Is Bush to blame for the housing market tanking ?

[AC1BD]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070828/home_price_index.html?.v=7

I know a lot of people on YA gave him credit when it was booming.
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[Butterbar Bob]

I think some of his policies and initiatives, especially the support of the "ownership society", made mortgage money looser and thus expanded lending to riskier customers. But even if conditions were set so that predatory lending and idiot borrowers were able to come together, it is still the full fault of the lender and borrower.

It is not government's place, nor does it have the authority - Constitutional, moral or otherwise - to protect us from our own stupidity, cupidity or greed.

Regardness, this did fuel a real estate bubble, and when housing prices come down, a lot of people feel the pain. One does worry how big the problem will be, when one considers the popping of the real estate bubble 20 years ago, after considerable foreign investment in real estate. It caused a financial crisis in Japan, if I recall, because many loans were secured with property that then lost significant value.

People should have been more careful.

[cuty007]

This is one issue I would say he may have held a hand in, but didn't win the blame game on this one. While the market is tanking for several different reasons, Bush isn't completely to blame.

Maybe the next issue will be his.

Oh, and if I could, I would blame him for the death of my dog.

[grumpyoldman]

Partially, in my opinion. His administration's failure to investigate OPEC and major oil for price gouging, ( in fact the Republicans have shot down legislation to do that ) has brought price increases to everything associated with fuel. If you bought a house when gas was 1.50 a gallon , and it doubles, it puts you in a bind to pay your bills.

[rightwing65]

Dude...haven't you heard, Bush is to blame for everything. That's how the left is able to get up every morning and face their miserable, pathetic lives...they just tell themselves "it's not my fault I'm miserable, It's Bush's."

[Conor H]

I bet you would blame him if your dog died.

[Henry VIII]

Bush wants to run the country like a CEO runs a company. When something happens in a company, whether the CEO had anything directly to do with it he has ultimate accountability for it. So whether good or bad, what is happening in the US today Bush must be accountable for. The problem is while he wants the title of big shot he isn't willing to take the accountability part of it. So, yes in the sense of him being a CEO he can be blamed for the housing marked taking a dump.

[Chredon]

People seem to think that the President has a lot more control over the economy than he really does.

History has proven that regardless of who is in office, regardless of tax policy, regardless of the political winds of the day, the economy fluctuates. It always has, it always will, and there is nothing the Presidents, Congress, or the Federal Reserve Board can do to stop it. You might as well try to legislate the tides, the wind, and rising of the sun.

What we HAVE done with legislation since the Great Depression is to put controls in place so that the roller-coaster isn't as bumpy. But this doesn't control the economy, it only controls the stock market and how it operates, and it guarantees bank deposits up to a certain level.

Clinton presided over eight years of eceonomic growth. But that's just circumstance. Just as circumstantial was the 2001 recession. Bush's tax cuts didn't cause the economic recovery after the recession in 2001. Think:

We had a recession in 1991, Bush Sr RAISED taxes, and the economy began recovering within a year.

In 2001 we had a recession, Bush Jr LOWERED taxes, and the economy began recovering within a year.

So obviously, tax rates have no effect on recessions. Presidents have no effect on housing markets, and economies will fluctuate no matter what you do.

Nature of the beast: live with it.

[Mr. PhD]

no - this is the cycle of the housing market. It will drop and level out. In 5 years, it will start rising again.