Under President Obama, Bush’s $700B TARP will cost ONE TENTH as much
October 4, 2010

 
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In October of 2008, President George W. Bush passed the $700 BILLION dollar “Troubled Asset Relief Program” (TARP) to rescue an economy on the brink of collapse. Last night (Sunday, 10/3), that program drew to a close. In less than two years under a Democratic president with Democratic Congress, the economy recovered to the point where LESS THAN ONE TENTH of the appropriated TARP funds were actually needed, and by some estimates, may even turn a profit.

ABC News reported this fact last night:
 


 

It’s not like we didn’t see it coming. By late 2007, the growing economic crisis dominated the news nearly every single day:
 

Disaster Presidency: Two weeks under Bush (Nov 2007)

 

What does this all mean in context? Consider that towards the end of the Bush Administration, the economy was doing so poorly and worsening so fast, President Bush’s own Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson believed that it would take NEARLY THREE QUARTERS OF A TRILLION DOLLARS… almost as much money as the entire government collects in taxes each year… to keep the U.S. economy from complete and total meltdown. And while America grew alarmed at the growing economic crisis, Treasury Secretary Paulson seemed to be deliberately obtuse and evasive on just what the White House was doing to stave off a looming economic crisis that everyone (except them) could see coming:
 

Secretary Paulson evasive on raising sinking dollar 3/08

 

The Tea Party has gotten a lot of mileage complaining about “the bail out of Wall Street”… which they blame President Obama for even though it took place under President Bush. And now, history has born out that under President Obama, the economy improved enough under a Democratic president with Democratic Congress that it was only necessary to spend less than a TENTH of what the Bush Administration believed was necessary to bailout Wall Street, the car companies and the banking industry.

It was also reported last week that this past September was Wall Street’s best September in 71 years. Now, all that is left is to translate the growth of Wall Street into growth on Main Street.

So Teabaggers, ask yourself: do you want to throw all these successes away and turn back the clock to a time when the economy was on the verge of collapse and nothing short of nearly a TRILLION dollar bailout was needed to save it, or do we continue along the current path of economic growth with enough patients to see it bear fruit?
 

 

This weeks list of reasons to keep Republicans from regaining power:

  1. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree: Last week, Ben Quayle (R-AZ), son of former VP Dan “Potatoe” Quayle and candidate for Congress, posted a video on YouTube claiming that the Federal “government share of GDP in America is 44 percent” and “is today spending well over $14.5 trillion dollars a year.” This is a popular bit of Tea Party hyperbole, citing the government “takeover” of everything from “healthcare” to “the auto industry”. Problem is, it’s absolute nonsense. Last year’s Federal Budget was just $3.5Trillion. Nearly 50% of all American businesses are NOT government owned; And the entire National Debt is just over $13Trillion dollars. Someone at the Quayle campaign must have more brains than an actual quail because the ad was quickly yanked less than an hour later.
  2. In November, Oklahoma residents will be voting on a “constitutional amendment that would prohibit state courts from considering Islamic Sharia law in making rulings”. Is this REALLY a problem in Oklahoma? Too many judges wanting to impose Islamic Sharia Law upon the residents of Cedar Creek? When asked to defend their xenophobia, Rep. Lewis Moore (R-Arcadia) argued the law is necessary because “we are at war with ‘them‘.”
  3. The streak continues for a fourth week. Another Republican promises that if they regain control, they will attempt to Privatize Social Security: Pat Toomey Tells Ted Koppel He Wants To Phase In Private Accounts For Younger Americans To Replace Social Security. Folks, they are telling us what their plans are. Time to start taking them seriously.
  4. And again, another week, another Republican promising to “shutdown the government” if Republicans regain control of Congress. Do we have your attention yet folks? This was an utter disaster when the Republican Congress under Newt Gingrich tried it in 1995. But if Republicans learned from past mistakes, they wouldn’t be Republicans, now would they?
  5. ThinkProgress is reporting that in January of this year, Ron Johnson (R-WI), the GOP candidate for the Senate opposite Russ Feingold, testified before the Wisconsin state legislature in opposition to the bipartisan Wisconsin Child Victims Act to eliminate the statute of limitations on civil suits for child abuse. Johnson opposed the Act because of it’s potential impact on business. Because I know when I hear about child abuse, my first concern is how it might affect business. Isn’t it yours?
  6. While most Republicans are going around demanding we “extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the Top 2%” regardless of what it would do to the Deficit they are so concerned about… even threatening to hold tax cuts for the remaining 98% hostage unless they get their way, richest House member Darrell Issa (R-CA) wants to CUT taxes on the rich to EVEN MORE than the Bush Tax Cut Rate. As I’ve pointed out repeatedly, the Bush Tax Cuts have been in effect since 2002 and still are to this day. If lower taxes on the Rich create jobs, how come we’ve just seen the worst job creation since Herbert Hoover? And those cuts STILL aren’t creating jobs to this day.
  7. One day after California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman calls for a “crackdown on those who hire undocumented workers”, she admitted that she herself (knowingly?) employed an undocumented housekeeper. Conservatives get so swept up in their own hysteria, they aren’t even aware when they are slitting their own throats.
  8. New York’s Republican candidate for governor and Tea Party favorite, multimillionaire Carl Paladino spoke to NBC Nightly News reporter Kate Snow Wednesday evening (9/29). Paladino, who had a YouTube message claiming, “I’m being called a racist” for sending racist, sexist and obscene emails, told Snow, “I [only] sent it around to a select group of friends. All of them treated it privately, except for obviously one.” So apparently, it is okay to be a racist pig so long as you only do it in private. (In addition to Paldino’s racist/sexist/homophobic emails and threatening reporters, Carl also decided that just hours after the death of his son in a car crash was the time to reveal to his hospitalized wife that he had fathered a child out of wedlock ten years earlier. Stay classy, Carl.)
  9. First, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle called defeating Harry Reid, “a calling from God“. Now, fellow God Warrior Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) says “God is guiding [her] campaign” and wants her elected so she can “filibuster” the coming “lame duck session” (where she would finish out Biden’s former Senate term.)
  10. And speaking of record Republican obstructionism in the Senate preventing the government from getting anything done: A report by the Center for American Progress finds that the Senate has yet to vote on HUNDREDS of bills passed by the House since Democrats took control in January of 2007. By their estimate, it would require over 1,200 DAYS of legislating in the Senate just to vote on all the unaddressed bills passed by the House. Consider that the House typically is only in session for 548 days in a FOUR YEAR presidential term. And voters wonder why nothing seems to get done since Obama was elected.
  11. And as mentioned above, despite all the talk on the Right of Democrats and their “economy-destroying” policies, the DOW (stock market) just reported its best September in 71 years. This also dispels the Republican myth that success on Wall Street directly translates into economic growth on Main Street. The rich are awash in money. So where are all the jobs?

 

And as usual: a reminder to Sign my Green Jobs petition:
Support green jobs NOW!

 

 

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October 4, 2010 · Admin Mugsy · One Comment - Add
Posted in: Economy, Money, Politics

One Response

  1. Tweets that mention Under President Obama, Bush’s $700B TARP will cost ONE TENTH as much » Mugsy`s Rap Sheet -- Topsy.com - October 19, 2010

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Al D'Amario, Alec Wisner. Alec Wisner said: Under President Obama, Bush’s $700B TARP will cost ONE TENTH as much http://bit.ly/9wQyFM […]

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