Grumpa Joe's Place

President Obama continues to campaign hard by shifting the focus from his record to issues unrelated to anything important about governing the country. His Blame Bush philosophy works to soothe the souls of voters who have buyers remorse, but don’t have a plausible argument. Bush haters are so adamant about Bush that any argument about Obama’s record becomes “anything but another Bush.”

Bush haters blame him for the wars, and for the crash of the economy. Let me give you my take on those arguments.

1. Wars. Yes, Bush started two wars, one in Afghanistan and the second in Iraq. The effort in Afghanistan was necessary to kill Al Qaeda and to stop the Taliban from providing a safe haven for the same. Since Obama killed Osama Bin Laden and reduced Al Qaeda to that of a bacterial infection almost eliminated, we seem to want to leave and let the infection re-establish itself.

The war in Iraq was a gamble which we lost. Saddam Hussein buffed our government into thinking he had weapons of mass destruction. He didn’t, and in retrospect, the war was unnecessary. Once we destroyed an entire country that happily lived under a ruthless dictator, we felt it our obligation to rebuild the place. The cost became a major issue with voters. It was with me too.

2. Economy, blaming Bush for the bad economy is stupid. The root-cause of the housing bubble collapse is a law enacted by Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Lyndon felt so guilty about the way white people treated blacks he wanted to give them all a free house to realize the same American Dream white people enjoy, i.e. without the mortgage. Johnson’s plan wasn’t working fast enough for Bill Clinton, so he pushed through a law to revitalize the Great Society with the Neighborhood Re-investment Act. Things really got rolling with that one. Evil banks are redlining neighborhoods in order not to make bad loans, and  the new law got on their case for that. The government pushed their robot companies Fannie and Freddie to change things with illegal, under the table assurances that the government would cover their asses on bad loans. Money flowed. People learn to make big money by giving buyers who cannot afford a mortgage a loan. Housing began to escalate in price because of the new demand. The increase in prices taught the lenders a new trick, i.e. lend people money based on the paper equity gain on the house. Lenders gambled that borrowers would have enough equity in a house within five years to re-finance and get a mortgage that actually paid back the loan. Many borrowers went to closings to take a new house and a pile of cash at the same time. They did not make a down payment, they had an interest only loan, and they received a cash settlement for the paper equity value the house gained between the time they bought it and the time they closed on it.

The cash flowed so freely, that investors got in on the action and began to buy houses with no money down so they could resell them in a short time to make a profit. The easy money spread like a tumor running wild. New home sales spurred the economy further. Construction was one way, but equipping new homes with appliances, furniture, and such further stimulated business. We all benefitted; some of us with good jobs, some with investments, some selling mortgages.

While this is all going on, Wall Street is making out. That is what they do. If they don’t make money guys like me who depend on them for retirement complain a lot. Fannie and Freddie  invent ways to hide bad loans within bundles of good loans so Wall Street can sell them to the world. After all, the loans supported by the U.S.Government are good. Who is the U.S. Government? It is a democrat congress pushing a socialist agenda against a republican president. The crap rolls down hill further and winds up in our laps in the form of higher taxes to pay the bill for government sins.

Come along good old George Bush. He learns of the problem and goes to a democrat controlled congress to ask for some help. Good old boys Barney Frank and Chris Todd, who should know what is going on fan the flames a little higher by denying any problem. In walks Barack Obama just as the bubble is exploding. Being a really strong socialist democrat, he supports all democrats like Frank and Todd, Fannie, Freddie and his only defense is to blame his predecessor.

Has anyone in the Congress or the Executive branch taken any responsibility for any of it? Nope, but they do blame Bush, evil banks, evil Wall Street, evil capitalism, and gun-toting Americans.

So that my friends is why Obama blames Bush, because he can’t take any responsibility for anything he and his democrat friends have accomplished because that would be admitting their policies don’t work.

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• Bush GSA head blasts Obama (politico.com)
• Calling the Obama economy a wasteland is an understatement (tarpon.wordpress.com)
• Obama’s Anti-Terror Program Is More or Less Bush’s, Says Book (businessweek.com)
• GW Bush tax cuts were always for the rich because they are the job creators (bonjupatten.com)
• George W. Bush Surfaces to Advocate for His Rich Buddies (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Cartoons, Conservative, economy, Election | Tagged: Al Qaeda, Barney Frank, Bush, bush haters, Obama, U.S.Government, Wall Street |