George Bush is Finally Leaving

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

Does anyone else feels alleviated that GWB is finally getting his ass off the White House forever? I think he has done enough mischief for his time, wrapping up the US economy in deficit, making two severely unpopular wars and naturally getting the blame for the streak of security failures that lead to 9/11, partly his fault, for he ignored concise Intel reports on Al Qaeda's intentions before the attacks.

But naturally, there are people who disagree with me. So explain and rate your personal views on the legacy of GWB here.

[Cicero2]

The worst president in the history of the united states.

add: creator of credit crisis of 2007-

(his policed encouraged banks to give out loans to almost everybody, so he could go around and say homeownership is at an "all time high.")

give 20 years before the historians realize it.

[Carach]

The worst president in the history of the united states.

thats a mighty bold claim to make, taking into consideration the calibre of most of ur presidents...

[Last Roman]

thats a mighty bold claim to make, taking into consideration the calibre of most of ur presidents...

most have been lame ducks who did little to nothing, neither particularly good nor bad. Bush is easily put at the lower end of the spectrum.

and you spelled "caliber" wrong

[Carach]

and you spelled "caliber" wrong

no i didnt

[MaximiIian]

The worst president in the history of the united states.

Said the man who apparently knows nothing of the history of the United States.

Dubya is certainly one of the worst, and probably the worst in the last hundred years. He has left a terrible, hauntingly mangled legacy. And I personally believe that he is mentally deficient and grossly incompetent.

But he is not the worst President of the United States in history. That goes such horrific individuals as Buchanan, Johnson, or Harding.

[Last Roman]

What he has done to this country will affect us for years to come. and not in a good way.

[Cicero2]

The only president in history to have had two recessions in his time in office.

[Bleda]

Does anyone else feels alleviated that GWB is finally getting his ass off the White House forever? I think he has done enough mischief for his time, wrapping up the US economy in deficit, making two severely unpopular wars and naturally getting the blame for the streak of security failures that lead to 9/11, partly his fault, for he ignored concise Intel reports on Al Qaeda's intentions before the attacks.

But naturally, there are people who disagree with me. So explain and rate your personal views on the legacy of GWB here.

I'm all agreed with you except on the pre-9/11 perception of the threat posed by Al-Qaeda. You can thank Bill Clinton for that misperception during his presidency. He had an opportunity to take Bin Laden out but declined that option because public backlash might come about from the assassination of a "freedom fighter". George W did some stupid , but Bill Clinton can have all the credit for that particular blunder.

[Dave Scarface]

What he has done to this country will affect us for years to come. and not in a good way.

Well unless Barack Obama becomes the next US president we are just going to get 4 more years of the same . The world is ready, but the question is are american voters ready for change?

Dave

[Cicero2]

-gave us Iraq/Afghanistan
-biggest credit crisis off all time
-home foreclosures at all time high
-increased government and government spending at all time high. (add Freddie and Fannie debt est. at 300 billion)
-450 billion deficit and growing
-gas/food prices at all time high
-hurricane Katrina

the list goes on...

He's a Reagan wannabe, but failed miserably.

[Gelgoog]

-gave us Iraq/Afghanistan
ehem, he might have given us Iraq, but afghanistan was not much of a choice
-biggest credit crisis off all time
-home foreclosures at all time high
you can thank the banks for that not him
-increased government and government spending at all time high. (add Freddie and Fannie debt est. at 300 billion)
debt is because of the housing crisis for those companies. so what govt spending are you refering to? just the military?
-450 billion deficit and growing
wars cost alot( but they also generate alot of money) however social programs and giving money away to foreign countries does eat up alot.
-gas/food prices at all time high
food prices are high because of gas, gas is high because of a huge demand for it in china/india which means when you increase demand then supply costs more, bush hardly had anything to do with gas prices
-hurricane Katrina
I forgot that he had that weather machine, thank you for reminding me.

the list goes on...
hopefully the list you didnt put up is a bit more credible.

He's a Reagan wannabe, but failed miserably.

[Mikelus Trento]

-gave us Iraq/Afghanistan
-biggest credit crisis off all time
-home foreclosures at all time high
-increased government and government spending at all time high. (add Freddie and Fannie debt est. at 300 billion)
-450 billion deficit and growing
-gas/food prices at all time high
-hurricane Katrina

the list goes on...

He's a Reagan wannabe, but failed miserably.

That's why he has a sewage plant named after him in San Francisco. what legacy.

[Cicero2]

ehem, he might have given us Iraq, but afghanistan was not much of a choice

..second most expensive war in history.

you can thank the banks for that not him

his policies encouraged the banks to give out loans aggressively (passed by republican controlled congress)

debt is because of the housing crisis for those companies. so what govt spending are you refering to? just the military?

"those companies" are now government companies and their debt is government debt, which is est at 1.5% of GDP

wars cost alot( but they also generate alot of money) however social programs and giving money away to foreign countries does eat up alot.

well, we'll just "generate a lot of money" our way to a half a trillion dollar deficit.

food prices are high because of gas, gas is high because of a huge demand for it in china/india which means when you increase demand then supply costs more, bush hardly had anything to do with gas prices

Its not supply, ITS DEMAND! He policies should have been encouraging companies find other sources of energy and rewarding them with tax breaks, Instead of giving tax breaks to oil companies.

I forgot that he had that weather machine, thank you for reminding me.

yes we have "weather machines" they're called meteorologists, weather satellites, etc that predicted katrina (remember the evacuation that never happened)[/quote]

I can't believe your that naive.

[Gelgoog]

..second most expensive war in history.


his policies encouraged the banks to give out loans aggressively (passed by republican controlled congress)

But capitalism is not to blame for the housing bubble, the Federal Reserve is. Specifically, Fed intervention in the economy-- through the manipulation of interest rates and the creation of money-- caused the artificial boom in mortgage lending.

The Fed has roughly tripled the amount of dollars and credit in circulation just since 1990. Housing prices have risen dramatically not because of simple supply and demand, but because the Fed literally created demand by making the cost of borrowing money artificially cheap. When credit is cheap, individuals tend to borrow too much and spend recklessly.

This is not to say that all banks, lenders, and Wall Street firms are blameless. Many of them are politically connected, and benefited directly from the Fed’s easy money policies. And some lenders did make fraudulent or unethical loans. But every cent they loaned was first created by the Fed.

The actions of lenders are directly attributable to the policies of the Fed: when credit is cheap, why not loan money more recklessly to individuals who normally would not qualify? Even with higher default rates, lenders could make huge profits simply through volume. Subprime lending is a symptom of the housing bubble, not the cause of it.If housing prices plummet and millions of Americans find themselves owing more than their homes are worth, the blame lies squarely with Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke.

"those companies" are now government companies and their debt is government debt, which is est at 1.5% of GDP

you do realize that govt bailout even though they are horribly ideas, are attempts to keep the economy from feeling the full impact of letting them crash. I am not in favor of bailout thouhg

well, we'll just "generate a lot of money" our way to a half a trillion dollar deficit.

I never said wars generate more then they spend, but as soon as you end the war your going to feel the immediate impact of industrial production slowing way down and hundred of thousands of jobless men returning home.


Its not supply, ITS DEMAND! He policies should have been encouraging companies find other sources of energy and rewarding them with tax breaks, Instead of giving tax breaks to oil companies.

yes thats what I said. the supply of oil is not drying up. there is a whole lot of it on the market, its that more countries need more of it and that demand allows prices to spike. one of the reasons why oil is so expensive is also that fact that its heavily taxed by the government. Oil companies currently only make about a 7% profit on oil revenues with most of the money being put into new drilling. If you want to dramatically reduce oil prices then the government should reduce the restrictions on where and how to drill. Right not its not much of a benefit because they have 10 year leases to drill in one location and it can take as much as 8 years to get to the oil and have it flowing...in the end its just not worth the hassle.


yes we have "weather machines" they're called meteorologists, weather satellites, etc that predicted katrina (remember the evacuation that never happened)

the evacuation did happen, just alot of poor people/criminals decided to stay and "weather it out" thinking it would be like past hurricans. the relief effort is what got screwed up and that was the job of fema not the president.

I can't believe your that naive.

I may be naive but I know where who to blame for what. Only idiots cast all the blame at the president..sure he is a screw up and probably the worst president we've ever had, but he is not responsible for half the stuff he gets blamed for....congress and the government on the other hand

[Cicero2]

I may be naive but I know where who to blame for what. Only idiots cast all the blame at the president..sure he is a screw up and probably the worst president we've ever had, but he is not responsible for half the stuff he gets blamed for....congress and the government on the other hand

He as president should have foreseen these hazardous policies before hand. Thats what we elected him for. It is unfortunate he surrounded himself with "advisors" that only agreed with him and who were "loyal." He did nothing to stop because he surrounded himself with a bunch of "yes people" who he saw as tools to advance his agenda, chertoff, gonzales, rumsfield, Powell (who later realized that he was merely a puppet and wisely got out)

If you want to dramatically reduce oil prices then the government should reduce the restrictions on where and how to drill.

WRONG! you offer incentives like tax breaks to companies that reduce our dependence on oil, companies like solar companies and so on, not chevron, not exxonmobile. Then when people start using alternative power the demand for oil goes down, and prices go down.

By providing more access to more oil simply is a quick fix and offers no real alternatives, it encourages oil companies to pump more oil and not seek alternative energy. After that oil has been used up, where back to square one.

Not to mention the environmental effects.

the relief effort is what got screwed up and that was the job of fema not the president.

before katrina, chertoff had the power to mobilize a federal response without any objections. He did not. Who appointed chertoff?

Ford's 65 mpg not for U.S.

this is the behavior that we get from companies and is the reason why we're are so energy dependent still today on oil. If Bush was a real president he would have offered tax incentives to companies like ford for bringing in a 65gallon per mile car. This clearly illustrated his destructive attitude towards this issue, and this has been going on for 8 years now and it is why were at record high prices for gas.

[Milos98]

GWB = Bill Clinton = Nixon= Roosvelt = Willson = Lincoln = Washington...

Who gives a crap who wins... Black or white, USA will be the same.

[WrathofTulkas]

I love how people think Afghanistan was a mistake

the whole world agreed (at least the western world) agreed that those bastards called Al Queda deserved to die

[HorseArcher]

I love how people think Afghanistan was a mistake

the whole world agreed (at least the western world) agreed that those bastards called Al Queda deserved to die

I don't think anyone disagrees about smoking out the taliban, but it would not have been there in the first place if US didn't fund them and arm them back in the 70s and 80 to fight the Soviets and later throw them away like a used toilet paper. Just another Frankeinstein monster , much like Saddam was.

[Каие]

I love how people think Afghanistan was a mistake

the whole world agreed (at least the western world) agreed that those bastards called Al Queda deserved to die

Yeah the whole world cares sooo much about Afghanistan.

• US - 32,500 + 18,000 non ISAF, + 5,000 more to come.
• UK - 8,530
• Germany - 3,370
• Canada - 2,500
• Italy - 2,350
• Netherlands - 1,770
• France 1,670
• Poland - 1,140
• Australia - 1,100
• Spain - 800
• Turkey - 760
• Denmark - 690
• Norway - 580
• Romania - 570