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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:05 pm Post subject: Clinton fires back; "Don't blame me for the crisis" |
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Clinton says Don't Blame Him for the Economic Crisis
Clinton wrote: |
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. |
Glass-Steagall, which allowed the construction of super finance entities that meshed investment arms with banking arms, did happen under his administration. But it was Republicans and Congressional Democrats who championed it. If he had vetoed, there were enough votes to pass it anyway.
But Clinton is right to be a little indignant. Where would we be if Bush 43 had continued reducing our national debt? We'd certainly be better off. |
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ReeseDog

Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Location: Classified
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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Clinton was smart, I'll give him that. He saw that the economy was rocking along and knew enough not to fiddle with things. In that sense, he might be right to deny culpability for the current crisis. One would be wrong, however, to insist that he did much to help the economy, either. He just stayed out of the way. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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One would be wrong, however, to insist that he did much to help the economy, either. He just stayed out of the way. |
I don't really agree with this. Clinton got a tax/spend policy established that led to a $300 billion surplus at the end. If you remember, people were feeling very good about that. (By people, I mean the public) Like kuros said, what would have happened had Bush kept going in the same direction (rather than running up the national debt)? 8 X 300 = $2.4 trillion |
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Gopher

Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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B. Clinton seems to have done an excellent job re: the economy. But the Great Man theory and historical counterfactuals remain useless. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:02 am Post subject: |
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Since this Depression was caused by the Federal Reserve primarily, and made worse by the total National Debt, now $71 trillion, as it required continued money expansion (monetization) and destroyed jobs and investment around the world, then Clinton would be correct that he did little to bring this on. He did nothing to stop it either.
Clinton did nothing to help the economy, and it was a joint effort with the Republican congress to balance the budget temporarily.
The good economic times of Clinton's term rightly go to a temporary upswing as a result of Reagan's policies. Economic impacts can be felt for years, decades, generations, centuries and even millenia. However, most of the credit should go to another Bill who helped America's economy expand more than any president - Bill Gates.
Bush's deficits and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars did a lot to make things worse, so he gets a chunk of the blame.
Most of the blame, however, can be layed on Wilson, FDR, and Nixon. Eventually, when people who understand economics rewrite the history books, they will be recorded as our most evil Presidents. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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most of the credit should go to another Bill who helped America's economy expand more than any president - Bill Gates.
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Land sakes alive! You finally said something I can agree with. |
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