The Bush Legacy
© russelljsmith
I don't usually write about politics here. But I saw a blog post recently that seemed to summarize clearly the economic impact of the Bush (43) presidency. I say economic impact because the policy decision of the second Bush Administration so clearly affected the national economy – through deficit spending and debt, and through its approach to taxation and the regulation of the financial industry.
So, let's review a little history: The day the Bush administration took over from President Bill Clinton in 2001, America enjoyed a $236 billion budget surplus – with a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. When the Bush administration left office, it handed President Obama a $1.3 trillion deficit – and projected shortfalls of $8 trillion for the next decade. During eight years in office, the Bush administration passed two major tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest Americans, enacted a costly Medicare prescription-drug benefit and waged two wars, without paying for any of it.
The author goes on to talk about the "laissez-faire attitude toward the excesses of the financial industry" that led to the deepest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.
I know that America has become a polarized society where a large minority on the political right think Republicans in general aren't fiscally conservative enough and where many "progressives" on the left are unhappy at what they see as half-steps on their political agenda. Revising history is natural. History is always open to interpretation, and humans aren't really capable of pure objectivity.
I'm not alone in my view that Bush took us from surpluses to deficits, implemented policies he didn't pay for, and let the bankers and brokers run wild. I know people who, if they read this, would tell me that the two wars weren't Bush's fault (which is true) and that Bush had to work with a Democratic Congress for part of his Presidency (also true). They'll try and blame Congress; and Congress bears part of the blame. But at the end of the day the policies belonged to President Bush.
Blame who you will. A year later we are still only beginning to recognize some of the pieces we have to pick up as a result of those eight years. Economic pieces…
