Obama says "The Buck Stops Here", but still blames problems on George W. Bush

Little-Acorn

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Thomas Sowell nails it again.

How long can the Democrats continue to mess up the country and get away with it by (falsely) blaming Republicans?

Will we finally get the answer, this Nov. 2?

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http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/09/07/political_fables/page/full/

Political Fables

by Thomas Sowell

President Barack Obama boldly proclaims, "The buck stops here!" But, whenever his policies are criticized, he acts as if the buck stopped with George W. Bush.

The party line that we are likely to be hearing from now until the November elections is that Obama "inherited" the big federal budget deficits and that he has to "clean up the mess" left in the economy by the Republicans. This may convince those who want to be convinced, but it will not stand up under scrutiny.

No President of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives and all taxes are voted into law by Congress.

Democrats controlled both houses of Congress before Barack Obama became president. The deficit he inherited was created by the Congressional Democrats, including Senator Barack Obama, who did absolutely nothing to oppose the runaway spending. He was one of the biggest of the big spenders.

The last time the federal government had a budget surplus, Bill Clinton was president, so it was called "the Clinton surplus." But Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, where all spending bills originate, for the first time in 40 years. It was also the first budget surplus in more than a quarter of a century.

The only direct power that any president has that can affect deficits and surpluses is the power to veto spending bills. President Bush did not veto enough spending bills but Senator Obama and his fellow Democrats in control of Congress were the ones who passed the spending bills.

Today, with Barack Obama in the White House, allied with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in charge in Congress, the national debt is a bigger share of the national output than it has been in more than half a century. And its share is projected to continue going up for years to come, becoming larger than national output in 2012.

Having created this scary situation, President Obama now says, "Don't give in to fear. Let's reach for hope." The voters reached for hope when they elected Obama. The fear comes from what he has done since taking office.

"The worst thing we could do is to go back to the very same policies that created this mess in the first place," he said recently. "In November, you're going to have that choice."

Another political fable is that the current economic downturn is due to not enough government regulation of the housing and financial markets. But it was precisely the government regulators, under pressure from politicians, who forced banks and other lending institutions to lower their standards for making mortgage loans.

These risky loans, and the defaults that followed, were what set off a chain reaction of massive financial losses that brought down the whole economy.

Was this due to George W. Bush and the Republicans? Only partly. Most of those who pushed the lowering of mortgage lending standards were Democrats-- notably Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Christopher Dodd, though too many Republicans went along.

At the heart of these policies were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who bought huge amounts of risky mortgages, passing the risk on from the banks that lent the money (and made the profits) to the taxpayers who were not even aware that they would end up paying in the end.

When President Bush said in 2004 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be reined in, 76 members of the House of Representatives issued a statement to the contrary. These included Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel.

If we are going to talk about "the policies that created this mess in the first place," let's at least get the facts straight and the names right.

The current policies of the Obama administration are a continuation of the same reckless policies that brought on the current economic problems-- all in the name of "change." Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still sacred cows in Washington, even though they have already required the biggest bailouts of all.

Why? Because they allow politicians to direct vast sums of money where it will do politicians the most good, either personally or in terms of buying votes in the next election.
 
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Well Bush and the Republicans passed the buck...

Bush CO. did help put us in this mess...but Obama is the one who has to get us out...For getting us out that is on Obama...however the econ tanked before he took office, and that buck still goes to the man at the top then...Bush.
 
Thomas Sowell nails it with every column he writes. He is a national treasure. If only he could have been the first black president rather than the Skinny Socialist.

Dr. Sowell really nails it in this column. Libs please read this and learn something. No doubt Libs (including you THC) think FDR did a great job managing the Great Depression...which of course is incorrect like most everything they believe. And, BO and the Dems are doing the exact same thing Hoover and FDR did.


Things go better when politicians do nothing
By: Thomas Sowell
Examiner Columnist
September 6, 2010

The history of the United States is full of evidence on the negative effects of government intervention. For the first 150 years of this country's existence, the federal government did not think it was its business to intervene when the economy turned down.

All of those downturns ended faster than the first downturn in which the federal government intervened big time, the Great Depression of the 1930s.

There are two conflicting assumptions about what happened during the Great Depression. The most popular assumption, especially among politicians, is that the market failed and the government had to intervene to save the economy. {DF Libs believe this...really they are most ignorant} Gipper

Another assumption is that the market went down and was on its way back up when federal intervention sent it down again and led to massive unemployment. If you don't let facts get in the way, you can just pick whichever assumption you like, and the first assumption wins that popularity contest, hands down. {Libs are ignorant of facts} Gipper

But if you look at the facts, they go like this: Unemployment never hit double digits in any of the 12 months following the big stock market crash of 1929 that is often blamed for the massive unemployment of the 1930s. Unemployment peaked at 9 percent two months after the October 1929 crash and then began drifting downward.

Unemployment was down to 6.3 percent by June 1930, when the first big federal intervention occurred. Within six months, the downward trend in unemployment reversed and hit double digits for the first time in December 1930.

What were politicians to do? Say "We messed up"? Or keep trying one huge intervention after another? The record shows what they did: President Hoover's interventions were followed by President Roosevelt's bigger interventions, and unemployment remained in double digits every month for the remainder of the decade. {BO must be insane...he is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result} Gipper

There is another set of facts: The record that was set in 1929 for the biggest stock market decline in one day was broken in 1987. But Ronald Reagan did nothing, and the media clobbered him for it. {learn from the Master you DF libs} Gipper

Then the economy rebounded, and there were 20 years of sustained economic growth with low inflation and low unemployment. {Its not rocket science you a-holes...just leave the economy alone} Gipper

Can you imagine Barack Obama doing another Ronald Reagan? I certainly wouldn't predict that. {NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO F-ING WAAAAAAAAAAAAY} Gipper

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...o-nothing-752801-102295754.html#ixzz0ys8fJxYQ
 
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