Some of us would rather never see Bush's face again. I saw an environmental bumper sticker the other day. It said save the environment plant a Bush in Texas.

It still amazes me how much presidents age while in office. They come out looking 10-20 years older than when they went in.

This is gonna be the longest goodbye ever, isn't it?
19 days then

Hey helping to send a country into financial ruin is hard and grueling work.

"As President Bush has faced a major terrorist attack, two wars, and now a recession"

Technically, there were 2 recessions during his presidency.

Well said Symphonee

..actually, it's not that funny.

"Technically, there were 2 recessions during his presidency."
Most people would have learned from having one and would have taken steps to head off a second.

Wow he really has aged quite a bit. Not too shocking but still didn't realize how old he looks now compared to 2000.

"Most people would have learned from having one and would have taken steps to head off a second."

I suppose you'd think that if you thought the government was supposed to be in charge of the economy.

Yeah, if it had regulatory power and stuff like that.

I'm with stephley. We should never have another recession. There should be constant growth in the economy with no corrections, ever.

Actually, the current economic mess was created by Congress, not Pres. Bush. Bush attempted to stop the housing crisis in 2003. (documented in Boston, New York and Washington papers) Barney Frank (D-Mass, head of housing committee) refused to work with him. Bush wanted to tighten up on the regulations on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and Congress didn't want to. It would cost them votes. A combination of bankers making unwise loans and consumers taking loans that they couldn't repay caused a majority of the housing mess. The greed of UAW (I am a former member) and of the Big-3 automakers hurt the automobile industry. A forklift driver shouldn't make $40-$50 an hour, nor should CEO's make 200 million. We (all of America) made this mess and now we look for someone else to blame!!!

I love you guys: the president has no power, it's a correction (a massive freakin' correction), it's Congress - you're going to spin yourselves unconscious in no time!

I love you guys: the president has no power, it's a correction (a massive freakin' correction), it's Congress - you're going to spin yourselves unconscious in no time!

Oldmathteacher, you do seem to have forgotten that we've had a Republican majority Congress since 1992 up until now, however Congressional Democrats and Republicans as well as the soon to be past administration are all responsible for the mess that we are in.

Hey like I said when this all went down there are no clean hands so IMO to pin this crisis on one group or person is rather absurd. I think we all just need to own up sinch up our britches roll up our sleeves and start down the long road to recovery any more time wasted on the blame game is only going to hold that up.

It's not about the joy of blame. Responsibility must be assigned, mistakes corrected or noted so that they aren't repeated and any willful negligence or malfeasance has to be acknowledged - otherwise, it will continue.
Moms don't accept 'mistakes were made' explanations when lamps are broken because while children very likely do not jump on couches in order to break lamps, they do jump on couches and if not broken of the habit, something more valuable than the lamp will break in the future. Correct the behavior, or consider getting rid of your furniture and understand no one is going to want your family to come visit.
In the case of the economy being in the toilet, Not everyone did take part in the situations that got us to where we are: some people behaved appropriately in their jobs and private finances or warned about questionable behavior and possible consequences – there are records of officials from government and low income housing agencies warning two or three years ago that a crisis loomed, any number of people have voiced concerns over the years about the lack of regulation of the financial industry; others lied about the nature of the behavior – there are records of testimony from the presidents of failed banks saying they were following regular practices and no monitoring was necessary; President Bush said in a speech a couple of months ago that ‘Wall Street got drunk’ – yet his administration did nothing until it suddenly decided we were in a crisis of epic proportions. What reasonable doctor says ‘look that patient is sick’ but does nothing until they’re near death? Doctors don’t make their patients sick, but that doesn’t relieve them of responsibility for the patient’s care– and if a doctor says nothing about a diabetic patient until the patient lapses into a coma, it is not reasonable for the doctor to blame the patient’s current condition on past caregivers.

There you go! See I knew you had it in you to spread the blame all over the bread, not just the corner. You're right their is (official blame) and the buck has to stop somewhere.

I think one way of looking at the governments dragging of their feet though is to look at the type of system we have to begin with. Under our type of system the government should do everything it can to not get directly involved if we are to be a genuine free market society. However, it should play assist in the backgrounds of various infrastructures to try and steer things this way or that with out being too hands on. It is this mind set I believe that is the down fall of a free market because in a crisis like this it makes the government seem like a Dr. caught in a state of vacillation over a dieing patient. Should I do something or should I not?

The best things about problems such as this is that it puts the best minds to work not only to solve them but to prevent them from happening again.

Actually I don't think he aged that bad . Years look more drastic when you're young or old.

Oh and Colbert has balls. Criticizing Bush to his face is a video I could watch over and over.

"I love you guys: the president has no power, it's a correction (a massive freakin' correction), it's Congress - you're going to spin yourselves unconscious in no time!"

We love you too. Congress, especially the democraps, have had nothing to do with the mess we are in. You can spin just as well.

Bill Clinton saw 2 recessions also, the first of which ending at the onset of his presidency. Should he have also taken steps to head off the second one at the end of his presidency, Stephley?

Hypno, our system of government and sustaining a free market are not one and the same and if the free market system we've created threatens the credibility of our government, that's what has to be changed. And I don't think a 'free market' and a 'free for all' melee market are identical, yet we've acted as they are.

Incisive analysis as always UD - I clearly did absolve the Democrats in that line where I said: .

"Oldmathteacher, you do seem to have forgotten that we've had a Republican majority Congress since 1992 up until now"

Actually - the Repubs lost in 92, and didn't get it back until 98 (Contract with America). The repubs finally got all control in 2000. It was then that they completely lost their heads and went hog wild.

"if the free market system we've created threatens the credibility of our government, that's what has to be changed."

What does that mean?

"Democraps" Dave? Really?

What's hard to figure out about it OS?

Shoot. I'm sorry. That was a typo.

Didn't mean to activate the defense mechanism.

Just wondering how serious a question.

I got one dave. repubuthugs, thieves, racists, prejudice, ignorant, rednecks.

whoops, typo.

Childish.

Don't hate the playa, hate the game.

Word to your mother.

For real son!!!!

Ok Frank, I'll take that as "apology not accepted"?

no no apology accepted, but u betta hit the brake before u make another mistake.

He has gotten older, but stress with do that to you for sure. I appreciate his service to this country. I hope his life is easier from here on out, he deserves it.

drink too much on new years steph, still hung over? poor thing.