How Bad Was Bush at the End of His Term?

Again; the devil is in the details.

Don’t just skim over this, it’s not too long, read it and let it sink in. If in doubt, check it out yourself.

Q - Which branch of the government writes, debates, votes on and passes law?

A - Basic civics – it is the Legislative Branch.

Q - Which branch of the government is responsible for oversight and management of the various departments (bureaucracies)  and agencies that implement, and administer the laws that are passed?

A - Basic civics – oh yes; that is also the Legislative Branch – (a.k.a. The United States Congress).

The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009 after the election of President Obama. No… it was actually January 3rd 2007 the day the Democrats took over BOTH the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:

January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress. At the time:

·         The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77

·         The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%

·         The Unemployment rate was 4.6%

·         George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH

·         Remember the day... January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.

·         The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy? Oh yea – that’s right – it was BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!

·         Leading to the crisis (among MANY other things) was the dumping $5-6 TRILLION of toxic loans on the economy from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

·         Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.

·         Oh… and who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? OBAMA

·         Who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie? OBAMA and the Democrat Congress!

So when someone tries to blame Bush. REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"

The laws and policies that specifically over-see Fannie & Freddie; as well as the financial services industry - do not come from the White House. They come from Congress!

The party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.

Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

Since 2008 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid  have passed continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 spending.

Where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009.

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. Beginning in January 2007, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from his very own Democrat Controlled Congress.

The chart below shows the actual budget deficits up to 2008. Notice how in 2007 the deficit was much smaller. It is not until a full control of both houses by Democrats that you see the deficit begin to sharply increase. The remainder of the chart (created in April of 2010); shows the projected or estimated deficit in two representations.

• The CBO’s non-partisan estimate – for 2011 was just under $1 Trillion
• The Obama White house estimate. – for 2011 was slightly less

(source CBO)

 The actual budget deficit for 2011 ending up at $1.3 Trillion.

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is - I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 2007.

During many conversations in 2007 and 2008 with friends and colleagues; I raised two set of questions to those who told me they would vote for Obama.

• What has he actually accomplished? Or – Who is this man really?
• What are the current Banking & Finance regulatory policies going to come to?

I had several close friends working in the mortgage industry; some of them with banks that were more conservative and some with banks that were promoting all the wonderful “too good to be true” loan programs. In late 2007 I told them that it was a house of cards that made me nervous.

Yes – I was upset with Bush, McCain and a few other Republicans who served on the Banking & Financial Services Committees. They should have taken a much stronger stand again the evil that was the real-estate bubble that formed. I realized the mortgage lenders share much of the blame because groups like Country Wide Home Loans made way too many risky loans. That being said; I have professional colleagues who worked for banks ranging from giants like B of A, local banks in Tidewater VA such as @Atlantic and Credit Unions like Chartway Federal C.U. To their credit, they only dabbled in the riskier loans or made no such loans at all. When the Real-Estate Bubble burst – they did not suffer.

I was also flat out angry with Bush with the first Tarp. I remember his speech to this day when he said; “We will have to abandon free market principles in order to save the free market”.

While the tax cuts under Bush were necessary; the spending remained too high.

I was upset that Republicans and Democrats alike allowed Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to conquer the political high-ground when they were ignoring the impending doom. Nancy and Barney both went on national TV and called Bush and the Republicans’ the “Killers of the American Dream” – in attempt to demonize the conservatives who were attempting to sound the alarm bells about a potential real-estate bubble (yes they used those actual words to describe the potential impact as early as 2005). To the defense of the Republicans; they were were outnumbered and out-voted on these committees since January 2007 – because the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate.

Video Links – These Videos are in total about 15 minutes – are actual footage of committee hearings and they Are Well Worth the Time! They absolutely chronicle and validate what I am saying here.

Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank, Complicit in Financial Crisis As early as 2004 –Conservative regulators were sounding the alarm. But Democrat after Democrat said – we do not need to reform Fannie or Freddie – everything is fine.

Barney Frank in 2005: What Housing Bubble?

Democrats were WARNED of Financial crisis and did NOTHING! – A Time Line Example

This was not widely publicized in 2005, in 2006 or in 2007. Probably because the facts don’t align with the Liberal Media and Democrat talking points.

There is no way this will be widely publicized now, unless each of us sends it on!

So… Make it Viral!