W. and the damage done.

Jan. 8, 2009 | After a couple of presidential terms, mismanagement in every area of policy -- foreign, domestic, even extraterrestrial -- starts to add up. When George W. Bush entered the White House in January 2001, he inherited peace and prosperity. The military, the Constitution and New Orleans were intact and the country had a budget surplus of $128 billion. Now he's about to dash out the door, leaving a large, unpaid bill for his successors to pay.

W. and the damage done.


I have seen videos that show the costs that the Bush administration have run up in the last eight years and was tempting to just skip this article till I showed it to a friend who had never heard or thought about it. So now that the end of his last term is so near I will post this for those who have not seen it. It is three pages long so read it all to get a good idea of what has happened under W.

The expenses are quite staggering. All that money gone forever and nothing to show for it but a failing economy, a bailout debt that will take generations to pay back, foreclosed homes, lost jobs, and still no effective health care. Just imagine what we could have done if we had used even 1/10 of the money spent over the last eight years on the people of the US.

Who controls the purse?

You can blame GW all you want, but the ones who controlled the purse were more than willing to spend the money.

I guess I should have added that I wasn't attacking Bush with this, it was just something interesting that I came across and thought I would share.

But, you also have to remember that Bush did have control over many aspects of how money was distributed. This article was not just pointing out one specific area that had a large impact on the debt of the nation but looked at many areas over the last eight years.

[edit on 13/1/09 by Pfeil]

I appreciate the info and sorry if my response seemed like an attack. The money is important and is an issue. However, just running our own budgets, we know what we can afford to spend and not spend. Likewise with the government. I have never seen a Congress that was so willing to give a President just about everything he asked for. It simply amazes me that Congress was so kind to Bush. Even when he became a lame duck President he was able to get what he wanted.

The blame has to go to Congress. What were they thinking and why weren't they doing a proper job of oversight? I recall reading something back in July where Franks and Paulson were talking about new powers for the treasury. I am just a believer that Congress knew were this was headed and GW was going to be the fall guy. Now because of all of them are future is bleaker than ever.

I have no intent to criticize the OP. One line of that article really bothers me. "The military, the constitution and New Orleans were intact". New Orleans???!!

How can Bush be blamed for a hurricane that randomly destroyed New Orleans? What about all of the other cities that were wiped out? We don't hear about them.

Of course people blame Bush for poor response, blame him for the insurance company delays, blame him for a city that was constructed below sea level etc. It is mind numbing..

Currently in N.O. those who actually owned homes and had the proper insurance coverage have either decided to return and rebuild or to move elsewhere and start again. In many neighborhoods, homes are being rebuilt while the neighboring home sits just as it did the day the Hurricane and subsequent floods struck. I suppose Bush is to blame for that also.

I am not trying to defend Bush's entire term in office but the N.O. crap frustrates me to no end. This article is rubbish.

Where is the blame on Nagel and the state administrators? Where is the blame for those who ignored all of the warnings and evac. orders? How about the people who left with no desire to return? Should they be blamed also? The city's population is at 72% of its pre Katrina level. Years have passed since Katrina and I highly doubt that those who have left will ever return permanently. Time to move on.

Lol Glad to find this thread to post in, because I was just looking at a past thread, in which Bush won the election just like Obama did. False promises. That is what Bush gave us, to get into office. And then he just did what he wanted. The Bush administration was severely inexperienced or something, judging from their actions.

What I mean, is their lack of understanding of the word 'budget'. Budget means you can only spend what you bring in, right?

Well, to win Bush gave many false promises. Just like every politician does, I guess.

But here we go, I thought it would be fun to share these:

Bush said. "To stand with workers in poor communities and those that have lost manufacturing, textile, and other jobs we will create American opportunity zones. In these areas, we'll provide tax relief and other incentives to attract new business, and improve housing and job training to bring hope and work throughout all of America."

"We will offer a tax credit to encourage small businesses and their employees to set up health savings accounts, and provide direct help for low-income Americans to purchase them," Bush said. "In a new term, I will ensure every poor county in America has a community or rural health center."

How sweet of him to offer us such things, right? Nah, only thing Bush cared about his whole election, was putting in new methods to control us. And of course, escalating this war of lies and insane profit for a select few.
It's obvious cost has been of no importance, his entire time in office.

Bush spent us into oblivion, and didn't do as promised, which was helping the people. I think it would be fun to start a thread highlighting all of his false promises, and then in comparrison, show what he DID accomplish. "Mission Accomplished".
I mean like unlimited spying on Americans, the "Patriot" Act... Just stuff like that, that we CAN say he did for us.

Consider the source of the article. It's from Salon.com, a notoriously far-left site. Sometimes they report news, other times they embellish it to fit liberal agendas.

Fact is, Bush did far more good for this country than the libs will ever admit. Yes, he made mistakes, but what president never made mistakes?