"Can't we just all get along"?

I'm sick of hearing how will that help. These people don't get it, we were looted, abused and told we should enjoy it. The bailout was bs. Our government can't run squat as seen with Freddie and Fannie. This was a sick day and its just started. Arnold get you bailout for the mess government created in his state, ny , etc. Thanks for saying this.

Do either of you realize that under Clinton, the US had one of the best economic periods ever... when Clinton left the US had a SURPLUS.

You are damn right that we're pinning it on Bush and the republican-run government. 10 BILLION a month on a pointless war (in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 by the way...and in a country with an 80 billion surplus)... Not to mention that FACT that Bush has taken that surplus and turned it into the greatest deficit in american history. There are no more numbers on the debt clock which means we are in debt OVER 10 TRILLION DOLLARS!!!

What I can't get over is if you replace republican with democrat in all of your musings, you are actually speaking a democratic POV... it sounds like you have your wires crossed...

I agree, Let Sarah loose... she'll bury you all with her folksy views and rhetoric!

but Clinton via a 1995 executive order created what I believe was the the tipping point leading to today's credit crisis. To understand the problem which became the crisis one is advised to review 1938, 1968, 1970, 1977, 1995 and 2003. In January 2001 Bush inherited a recession. Technically, we're not yet in a recession because we've not yet had two consecutive quarters of negative growth in GNP.

The U.S had a "surplus" only by using Enron-style accounting. I've despised the Bush presidency for everything it's done that you didn't mention, but applauded it for what you did.

Deanne and oilpatch, I'm reminded by Chad of a recent George Will line. "For a conservative seeing is believing, but for a liberal believing is seeing."

The worse times in our economy in the last 60 years was '76 to 80 ( i was there and i remember the gas lines and Jimmy Carter's "malais"), '93 and 94 (housing crashed. I owned a house. Thanks Bill. I remember.) and now the last two years. Democrats were in charge all those times. The Republican controlled congress took over in '94 with the Contract for America and you bet those were good times! Thank you Republicans! We were attacked in 2001 and yet our economy was so strong that we weathered it. I would argue that if our economy was not so fundamentally strong this Democrat Fannie Mae Scandal would have totally taken the country down. And it may yet. Barney Frank said that those scandalous Fannie Mae loans were "riskless". There is a whole video of Democrats chastising (a nice word) regulators. Liberal policies DO NOT WORK. You cannot tax the job makers and not expect them to either 1)leave the country or 2) pass it on to the consumer. Take an economics class or better yet, own a small business, Chad!

The 80's??? Do you remember 15% mortgage rates and houses that did not sell? And boycotting the Olympics?

While I appreciate your experience and POV, I have to call you on the business. I have a small business... thank you very much, but I dont make nearly 250k with it!

I highly, highly, HIGHLY doubt that the "liberal policies" will hinder you or your business, since im guessing you have one with all your expertise. Obama's tax plan taxes the top 1% off businesses and unless you are pulling in 12 BILLION a year in revenue I suggest you take the class(or at least live in the real world) because you nor any other conservative looks at the simple fact that BIG BUSINESS DOESNT GIVE BACK! In other words, the trickle down theories are no longer relevant. If Exxon gave that 12 Billion out to their workers or reinvested it into the infrastructure, then I would agree, dont tax them.... BUT since that never happens and you end up dealing with greedy businesses, like the ones involved in the current crisis, we need to make sure that the middle working class is able to make ends meet and even start their own small businesses...

The idea that giving 95% of the american workforce a tax break will make them lazy is an absurdity. THINK about it... why did we get those stimulus checks? The american people received a stimulus package IN HOPES that the people would turn around and spend it... in exchange empowering the economy and making it stronger. What you should learn from this is that the economy runs on the back of the american workforce. If the people who actually make this country work (that would be us middle class workers by the way) had more of a tax break we could put more money into the market BECAUSE WE COULD AFFORD IT and in turn make the economy stronger.

Seriously... you act like Obama is gonna rape your bank accounts and put everyone in the poor house... If you are one of the 95% who will receive a tax break, what is your problem?

You'd rather have McCain give big oil, big business and the top 1% of the wealthiest americans MORE MONEY and HOPE that you get a piece?!?! I call that insanity.

And if you disagree Id say that you are either "well off", "well-to-do", or just plain GREEDY.

Yes, Sir, there was a surplus, which helped supply the next President with cash to fight a war that was totally the previous administrations lack of action! Why didnt Clinton take out Osama when the Saudi's offered him on a silver platter--- because he didnt want to upset his economic plan, he had the surplus, he wanted to keep it. Didn't want to use it to fund a war! Besides he was fighting a Hurricane at the time called, Monica! He claimed there wasn't enough proof of guilt on bin ladens part!
You and the rest of the left are so numb from smoking all that weed during the 60s you can't feel what your think! Maybe if you could, you would understand!

Why didn't Bush go after Bin laden when they had him cornered in the mountains of the Afgan/Pakistan border??? Hmmmmm?

Why cant you just take it that the republicans as they are now screwed up this country? Why must you play the blame game and look for a scapegoat?

Let me guess... you have to do it b/c us Dems do it first... right?

"Didnt want to use it to fund a war..."

Thats a bad thing?

As I remember it, our soldiers made the decision not to go after Bin laden. Bush, unlike Democrat presidents in the past, does not micro-manage the military. It's big talk, but when a Democrat was in office, we had soldiers killed in Somalia.

The delta force group that was in Afghanistan were told to stand down by the higher ups (whomever they may be) in order for the local militias to TRY to take Bin Laden, which obviously failed. And since Bush is the Commander in Chief what he says goes... Ultimately he has the final say on military actions.

Bush has never micro-managed this war. He does not make tactical calls. "Higher ups" are military personnel. They made a determination based on information they had on the ground. Ultimately you gotta trust the military to make their own calls. Bush has never made those type of calls. Not in Iraq, either.

to invade Iraq for no reason... yes, he did.

"no reason"? Do you really want me to go through a litany of reasons? 17 u.n. violated resolutions, shooting at our jets in the no-fly zone, threats against neighboring states, etc., etc. AND 14 months of waiting while Bush made the case to the U.N., where Gen. Powell made the case AS HE, AND EVERY OTHER COUNTRY, BELIEVED IT. Lie upon lie, upon lie, leftists ignore a whole litany of legal reasons, going through the correct channels, gathering other nations to our side, only after approval from the U.N. did Bush go into Iraq. Sorry. Wake up. This web page: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/3197 will give you all the quotes from DEMOCRATS who also believed we had to invade. History is hard to ignore.

Remember when we invaded... when we took the focus off of Afghanistan? NO REAL REASON. NO WMDS. Every other country DID NOT agree with it, thats why we got so much flack from the UN and other european nations... Wake up? Kettle, meet pot...

I have googled how many nations were a part of the "coalition of the willing". 30. That is not unilateral. The media may have taken their focus off of Afghanistan, but to say that our military did is a falsehood. Ask the soldiers that were there. We announced that we were going to invade and gave Saddam a full 14 month head start. Do you think maybe the chemicals he used to kill Kurds were left in the country? Flack from the U.N... the vast majority of Americans DON'T CARE WHAT THE ANTI-AMERICAN U.N. THINKS, or other countries for that matter. They certainly DO NOT have the best interests of our country at heart. Why in the world does the left care so much about the regard of other countries. The bottom line is that we have to do what is best for America and hopefully that aligns with other countries but we cannot allow their regard to guide our foreign policy. It is in everyone's interest to have a strong America.