Dear George Bush,

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2009

Well. Here we go, Mr. Bush. Our fundamentals haven’t turned out to be so good as you said they were after all. And this is just the beginning of the winter of our discontent. Our new President only got a couple of days respit before the economic slide began to pick up steam and we entered the period where panic begins to be the predominant emotion. You said that it wasn’t your fault. That’s what the chairmen of Fannie and Freddie said too. And so instead of cleaning up the mess of two wars and a dysfunctional government, we have things like a "financial bailout" and a trillion dollar economic stimulus package. Back in February 2008, a year ago, there was a loud warning. Remember?
Bush to Sign Economic Stimulus Plan
By Scott Stearns
White House
09 February 2008

President Bush will approve more than $150 billion in tax rebates Monday as part of a plan to stimulate the U.S. economy. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, opposition Democrats say more action is needed to help poorer Americans.

President Bush is accepting Senate changes to a stimulus package he previously agreed to with the House of Representatives.

The White House blocked efforts to extend unemployment benefits but agreed to the Senate adding refunds for older Americans. The plan Mr. Bush signs Monday will give tax rebates of up to $600 per person in more than 100 million American households.

New York Congressman Charles Rangel is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. In the Democratic party’s radio address, he says the stimulus plan is a good first step, but he wants President Bush to address what Rangel says are underlying weaknesses in the U.S. economy affecting lower and middle class taxpayers…
You put a bandade on it and didn’t give it much more thought, as we slid down the wrong side of the housing bubble and waited for the oil bubble to burst in June. Last year would’ve been a good time for what we’re doing now, because it probably would’ve worked more quickly then. But still you ignored things until it finally hit the fan in September and you ran around like a chicken with your head cut off to pass a trillion dollar give away bailout for the big banks so they could make their end of the year corporate bonuses and cover some of their bets on the unregulated derivatives market. And here we sit, watching stores close and shelves go empty. Here we sit as our friends lose their jobs and our economy grinds to a screeching halt. Well, I got my economic stimulus check not long ago – $1.57. It didn’t help much.

Weren’t you the "pre-emption" guy? The one that jumped on problems even before they happened? Didn’t you have us marching off to war in the Middle East against a country that might be developing Weapons of Mass Destruction? Did it occur to you or your colleagues that when Enron went under because of their manipulation of the unregulated Commodities Markets that there might be a structural loophole that others would slide through and also exploit? Were you even thinking about those things? Or asking someone who knew about those things to look into it? Do you even yet know what happened?

But I’m being mean, aren’t I? As you say, you didn’t do anything. That’s what we say too.. You did nothing. The financial collapse snuck up on you, just like Al Qaeda snuck up on you. Like Condi Rice said, those warning briefs didn’t say what day Al Qaeda was going to attack – too vague I guess. Or when Dick Cheney, the Divine Vice President was asked recently if he saw the financial crisis coming, he asked the interviewer, "Did you?" The reporter quickly responded, "No, but it wasn’t my job." This crisis is a perfect ending to your Presidency. Pity is, we’re the ones that are going to pay the price…

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