The Bush "Boom"

clipped from stefanmikarlsson.blogspot.com Not that much of a "Bush boom" in other words. Now, to be fair, it would be wrong to blame Bush for the dismal performance during his presidency. He inherited an economy that was falling into a recession because of the tech stock bubble, and while the housing bubble in 2001-2006 did provide a limited boost, it also dragged down the economy in 2007 and 2008. By contrast, Clinton was really lucky to inherit an economy that was just recovering from recession and then enjoyed the pleasant phase of the tech stock bubble while leaving office just before the bust was apparent in growth statistics. The main blunder of Bush was to reappoint the man guilty for the current problems, Alan Greenspan as Fed chairman, but then again that was a mistake also made by Reagan, papa Bush and Clinton. He also increased spending far too much (more on that below) and implemented policies that in the name of his "ownership society" vision aggravated the housing bubble.