Bush says he inherited recession (Aug. 2002)

[elocs]

http://money.cnn.com/2002/08/07/news/economy/bush_cheney/

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, in separate speeches Wednesday, both claimed the U.S. economy was already in recession when they were inaugurated in January 2001, implying the blame for the slowdown rested on President Clinton's shoulders.

Both men also made assurances that they had a handle on the problems facing the economy.


"When I took office, our economy was beginning a recession," Bush said in a speech at a Mississippi high school. "Then our economy was hit by terrorists. Then our economy was hit by corporate scandals. But I'm certain of this: We won't let fear undermine our economy and we're not going to let fraud undermine it either."

In a congressional election year, the administration seems determined to avoid the apparent mistakes of the first President Bush, who lost a bid for a second term after the Clinton campaign took advantage of the perception that Bush was not paying close enough attention to the economy.

Well, well, well, isn't that special. "Both men also made assurances that they had a handle on the problems facing the economy." Right.

"When I took office, our economy was beginning a recession," Bush said in a speech at a Mississippi high school. Wow! Don't we all feel so sorry for him? So how did he leave the economy?

This is how Republicans view things. Nothing is Bush's fault--anything negative gets blamed on Clinton. Poor Bush had all of those bad things happen to him.

Then it didn't matter what Bush did to the economy in his 8 years, everything is now Obama's fault.

The Republican heads they win, tails the Democrats lose philosophy.

[Turbineguy]

1. When Bush got the nomination

Oil was at $10 per barrel. As it became obvious be would become President oil rose to $30 per barrel on Inauguration day 2001. When he did not attack Iraq right away, the price dropped back down to $20 where it was on September 11, 2001. The last year of the Bush Presidency, oil hit $150 per barrel.

When all the numbers come in, the US will have spent about $21 per barrel for Iraqi oil just on the war.

During the Bush presidency world wide spending on oil was $17 trillion more than it could have been. It's true, the price of oil in 2000 was too low to support exploration and it would have risen, but not as much as it did due to Bush.

[The Wielding Truth]

2. Words nor truth nor law have meaning in the unaccountable Republicam mind.

[LadyInAZ]

4. Agrees...

they don't like taking responsibilities or admit their decisons affects us all. so they blame the democratic party instead... known full well they are the cause of the economy decline.

[jwirr]

3. Apparently he has forgotten that he inherited a surplus from Clinton

and promptly proceeded to throw it away.

[elocs]

5. Obama only wishes he inherited the economy that Bush did.

I would love to see a side by side comparison of the economy that Bush got in 2001 and the one that he left for Obama in 2009.

[alfredo]

6. The downturn was only in the tech sector, but due to bush

mismanagement, it spread to other sectors. There were two energy scams, one in the mid west, and one in California. bush's inaction on them pushed us into a recession. Recessions are weapons the elite use on the poor and middle class. It shifts the power out of the hands of the workers, and into the greedy hands off the bosses. Look through history and notice there are recessions in the first year or two of Republican presidents. There are cases of recessions during Democratic administrations, but they are shallower and shorter. Obama has inherited a mess only equaled by the great depression. Too bad presidential politics are sabotaging Obama's attempts at creating jobs.