- Joined
- Aug 27, 2005
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- Houston, TX
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- Conservative
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I think it's wrong to say that Obama has had nothing to do with the recovery. Without the stimulus, and the auto bailouts, and the extended payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits, the recession would have at minimum dragged on longer and may have turned into an outright depression. If he had gone the other way and cut spending to reduce the deficit, it almost certainly would have sent the economy into depression.
You're right to blame the Clinton WH and 90s Congress for the destruction of Glass-Steagal, but Clinton had virtually no opportunity to review the effect of the repeal and respond to it. Bush and the Republican Congress that followed had six years to respond and they didn't lift a finger. In fact they only fueled the fire by instituting large tax cuts. And to be fair, no one on the Democratic side was beating the drum to bring back the regulations, either.
If Clinton didn't have the opportunity to review the effect, then he should have grown a pair and vetoed the legislation. It is still his fault, no matter what excuses are offered in his defense. After all, excuses are just that - excuses.