Was Bush's Speech too Scary?

Meh. I thought is was fine.

 

Eh, his speech suited the situation

 

I didn't see the speech, but the reality is that it IS a crisis and the economy isn't stable. If this doesn't get solved in a matter of days, all hell will break loose.

 

I don't think anybody elsewhere in the world really puts too much stock in what dubbya has to say, unless he's rattling sabers.

 

It isn't about bringing back the good old days. It is about averting total disaster. It is about shallowing the downturn in the economy until such time that it turns around.

 

I was honestly very impressed by his speech -- one of his best, at least in the first half, where he explained the origin of the crisis. Sure, he has writers, but it was really clear and pretty darned close to accurate for a political speech.

He spoke primarily in a bipartisan manner, and while he may have overdone the gloom, the truth is none of us know for sure how bad it can get.

I'm starting to wonder if he's getting more relaxed and more his own man late in his 2nd term... like the big machine is leaving him alone now. Oh well, doesn't matter too much.

 

I was kind tired and missed bits and pieces of the speech, so I went and got the transcript. Given his HBS degree and business experience, he seemed a bit more in his element here than elsewhere. Two thinks I was less than thrilled about were that there was no admission or concession of lax government regulation, and this conjecture....

[QUOTE = President Bush]"Second, as markets have lost confidence in mortgage-backed securities, their prices have dropped sharply. Yet the value of many of these assets will likely be higher than their current price, because the vast majority of Americans will ultimately pay off their mortgages. The government is the one institution with the patience and resources to buy these assets at their current low prices and hold them until markets return to normal. And when that happens, money will flow back to the Treasury as these assets are sold. And we expect that much, if not all, of the tax dollars we invest will be paid back."[/QUOTE]

...Is this a reasonable prediction, or will the presumed likelihood of mortgage repayments already be (over)priced in to the MBS value by the time the government buys them?

 

I doubt w got into HBS on his own merit. Secondly all his businesses have failed except for the rangers which was successful because of tax payers buying a new stadium.

 

How is Bush still your president?

Who does America have to sleep with to get an impeachment over there.

 

I thought only 16% of the population even followed him anymore.


BTW- the fact that the foreign constituents on this bbs come in and debate our elections and politics is interesting to me. Why? Because they cannot vote, yet they express points to try and sway opinion on who we should vote for or like.


Bush will be missed by more people than will admit it, IMO. Popularity, like we worried about in 7th grade, is prevalent in the US, way more than it should be.

 

Because the president of the US is the leader of the free world. And also the leader of the country with the most powerful military in the world.

Every single person in the world has a stake in our elections, not just our citizens.

I really wish more Americans understood that. It is our duty as citizens of this planet's most powerful nation to understand that.

Our actions affect everyone.

And, to quote Stan Lee, "with great power comes great responsibility."

 

Oh, I get that... I was just saying why it is interesting. It's just not known how much it influences us.... while we hardly influence their political cycles.

 

This is also why the UN matters. If you think we resent them, think about how much they resent us. Think about living in a country that isn't the US and how it is impacted by the decisions of the US. Think about how every country in the world is impacted by our decisions. Of course they pay attention to what's going on here.