jobs went. Karma can hurt sometimes.
The red state Americans are responsible for the Bush depression, as they voted him. Us blue staters are equally culpable, because, we didn't protest vehemently enough when he stole the elections. We were all enablers.
You reap what you sow.
If we want to blame someone for the economic mess, we need just look in our made-in-Ch
Excellent article and absolutely on target....
Americans also need to recognize that Presidents reflect ourselves. Any big change in a society must come from the ground up, on a root level.
Let's face it. These guys are just crooks. But if we are dumb enough to just give them money why are we surprised if they just share it among themselves? Do you actually think anyone on Wall Street actually gives a hoot for the financial well-being of the United States? Anyone who believes that probably still believes in the tooth fairy, too
@LeftRight
}}}}}
I don't blame ANYONE for the actions of others. However, when I see an LEO or a military member BREAKING THE LAW, even if they are only breaking it over a terror suspect, I WILL spit on them, and I say that as a veteran of the United States Navy!
{{{{{
No matter how many innocent lives it saves???
Even if it was YOUR life or your family's life??
Seriously???
Michale...
Michale, I can say this honestly, and I wish that you could see it. Even though it costs my life or that of everyone that I know, love, and respect, YES, I would rather see the laws obeyed. The fact of the matter is that when the laws are not obeyed, we ALL become a little less. Especially when they are the supreme laws of the land!
For what it's worth, I'm reminded of former Chicago Police Capt John Burge. He's currently living in FL on his pension after leaving the force. The problem is that during his years on the force he tortured many people. Almost all of them were convicted on confessions that he had tortured them into giving. More than 80% of them were innocent of the crimes that the were convicted of. Is it possible that some of those 80% would have gone out and committed a different crime? Of course it is, but they STILL were not guilty of the crimes that they served time for!
According to your definition, Capt Burge was RIGHT for torturing all those people, even though he illegally imprisoned many innocent people! By my definition, and the definition of the Constitution, he should be currently sitting in jail, and stay there for the rest of his life.
And it's STILL better for 1000 guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be wrongly imprisoned!
I would not suggest spitting on a law enforcement officer. Michale, what laws is it OK for law enforcement officers to break? Would you spell out what laws law enforcement officers should be able to break and when? I mean, life is not an episode of the television series 24!
@LeftRight
}}}
There's no apology needed, as you can tell by the audio that clip is edited.
{{{
Ahhh
So, those weren't really President Clinton's words??
What?? Someone edited word for word to make President Clinton APPEAR to blame the Democrats??
Do you HONESTLY believe that???
Seriously???
Michale...
I never said that those weren't his words. I said that the audio is edited to make his words seem to mean something that he didn't say.
For example, if Bill Clinton had said something along the lines of: "I hated it when Hillary Clinton changed the color of the drapes in the residence.
You could edit that to "prove" that Bill Clinton had said "I hated it when Hillary Clinton , Secretary of State, destroyed Iraq."
Does that mean that Bill Clinton actually would have SAID that??? Of COURSE not! Nor is he saying what you and this other rightwingnutjob are claiming that he said about the financial crisis!
That's really a stretch..
The fact is, President Clinton said those words and meant them exactly as they were said. He was roundly castigated by Democrats for giving the GOP ammunition
But I understand that you can't accept the reality.
Michale...
He did not blame the Democrats. Clinton said the Democrats share in some part of the blame. Why do you conservatives always see everything in terms of black and white?
@LeftRight
}}}}}
WRONG!! If the police are BREAKING the law, and they get caught, they go down harder than anyone else! THAT'S THE POINT! Breaking the law to enforce the law is an oxymoron that DOESN'T WORK!!!
}}}}}
So, you are saying that a cop shouldn't exceed the speed limit when responding to an emergency?
After all, that's breaking the "law"...
Why stop with cops.. Fire and Med units.. No more exceeding the speed limits or running red lights.. Can't be breaking the almighty law... Even if people die...
Do you see how silly you sound???
Michale...
Yes, I am saying that. Because IN the state of IL, if a police officer has his lights on, he's allowed to pass everyone, they are required to get over for him, he can run red lights and stop lights, but he is still supposed to go the speed limit, because that's been designated as the safe speed that you can go! Does that mean that they always do it? No. However, that's a minor crime that I'm not going to report. On the other hand, if I find out that the police had my son in custody and they had beat him until he confessed to committing a murder that he didn't do? You bet your a$$ that I'm going to OWN that police station!
And since THAT'S exactly what bush has set up in Gitmo.....
I do not think it is against the law for law enforcement to exceed the speed limit in times of emergency. Sometimes it may be a better idea to call off a high speed chase in heavy traffic, as is the policy in several places now.
If speed is not of the essence (high speed chase, hostage situation, etc....) then they are supposed to obey the posted speed limit signs. On the other hand, you don't KNOW where they are going or WHY, and they may have a valid reason for speeding.
On the other hand, when they DO have that valid reason, it's not breaking the law!
And by the way, it's not breaking the law if they have a valid reason to be speeding. And as for the red lights and stop signs, it's not illegal AT ALL for them to run through them without stopping, provided that they have the lights and/or the siren on!
If we continue to not educate our populace on how the government and economy works, what Bush did to this country will happen again. A lot of people who voted for this fool were the main casualties of his reckless way of governing. And you still have a lot of them who would follow him anywhere. As a powerful country we cannot allow our citizens to be this ignorant of how our government and economy works. He left a list of all of his failures and yet a lot of our citizens thought it was a good idea to have him lead our country. A lot of this nightmare is our fault.
Don't blame me; I never voted for the fool. I fought against this during the 2000 election. I have written letter after lettter and email after email. I've stood on street corners and protested this immoral and illegal war. I've cried and ranted and cried some more. My members of Congress probably cringe when they get an email from me. One of the main reasons Bush knew he could get away with all this crap is that we didn't prosecute Nixon or Reagan of GWH Bush for their crimes. Watergate and Iran-Contra. Clinton wouldn't go after either Reagan or Bush Sr. Now I'm afraid our government won't go after Bush Jr. Woe is this country if there is no accounting of the crimes of this administration. They don't even have to go to jail although that would be nice. Just a true and fair showing of what has been done. And don't even say, right-wingers, that they haven't done anything. You have to be deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid to believe the Bushites are not guilty of many, many crimes. If there is no accounting, it will all happen, but worse, again.
A most excellent article, one of the best I've seen on the debacle called The Bush Presidency.
Imagine a football game where one side MADE the rules, PAID the refs AND the media covering the game. And if the opposing team somehow managed to win the game the POWER team would lose their POWER.
THIS is called "Free Trade".
Only in Republican World.
Its very simple. Free trade ONLY works when EVERYONE is on the same playing field and playing by the same rules. It also REQUIRES honesty, cooperation, and civility.
American free trade is "what's in it for me?", damn the torpedoes, greed and exploitation. People that continue to beat this free trade drum are simply the greedy exploiters and speculators.
BTW...anyo
This country has been screwed by the free market financial sector vultures. They don't care at all about the country and I consider all of them to be traitors.
When will the republicans figure out that greed needs regulating?
When we throw them in prison.
"naubstrean American ethics" has become an oxymoron.
This is what happens when you shift your right hand one key to the left on the keyboard.
I discovered the mirror-image result when I received a credit card in the name of Eillism G. Ott.
--William F. Orr
@LeftRight
}}}}
My point is that the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is a nation where the rule of law applies! That means that the laws must be obeyed! When they are NOT obeyed there are supposed to be ACTIONS TAKEN against those who fail to obey them!!!
{{{{
Yes we are a nation of laws. And yet, to protect our public, sometimes the police have to break the laws in order to enforce them..
What kind of society would we live in where criminals could break the law with impunity, knowing that police would be powerless to stop them..
So, written into the laws is the authority to break the laws if the situation warrants it..
Did you ever read a book called FAIL SAFE?? Do you remember how it ended?? Now THAT was a president with integrity.
Often times, in the world of CT operations, the people charged with the safety and security of this country must do awful reprehensible things to serve the greater good.
Those men and women deserve your respect and your admiration for making the tough decisions that you would find it impossible to make...
They deserve your undying gratitude for providing all of you the safety, security and freedoms which you use, in turn, to spit on them...
Nice......
Michale...
WRONG!! If the police are BREAKING the law, and they get caught, they go down harder than anyone else! THAT'S THE POINT! Breaking the law to enforce the law is an oxymoron that DOESN'T WORK!!! That's why I've been able to get several officers punished in my hometown who come to a stoplight, turn on the lights, run the red, and then turn the lights back off!
Your logic makes as much sense as me solving my spider problem in my basement by using TNT to destroy the house! I won't have spiders anymore, but I won't have a HOUSE anymore EITHER!!!
The police are supposed to follow the law in their attempt to capture criminals. Otherwise, they could brak down doors they wanted, including yours. Society is better off when police show restraint and follow the laws.
@LeftRight
}}}}}
And AGAIN you bring up the LIE that Clinton supposedly said that!
{{{{{
http://www
Feel free to apologize at any time.. :D
}}}}
You have failed to present any proof,
{{{{
Actually, I have posted this proof several times. Either it didn't make the cut or you missed it..
Michale...
There's no apology needed, as you can tell by the audio that clip is edited. Also, stuckon-st
Well, Michale I am glad that you think Clinton is so correct in everything he says.
@BigBen
}}}}
It tickles my fancy when we blame the police for the behavior of the criminals.
{{{{
While I see your point, as a former LEO, it just makes me sad.
Just as it makes me sad when the hysterical Left spits on our men and women charged with keeping this country safe and blame THEM for the actions and behavior of terrorists
Michale...
I don't blame ANYONE for the actions of others. However, when I see an LEO or a military member BREAKING THE LAW, even if they are only breaking it over a terror suspect, I WILL spit on them, and I say that as a veteran of the United States Navy!
What is a LEO? Is that your horoscope sign?
Ben Bernanke actually told all what caused the money crisis when he said the best way to spend stimulus money was to spend it on "domestically produced goods". He utter free trade heresy but told us that making money on money economies instead of making things evenutally burn out. Printing paper and calling it money requires financial manipulations to add value to it that is only backed by these manipulations. The only real tangible asset, the USA has is the value of workers and labor. This is what that won World War 2 and produced the most awesome industrial might in history. Free trade and globalization deflates this value and the economy . Free trade is not really trade. It is really the moving production and factories anywhere in the world for the sake of cheaper and cheaper labor. Workers are the commodities being traded. Free trade did not evolve in any natural economic fashion and were driven by powerful forces in governments and big money. The U.S. Government sponsored the moving of factories outside the U.S.A. in 1956. This "temporary" program never ended. President Clinton consummated free trade following the lead of the elder President Bush. Pres Bush the second , then followed in Clinton's footsteps and it is obvious that Obama will most likely do the same. Bail outs are internal tariffs on work.
See http://tap
I have to disagree. Free trade, as currently defined, works just fine. This country's value is a lot more then just the American worker. All of those foreclosed homes have a huge amount of value. And they are still there, waiting to be sold. The value of real estate is down somewhat, Bloomberg says 17% over the last year to Sept. That adds up to trillions of dollars in value.
The other value that gets left out of the conversation are our natural resources. There are so much, I doubt it can be counted in dollars.
The American people are a more valuable resource than people in countries where they are not free, but we are just one piece of the resource pie.
How are you defining "free" trade? Check out "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" to see the real-life results of free trade as it was defined by the Milton Friedman "Chicago Boys". Unfettered free trade encourages corporate monopolies, huge disparities between rich and poor, and is dependent upon slave-level wages, high consumer demand for more and more things and more and more deregulation of things like worker and consumer protections, pollution controls, etc. As long as corporations are equal to "persons" and the "Federal" bank is a private concern that charges the government more and more interest, so that all of our social security funds, etc. are just needed to barely cover the debt service, free trade results in enslavement of the masses for the benefit of the few.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
