mikey

I thought it worked out pretty good the last time.

The Dow went up to 6,000.

I had $million in my 401(k).

Kids coming out of college had multiple job offers.

There was peace.

And there was prosperity.

Looks like Mr. Obama is going in the opposite direction.

The same direction as George Bush's.

.

PressCoverage

Buoyied by the internet explosion, however...

and, when that burst...

There was always war...

and when that burst?

Well, here we are... .

Have I mentioned the global crash is all about depleting energy? Not sure...

mikey

When Bill Clinton started, the Dow was 3300. When his term ended, it was 10,500 (even with the internet burst).

Today? The Dow is 7,400

My solution to the economic crisis is the same as back in 1992: Balanced the budget, no bailout.
.

PressCoverage

I'll agree with that... But this hollow country STILL needs a commodity to trade and goods to produce. .... We make nothing anymore. ....

Meanwhile, some people here still defend corporate outsourcing out one side of their mouth, and have the ordacity to call anti-war people "un-American" out the other.

wistahpatsfan

Stokes

Except that neither of those things were done during the recession. I'm sorry mikey but I'm calling B.S. on this one.

The tax hike was in late 1993, well after the recession was turning around, and the balanced budgets were due not to anything Clinton or even Newt did, but to the surge in the economy from dot com growth that neither party screwed up. Here's an interesting (if older) article that I think gets it right, at least the first part:

Who Balanced the Budget?

"The galloping economy has played a major role in reducing the deficit by sweeping record levels of tax revenue into the treasury over the past two years. This year, federal revenues are running about $110 billion above those of 1996. Here again Republicans can deservedly claim partial credit -- but mainly for what they have not done, rather than what they have done. They have not crippled the economy with costly new mandates or regulations (although the forthcoming EPA clean air mandates may be a severe body blow). They have not enacted expensive entitlement expansions (with the glaring exception of this year's child health care programs). They have not raised taxes. The animal spirits guiding this economic expansion appear contented enough with a Congress that is at a bare minimum committed to doing no harm."

It goes on to praise Reagan for the boom by ending the Cold War and lowering taxes, which is an opinion I like but even I can admit that the reasoning behind it is iffy at best.

It was basically a case of stay out of the way and let the economy roll. Clinton did nothing that spurred that growth.

Patters

The most important thing that Clinton did to spur growth was to establish excellent foreign relations, which expanded our markets. He also did a lot to support technology markets and making our economy more of a service economy. Those kinds of changes helped promote new business sectors. Bush was basically an old economy capitalist. Obama hope to repeat the Clinton success by embracing alternative energy and a new health care model.

PressCoverage

Agreed... Unfortunately, "clean coal" is not alternative energy.