In the wake of Barack Obama’s election victory, pundits noted that the economic situation was so dire the nearest comparison they could think of in terms of presdiential transition was FDR during the Depression or possibly Abraham Lincoln in the runup to the Civil War.
It seems that George Bush, in his Wall Street speech yesterday, was doing his best not only to guarantee his utter political irrelevance; but his very best Herbert Hoover imitation as well. Remember, the latter was the well-meaning, genial fellow who simply hadn’t a clue how to handle the worst financial collapse in American history. He basically did little or nothing and hoped it would simply pass as previous financial panics had.
Here’s what the latter-day Hoover had to say to a Wall Street that has lost its bearings and its moorings:
In a defiant declaration in his waning days as president, Mr. Bush traveled to Wall Street — ground zero for a financial crisis that has spread around the globe — to…deliver an apparent warning to the world’s leaders, and the incoming Obama administration, not to draw the wrong lessons.
Mr. Bush suggested those making arguments for ambitious new forms of regulation…were sorely mistaken.
“The crisis was not a failure of the free-market system, and the answer is not to try to reinvent that system. Free-market capitalism is far more than an economic theory. It is the engine of social mobility, the highway to the American dream.
We must recognize that government intervention is not a cure-all,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “History has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market, but too much.”
This from a guy who’s just cooked up the largest single government intervention in the U.S. financial system in the country’s history. I never expected George Bush to have much of a sense or irony, but it really helps to have one when you read this speech. Where is Jonathan Swift when you need him?
What a malevolent ass our president, so-called, is! Hearing him speak out against regulation, not unlike claiming that playing with matches could never start an unwanted fire, reminded me of a cartoon satirizing Hoover’s approach to HIS economic collapse. He had declared something to the effect that there would be a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage. The cartoonist, unknown to me, but surely a central player in that Valhalla reserved for cartoonists, depicted a large garage empty except for one plucked, naked chicken standing forlornly therein. Enough said.
“Bush the buffoon”!!!!!!
F.Y.I.-
Main Entry: buf·foon
Pronunciation: \(ˌ)bə-ˈfün\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French bouffon, from Old Italian buffone
Date: 1585
1 : a ludicrous figure : clown
2 : a gross and usually ill-educated or stupid person
Of course, “malevolent ass” also works very well for Herr Bush, Mr. Weinstein. In fact, it is probably better than buffoon; I’m just partial to alliteration!
What can you expect from a man with his background? Too late to call him names, for he was voted in for the second term because of his brother in Florida and the Justice system gave Florida electoral votes to him. His Wall Street speech must be made to show his state of mind- neither here nor there.
Money put anywhere with security will be stolen by thieves. Without Law and Order, the beast in a man will dominate anytime- otherwise there is no need to build Churches, Mosque, synagogues, etc. Faith is the only source of strength which makes Malcolm X a better Human- so are we. Only the fear of GOD’S WRATH and CURSE makes us civilize. There must be sufficient regulations to stop unscrupulous traders from insider trading and other unfair practices in his effort for an upward mobility. No bonuses or gold handshakes should given to CEOS who failed to deliver.
Al Gore and his Democrats also gave it to him because they could not mobilize the voters to vote for them.
Then Bush got beaten by the “Ghost of Saddam” and the guile of Osama who believes in Allah. He could be boiling “hot lava” inside.
Obama will have to be smarter to deal with these adversaries if he is not going to end like Bush.
“This from a guy who’s just cooked up the largest single government intervention in the U.S. financial system in the country’s history.”
We might also add:
(1) massive Big Pharma profits from the 2003 expansion of Medicare;
(2) lucrative contracts for AT&T and Verizon to help the government spy on citizens;
(3) billions and billions showered on the military-industrial complex in the course of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars.
Various terms could be used to describe Bush economics – e.g., “mercantilist”, “crony capitalism”, or even “fascist” as Mussolini would have understood the term – “free market” is most definitely not one of them.
hey richy,
you should write on this:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037560.html
Please, Mr. Dickerson, do not consider me an alliteraphobe. Even though rhyme may not pay, alliteration can and often does, I’ll be the first to agree. And in the case of our putative president – I’ll never forgive my fellow Americans for succumbing in 2004 to the incumbency gifted him – possibilities for descriptive alliterations are legion, but though they may amuse they do not, alas, disguise the fact that we still have almost 10 weeks more to endure this interloper. However, here are a few contributions that might help avoid that trip to a shrink:
pallid, pusillanimous putz
spoiled, sparse spermatidal spendthrift
gauche, goofy goombah
amoral ass
wanton wannabe warrior
Mr. Weinstein: LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL……..!
@Michael W: My name isn’t “richy,” Mikey. I’ve politely asked you to desist from such 12 yr old behavior and you somehow can’t seem to act more maturely than that. So your comments will be moderated in future & anything that rubs me the wrong way for whatever reason will earn you future permanent banning.
Oh & Mikey, I read Haaretz too and read the story to which you linked yesterday. I’ll wait to find out if the new left party is more than a flash in the pan before I write about it. Israeli political history is full of new parties which were going to be the “next big thing,” and fizzled instead.
Comparing the two is a slur on Hoover, who had genuine humanitarian achievements outside the presidency, most notably his relief work at the end of WW I. Bush has no achievements whatsoever.
Zhu Bajie
FROM THINK PROGRESS:
Rudd insisted that the best response should involve the broader G20 — which includes China — in order to harness China’s role as an emerging economic power and “to prevent the Chinese using the global crisis to make political points about the failure of Western capitalism.” But according to The Australian newspaper, Bush had no idea what the G20 was:
After the President explained the pressure from Europe for a G7-brokered action on supporting the credit sector and reforming regulation, Rudd immediately insisted the G20 was the solution.
Rudd was then stunned to hear Bush say: “What’s the G20?”
SOURCE – http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/17/rudd-bush-g20/