Did the US stop creating wealth under Bush W?

Drifterwood

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There was an interesting comment in another thread about W being a Keynesian. I see it slightly differently.

Under Clinton the invisible hand of Smith's Wealth of Nations continued to allow real wealth to be amassed within the US. George probably expected this to continue, but whether by natural exhaustion or his own policies, this failed to happen.

He borrowed and borrowed, but the receipts didn't come in fast enough. Now you have to pay for the Keynesian debt. The price could be high, it already is for many. For sure, some US Corporations will continue to make huge profits, but they are unlikely to see US shores.

What do you think?
 
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houtx48

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Bush would fuck up a chinese gangbang. bush destroyed the united states for his arab masters, i say this in jest, kind of.
 

transformer_99

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What happened under W was exponentially bigger than what his father put us thru. Back In 2000, I am on record that nation could not afford 4 years of "W", we wound up with 8 and at this point what bailouts Bush and Obama used to prop this economy up is now eroding and it continues to result in bankruptcies, foreclosures and unemployment. When we do learn of the CEO's that have done the things to ruin companies and ultimately the nation and even international community, they get off light. We'd put Bin Laden down for what he did, we put Saddam & his henchmen/offspring down for their transgressions, but CEO's, they have contracts, can't touch them, like that should really make a difference ?

Anyone that would vote for a 3rd Bush into the White House needs to be hung for treason. As Americans, we can never allow that to ever happen, ever again. The White House and Presidency of the USA is not a nepotistic government job !
 

HazelGod

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Here's the quick and dirty: Archaic strongmen attempting to artificially sustain and inherently unsustainable technology and/or business model by force of influence.

To wit...hundreds of billions of dollars "invested" in an ideological war intended to guarantee our access to petrochemical interests in the region, with no regard for the fact that the resource is not only finite, but disappearing faster than anticipated due to increased global competition.
 

GallaxyBoy

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Here's the quick and dirty: Archaic strongmen attempting to artificially sustain and inherently unsustainable technology and/or business model by force of influence.

To wit...hundreds of billions of dollars "invested" in an ideological war intended to guarantee our access to petrochemical interests in the region, with no regard for the fact that the resource is not only finite, but disappearing faster than anticipated due to increased global competition.

Dude heard you have some top secret website like this one. Does it have alot of females, and how does a person join it?
 

D_Tully Tunnelrat

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What do you think?

It's a complicated question and I think it gives W too much credit (pun intended). Remember he left Texas screwed blued and tatooed too, which is to say he left them deeply in debt.

Bush was no conservative economically. He was as liberal a spender as LBJ, or Nixon, lest we forget how liberal Tricky Dick looks by comparison to today's Republicans. Nixon was for a national health care plan too -btw. Unfortunately Obama will probably out spend W, thus he will "own" the massively increased debt, fairly, or not.

To be somewhat fair to W, he inherited a tanking economy. The US economy was sputtering out from exhaustion post the massive influx of money under Y2K, and the doubling of the NASDAQ, so tax receipts were going to decline anyway, but at that time we had a surplus, which W subsequently squandered. His tax cuts did help the economy when it was weak in '02-'03, but with the additional spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was never any attempt to balance the budget.

More than anything, the 90's wealth creation was due to technological innovation, access to easy money, and a favorable government policy under Clinton. When speculation got ahead of the cash returns of that technology, the model failed. Only today are we starting to see HD video, or medical records on the net, something that was ballyhooed ten years earlier. No doubt a new technological revolution will happen, and the US will play a significant part in it. My speculation is that both green energy and/or biotech will be the next recipient of all these dollars which Bernanke is creating, and Obama is far too willing to spend. Continued Chinese expansion, for both political and economic reasons, could push the green energy bubble farther up than anyone anticipates. At least that it was some economists who see us in a 17 year commodity super cycle think.
 

javyn

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As much as I'd like to credit Bush for screwing up my state, the fact is the Governor is a very weak position in Texas, constitutionally weak. The Lieutenant Governor and Comptroller make more and bigger decisions than the governor.
 

houtx48

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''Remember he left Texas screwed blued and tatooed too, which is to say he left them deeply in debt.''............. now your are giving him to much credit for the finances of texas. here the governor has little power, more of a figurehead other than appointing people to different jobs they have little to do.
 

HazelGod

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I think you should go back and actually read that article...and keep in mind that it was written in mid-2000, discussing a budget that covered the state through August 2001. A bunch of politicians predicting a budget shortfall in the middle of a two-year cycle...especially during a presidential election year...hardly substantiates a claim that the state was "screwed blued and tatooed" or left "deeply in debt.''

Perhaps instead of a New York daily's editorial, you might look to an actual citation of the budget numbers along with the actual state revenues during the years 1995-2000, inclusive?
 

BiItalianBro

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It's a complicated question and I think it gives W too much credit (pun intended). Remember he left Texas screwed blued and tatooed too, which is to say he left them deeply in debt.

Bush was no conservative economically. He was as liberal a spender as LBJ, or Nixon, lest we forget how liberal Tricky Dick looks by comparison to today's Republicans. Nixon was for a national health care plan too -btw. Unfortunately Obama will probably out spend W, thus he will "own" the massively increased debt, fairly, or not.

To be somewhat fair to W, he inherited a tanking economy. The US economy was sputtering out from exhaustion post the massive influx of money under Y2K, and the doubling of the NASDAQ, so tax receipts were going to decline anyway, but at that time we had a surplus, which W subsequently squandered. His tax cuts did help the economy when it was weak in '02-'03, but with the additional spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was never any attempt to balance the budget.

More than anything, the 90's wealth creation was due to technological innovation, access to easy money, and a favorable government policy under Clinton. When speculation got ahead of the cash returns of that technology, the model failed. Only today are we starting to see HD video, or medical records on the net, something that was ballyhooed ten years earlier. No doubt a new technological revolution will happen, and the US will play a significant part in it. My speculation is that both green energy and/or biotech will be the next recipient of all these dollars which Bernanke is creating, and Obama is far too willing to spend. Continued Chinese expansion, for both political and economic reasons, could push the green energy bubble farther up than anyone anticipates. At least that it was some economists who see us in a 17 year commodity super cycle think.

One of the most rational, thoughtful and on target things i have seen on here in a long time! We share the same brain :biggrin1:
 

ZOS23xy

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For the USA I feel the days of growth are over, and the one way that the US can get out of the "growth market" is o change it to "sustainable". I feel the car manufacturers do it wrong. They should make only a limited amount, and sell all of them, and not rely on the idea that can sell all they make (and you know that they have made toooo many).

But American business practices have been stupid for 20 years.

Give you a little story. I bought a used Nissan at a car auction. It cost me $2000. It was ten years old. A Ford from 1993 only went for $1,000. And most of the people at the auction were Hispanic, and they didn't want the US made cars...Buy American? Not in America. It is now equated to what "Made in Japan" was in 1960 ---Manufactured junk.
 
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deleted15807

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Wealth 'creation' is a bit of a fallacy. Nothing is created only borrowed from Mother Earth and borrowed with an unrelenting voracious appetite that will one day literally collapse on itself when Mother Earth has nothing left to lend. And all that 'wealth' will vanish like the illusion it is.
 

cruztbone

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The government clearly stopped creating wealth for the benefit of all its population during the bush years, but R. Allen Stanford certainly did not let that stop him from making money off unsuspecting Americans. he was indicted today for $7 billion in fraud. Another repugnantcan scumbag on his way to the big (not white) house.
 

D_Tully Tunnelrat

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Perhaps instead of a New York daily's editorial, you might look to an actual citation of the budget numbers along with the actual state revenues during the years 1995-2000, inclusive?

Actually I did read the article. It clearly states that the Bush tax cuts of $1.6B left budget shortfalls of $610-$750M. That's a significant number. Given that Texas is on a "pay-go" system those tax cuts, esp. mid-budget cycle, were miscalculated, and premature, at the very best. You may not like my phraseology, but a buck short in revenues is still a buck owed.

I point this out because this is exactly what Bush did on the Federal level, except that the debt level he left behind was a cumulative $4B, and will be far greater once the total cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the life care of 30K+ wounded vets are taken into account.

The budgetary matters are but a small tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Bush "legacy." There seems little point in rehashing it all here.
 

cruztbone

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And we are going to be paying for the Bush legacy for a LONG time to come. All the more reason HIS white house portrait should be shrouded in red.
 

D_Bob_Crotchitch

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Wealth 'creation' is a bit of a fallacy. Nothing is created only borrowed from Mother Earth and borrowed with an unrelenting voracious appetite that will one day literally collapse on itself when Mother Earth has nothing left to lend. And all that 'wealth' will vanish like the illusion it is.


Truth here folks. That so-called wealth peeps like to talk about was nothing but numbers on paper. It was not real. The United States has had a trade deficit for decades.
The United States used to stay ahead of other nations through innovation. The tables have turned. People live for pleasure now, and responsibility be damned. How do you expect to have a sound education system when a large number of parents aren't involved in their childrens lives? I didn't get my work done last night because my mama had uncle earl over and they were doing it all night long.
 

cruztbone

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and you are right, Hootie. it was all on paper. the tables have turned, and now we are not the innovator.
And as a teacher, thanks for your final paragraph above about parents NOT being involved in their kids education. This is ALL too true. No child left behind has not worked in helping with this, either.
and Sargon, you are right also. Nothing borrowed from mother Earth is ours to keep. We do have too voracious an appetite, and all this supposed wealth can just collapse on us when mother Earth runs out of resources to lend us.
but to houtx48, why on earth would we want that dumb picture of Bush on the aircraft carrier and the sign " mission accomplished" hanging in the White House and call it good? wouldnt it be more appropriate to have the picture of the Iraqi journalist throwing shoes at Bush hanging in the White House? that way, we can remember him for the true "HEEL" he really is.