Remember President Bush's strong economy? Now it's strong enough

It has been the mantra of the White House this summer: Yes, there is pain, but the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

Today, the mantra underwent an ever-so-slight rewrite.

In effect, the new message goes like this: The fundamentals are strong enough.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was asked whether it was still accurate to say "the economic fundamentals are strong."

It's a "very mixed picture right now, and no doubt we're going through some challenging times," she said -- noting that productivity was up, but so too was unemployment. But overall "we are in a position of strength to be able to deal with this crisis."

So, does that mean the economic fundamentals are still sound?

Presenting neither a "yes" nor a "no," she said: "We have the strength to be able to deal with this crisis in our economy."

Pressed, she said, "I answered the question."

Indeed. And the language has changed.

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: Richard Drew / Associated Press

Comments

[H. Craig Bradley]

Bush is B.S. Why? Because HIS "hands-off " regulatory style has failed. Therefore, the "free market" has failed, judging from the actual results.
John McCain was correct in as far as the government was forced to bail out AIG Insurance. However, it sure was not just to protect "thousands of Americans".

According to Barrons.com and WSJ.com, about 87% of AIG's premiums came from overseas foreign customers, principally In Taiwan and Japan in this instance. So, the U.S. Government had to protect their interests, no matter what (the cost).

Thus, the Federal government had no real choice. In every instance, recent bailouts have been designed to first protect foreign creditors who threatened to stop buying our bonds if we did not protect their financial interests (Japan, China, Russia, Middle East- United Arab Emirates). So, financially, our politicians are subservient to foreign creditors more and more.

[russell]

String enough, strong workers...sounds like the last days of the Soviet Union.

[Chris in Texas]

Has anyone noticed that Dana Perino's nose has been growing lately... :-)
I wonder how she can repeat this blather with a straight face. She's a natural for Fox News after she loses her job in January. How I long for the days of Tony Snow. At least I had some respect for him. As for Bush's assertion, until you admit you have a problem you can't fix it. I bet Bush can't wait until his term is over and he can go visit his book in his fancy new library.

[Jon Becker]

If you are under 13 years of age, you may not participate in the discussion because you most likely understand more about what is going on then the entire White House Staff, the Treasury Dept and 90% of all Government Depts in this country.
Just shut up, eat your Wheaties, clean up your room, don't pick your nose and when an adult tells you "we have the strength to deal with this situation", just say no. It's better then becoming addicted to nonsense.

[germanguy]

How about the 'roots' of AIG. China.

[Patrick Henry]

When Democratic hero Jimmy Carter left office in 1980, inflation was 13.5% and unemployment was 7%.

[Captain Obvious]

It wasn't "hands-off" style that caused this mess... take a minute to educate yourselves about Clinton's hijacking of the Community Redevlopment Act in pandering for minority votes that forced lenders to make bad loans or face stiff consequences from the Fed. It is these very loans that have been repacked as mortgage backed securities that are the balance-sheet poison causing these upheavals today.

EXCESSIVE government intervention was the cause, and MORE is most certainly NOT the cure.

This is just PART of the story:
http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=306370789279709

[Yard80197]

so investors have to be protected but why should the tax payer have to honor the golden parachutes the management of AIG awarded themselves? They deserve bracelets and accommodation at Uncle Sam's exclusive resort at Guantanamo. Enough is ENOUGH. wake up Amuricans, your government and the FED are taking you to the cleaners.

[matt]

Capt. Obvious. You're totally clueless about the cause of this problem. You are the one who should get educated. The problem is lack of regulation in the derivative market. The people who trade based on debt and create debt instruments for sale to whoever will buy them. If the problem were the loans themselves, the lenders would still hold substantial assets, namely the houses and property. The assets would have value and could be sold. There would still be a problem, but not a total collapse. The total collapse is due to lack of regulation on the derivative debt market.
Get a clue before you write something you know little about.

[Cleaner44]

Note to H. Craig Bradley:
Bush is B.S. but we have not experienced a free market under the Bush administration. The manipulations by the Federal Reserve are giving us result that are very different than a free market would. Now these money meddlers have been exposed for the fraud that they are and businesses are collapsing.

The Federal Government had definite choice here and the Bush administration chose to turn their back on capitalism. China is now more capitalist than the U.S. Neocon Republicans are the cooks and it stinks to high heaven. Communism... it's what's for dinner!

[Muhammad Zafrullah]

I think this fellow, our president, is making sure that by the time he steps down nothing in this country is viable or reliable.
Muhammad

[geek]

The people who believe President Bush and the Republican Congressional excuses are like the people who believed OJ to be innocent and Palin qualified to mange anything of national importance.

[Harry]

No Surprises yet, all this has been and is predictable.
The only suprise has been how incrediabley stupid the general public is.
How long will they tollerate the party line/electorial vote/supreme court appointed/lobbiest enhanced result voting system. The stupid citizens of America will continue until the pain stops them. Are you getting hungry yet, walking yet, kid quit school yet, lost job yet, ashamed of our government yet?
Hang-in-there, you are close, I'm leaving.
My entire family fought for America in a couple wars. America no longer exists.
It's too damn bad, the people of this country are (over 80% involved in stocks) so easily manipulated so as to believe that money was the answer. Thank you pastors, media, govt, teachers, and again mostly YOU!
Money is the root of all evil, its a fact (not just a religious view) and YOU ALL keep going for it.
There is another way, or like all the the rest of YOU do YOU believe there isn't.
Do YOU believe we (all of us) cannot find solutions?
The solutions are available but the people are lost...........YOU

[Arye Michael Bender]

GWB, more than any single individual in my lifetime, has singlehandedly made government equate with dishonesty. He, and his group of not so merry thugs, have made lying the cornerstone of government.

Nothing he or his administration states can be trusted.

What a sad state of affairs.

- Arye Michael Bender -

[Shocked and Awed]

This "laisse-faire" style of letting the economy manage it's self doesn't work (look at the Great Depression) and Mr. Bush obviously had a hangover when his history teacher described to him the precursors to the "Great Depression".

[josh]

I find that Obama supporters are ignorant of factual HISTORY.

This administration did not stop the practice of REDLINING aka actually qualifying for a loan.

You can thank your precious Bill Clinton for that.

Government intervention into capitalism is a recipe for disaster, as the current situation proves.

[john janssen]

if these corporations are too big to fail, its time to break them into smaller segments so they can fail individually on their own

[Um Captain Obvious You Are Wrong]

My Dear Captain Obvious,
First off, it's the Community Reinvestment Act and it's been around since the 1970s, so you can't blame Clinton, sorry.

Second of all, CRA is about addressing redlining (google it) and making sure banks serve all the members of the community to increase access to credit. And sorry, just because a bank is lending to a person of color, it doesn't make it a bad loan. The current crisis has less to do with CRA and more to do with banks loosening credit requirements for all borrowers (not just people of color). It's not just loans to people of color that are going south.

These banks were willing to forego things like 10-20% down and credit checks to move the loans so they could earn fees, package the loans, and sell them so they could revolve their capital. Don't get it twisted - weak (and frankly reckless) lending practices is NOT a mandate of CRA.

[congressive]

Enough is never enough. Wake up and do what? Riot? That's now a felony to even suggest. Just bend over and take your medicine like a good citizen.

We are laughingstocks. We are legion.

[Tom in Alabama]

McCain's economic philosophy is a copycat of Bush's ruthless capitalism which has no backup and no safety net. Can anyone name a major endeavor by Bush that has succeeded? Not the economy, noy thr war in Iraq, not deficits, not trade, not healthcare reform.....nothing, nada, zero? A vote for McCain is a vote to screw America for four more years.

[Rick Huffman]

To cite the Clinton administration as the culprit is the old republican refrain that is not true and has gotten old.De-regulation goes back to Reagan and Bush senior. Failed worn out policies that keep being dragged up by the republicans. Less government, less regulation, well now the government and the tax payers are bailing out huge companies. Can you say great depression II, can you say American voters are ignorant to keep voting for the republican evil cronies. Wake up America, trillions of dollars deficient, off the charts trade deficient, our country owned by foreign countries, the worst of times are coming and McBush is not a good answer to continue these policies. He used to be a good man but now just a puppet to the neo-cons. And Palin the neo Nazi a heart beat away, come be real and see reality. We need change....real change not fake or come lately change. Wake up America!
RH In SC

[captbilly]

I am very much in favor with a hands off approach from government, but there has to be certain things that government does control or it has no purpose at all. I don't think anyone quesrions that government should run the military an police, giving that kind of life and death control to a profit motivated entity would clearly not be a good idea. The government needs to be in charge of worker safety and environmental issues because business has no profit motivation in protecting either. I frankly also believe that government is probably the right place for medical issues. Corporations have no logical reason to find cures for cash cows like Aids or cancer, the treatments are far to profitable to give up. Likewise business has no motivation to treat people who cannot pay, or to insure people who have serious/expensive conditions. Finally you cannot expect individuals in charge of huge investments not to do whatever they legally can do to make as much money as possible for themselves, so this is also an area where the government needs to step in.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, when a buch of poorly run government programs caused people to question the advisability of having the government run anything. Unfortunately I think the mistake we made was that instead of fixing government we simply gave too much control to private business. The Republicans recieve way too much of their campaign financing from business and very wealthy individuals to be able to tackle issues involving big corporate interests. We need the Democrats to run things for a while and we need to pass new legislation enacted to really take all big money out of politics, so that the Republicans can once again be trusted to do the will of the people, rather than the will of the few wealthiest people in America.

[john doe]

american people elected this government if they got screwed by their government then they deserved it. neither obama nor mcain is going to be able to save them from their sorry and miserable life.

[basementfrog]

I am a financial professional and CFO of a company, and this is by far the worst crisis I have seen in 50 years. Unbelievable that the White House has faith in the strength of the US economy.

When money market funds (supposedly the safest investments we have) are falling, we're in deep poop.

Unbelievable. The Reagonomics policies are currently in fulll bloom. And the stink!

Deregulation, too low tax rates for the top 5% of income earners, trickle down fantacies...voodoo econ indeed.

Folks, the worst is yet to come.

[Jason]

>

What's your point? Does that mean Bush is doing a heckofajob in your one track mind?

As far as Carter goes, he certainly wasn't successful. Trying to combat racism in a world of racists and trying to be an idealist with a Congress of Republican criminals isn't likely to acheive results.

Let's also remember, Reagan got to power by brokering an illegal deal to give arms secretly to the Iranians if they'd just hang on to those hostages until he could sweep into power. All that BS about not negotiating with terrorists! Yeah right! He gave them a deal before he even got elected. And in my book, that doesn't spell a new day in America. It's tantamount to an illegal coup by the Republican and Military establishment. But, shhhh. Let's not revisit history now. That would require reading books and looking at the facts.

Don't toss out Carter, like he's so bad, and ignore the whole story of how your boy got to power.

Furthermore, let's remember Reagan's ultimate legacy that pertains to the exact thing we are dealing with now, the Savings and Loan Scandal. And now we have McCain, Mr. Keating 5 himself running for office with his life long history of Reagan style deregulation that has failed Americans time and again as we bail out the corporations. Oh, but we can't waste money on welfare for those who are struggling to get ahead in the crappy economy you've created now, can we? Just the rich and educated irresponsible people should get the handouts from our tax dollars, right?

Republican War policies have failed.

Republican Economic policies have failed.

The only thing the Republicans have been successful doing is enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else who works for a living (rather than gambling with our retirment accounts on Wall Street...for a living). Oh, and successful in fooling honest hard working Americans to vote against their own interests and let these theives into office to abuse the public trust over and again.

I love my country. I just wish so many of my fellow Americans weren't sooo painfully gullible to the marketing scam that is Republicanism.

Cheers. And Mr. Carter...thank you for moving the world in the right direction, regardless of what the dinosauric fools still think and say.