I agree with you to a point, however with the exception of the above words about Fannie/Freddie, he did nothing to try and stop this from happening. Rather he continued playing his "our economy is strong" fiddle for the last few years.
He's still the man at the top and he's never taken responsibility for anything that has happened during his 8 years. Whatever happened to "The buck stops here"?
Well, you're right of course that he could have done more. So could Greenspan, Bernake, Paulson, every congress person, Wall Street, Main Street, NAR, brokerage firms, Jim Cramer, and the Illuminati.
As president, he's the decider but he's not the only (or even the chief) person responsible for keeping capitalism honest. Every person who has lived beyond their means for their wants over the last 10 years needs to look themselves in the mirror and accept their responsibility. I don't think it will happen, people would prefer to be victims, and so nobody will learn their lessons until this economic drain drags on several more years...
Anyways, my point was Bush has done enough things to dirty his own name, that I think it will be a shame if all of that is forgotten just so we can place most of the blame for this meltdown at his feet.
Minorities' Home Ownership Booms Under Clinton but Still Lags Whites'
By Ronald Brownstein
May 31, 1999 in print edition A-5
In 1992, Congress mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers...Most importantly, Fannie Mae has agreed to buy more loans with very low down payments–or with mortgage payments that represent an unusually high percentage of a buyer's income. That's made banks willing to lend to lower-income families they once might have rejected.
Comments
Well, you're right of course that he could have done more. So could Greenspan, Bernake, Paulson, every congress person, Wall Street, Main Street, NAR, brokerage firms, Jim Cramer, and the Illuminati.
As president, he's the decider but he's not the only (or even the chief) person responsible for keeping capitalism honest. Every person who has lived beyond their means for their wants over the last 10 years needs to look themselves in the mirror and accept their responsibility. I don't think it will happen, people would prefer to be victims, and so nobody will learn their lessons until this economic drain drags on several more years...
Anyways, my point was Bush has done enough things to dirty his own name, that I think it will be a shame if all of that is forgotten just so we can place most of the blame for this meltdown at his feet.
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/31/news/mn-42807
Lots of interesting commentary on that here:
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/25/a ... -meltdown/