This is a great discussion and I don't have a political axe to grind but those who insist that President Obama inherited an economic 'mess' from Bush and that Bush is responsible for the bank bail-outs need to consider some other factors:
-It was Clinton in 1999 who signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. The "Glass-Steagall was passed by Congress to prohibit banks from owning full-service brokerage firms and vice versa so investment banking activities, such as underwriting corporate or municipal securities, couldn’t be called into question and also to insulate bank depositors from the risks of a stock market collapse such as the one that precipitated the Great Depression." The repeal allowed Commercial and investment banks to consolidate and created much of the subprime lending that is now hitting the fan. Republicans in Congress fought against its repeal, but lobbyist from the banking industry managed to "convince" Democrats that the repeal would be in the Country's best interest. Now we are seeing the results of the Democrat economic policy.
-Those who assign culpability to Bush concerning the housing problem should keep in the mind that the whole thing started because there were more homes than there were people buying homes, and the people who bought mortgages for their home knew they weren't going to be able to pay them, which then caused foreclosures and now they want to resell them...
-As far as the auto crisis being pinned on Bush it's worth considering that the "Big Three" US auto makers' problems are a result of bad labor contracts, lousy products and incredibly incompetent management. A combination of all of those factors and a few more likely contributed to this mess.
-Obama inheriting two 'endless' wars is another topic for another day but surprise surprise the Obama administation has no intentions of pulling out of Afghanistan.
Point being: I'm a fiscal conservative but a social liberal and I agree with olivant that both sides make mistakes and the best solution is for dissenters to come together because only then will a true discourse produce viable sustained solutions.
