Category Archives: George W. Bush

Republicans tried to prevent the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

It was Democrats who passed the Community Reinvestment Act, Democrats who expanded it, Democrats who cooked the books at Fannie and Freddie as other Democrats pressured banks to make more and more of those high-risk loans, and Democrats who prevented Republican attempts at reform:

Democrats Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac [8:37]

As for employment, let’s look at the big picture.

EMPLOYMENT UNDER REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP

For 12 continuous years, Republicans held majority control of Washington, D.C. (they held 2+ out of 3 of the House, Senate, and Presidency). During that time, the average level of employment over 144 straight months was 63.3%, and never went below 62.0%.

When George W. Bush took office in 2001, one could truly say that he “inherited” the economy, because he had not been a part of the Congress that helped create that economy. And what he inherited was the Dot Com bust, followed shortly thereafter by the 9/11/2001 attacks, which created an economic double whammy. Employment was decreasing in 2001, 2002, and early 2003, and it was not until the 2003 Bush Tax Cuts were signed into law that the economy turned around, employment rose, and tax revenues rose along with that rising employment.

• The low point of employment in 2003 was 62.0% in September 2003.
• By December 2006, employment was up to 63.4%.

Thanks in large part to the Bush Tax Cuts, the economy grew, employment grew, and tax revenues grew. Tax revenues in FY 2007 were a whopping 44% larger than FY 2003 revenues! That was the effect of Republican-backed policies.

Again, employment in the last month of the Republican majority was 63.4%… even after inheriting the Dot Com bust and the 9/11 attacks, Bush was able to turn the economy around and finish the Republican majority with an employment percentage that was slightly higher than the 12-year Republican majority average (which was 63.3%).

That improvement hit an inflection point when the balance of power shifted from Republican to Democrat on January 3, 2007. Democrats raised the minimum wage 3 times, in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and while may sound good to you, the fact is that whenever the minimum wage is raised, some people who would have been employed at minimum wage previously do not end up making more, but rather end up unemployed. There is a reason why youth unemployment is higher now than it was 6 years ago. The financial crisis of 2008 of course increased unemployment (/decreased employment), but again Republicans had warned of, and tried to stop, that crisis, but Democrats thwarted attempts at reform and additional oversight.

EMPLOYMENT UNDER DEMOCRAT LEADERSHIP

We’ve now had six continuous years of Democrats holding majority control of Washington, D.C. Average employment over those six years has been 60.0%, and we haven’t had a month above that average since February 2009. The average over the four years of Obama’s first term was 58.7%, and we haven’t had a month above that average since August 2009.

When Democrats in Congress took majority control on January 3, 2007, they inherited a GOOD economy. And you can’t honestly say that Obama “inherited” the poor state of the economy on January 20, 2009, because he had been a Senator since January 3, 2005 and had helped to create that economy. And even if you insist on blaming Bush for the economy that Obama “inherited” on January 20, 2009, the fact remains that the economy Obama just inherited from himself is far, far worse!

[Originally posted by Red Pill in comments @ https://polination.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/fake-dog-whistles/. Bumped up to blog status by CtH, cuz it needs to be trumpeted from every rooftop from now until the Kingdom Comes!]