Employment was sustained by the housing bubble. Research the amount of household debt in 2005. Americans were spending $1.27 for every dollar earned. People turned their homes into ATM's because they had seen a 30 year erosion of wages and purchasing power? When you look at the amount of borrowing that sustained the Bush economy, you see a crime (-similar to the crime you see under Clinton and Reagan).
Lastly, did you notice what happened at the end of Bush's presidency? Did you see how many banks and financial firms crashed. Did you see how many jobs the Bush administration was hemorrhaging? Dean Baker and other economists begged him to pressure Greenspan to burst the housing bubble and show leadership on the derivatives market, which was pumping risk through the global economy. He was warned of a potential crash and credit meltdown and he did nothing. He sat back and exploded a nuclear bomb over the American economy. He didn't just destroy Obama's presidency (i.e., Obama didn't need help on this one); he destroyed the next Republican presidency. In fact, the only thing that is going to save the next Republican president is a war. Let's hope it's a good one.
This is to say nothing of what he did to privacy with the Patriot Act, or the fact that he grew the largest, most expensive, most secrative bureaucray in American history.
A hidden world, growing beyond control | washingtonpost.com
George Bush put Big Government Conservatism on the map - none of my conservative friends support him. He spent more than any Republican President in history. He didn't veto one piece of pork from Congress because he wanted their support for Iraq. He suspended Habeas corpus, eroded the legal separation between enemy combatant and citizen, spied on Americans, shredded the Constitution, and used the justice department to hunt Democratic governors. He grew the surveillance state to alarming proportions. (Seriously, study the ways the Patriot Act empowers Government and destroys the legal rights of average citizens. It reads like science fiction and the Tea Party has not said a peep. Then take a close look at the size and function of Homeland Security. Look at the budget, then look at the centralization of power over the States - then look at the umbrella of secrecy. It is straight out of the KGB) Bush makes Obama look like William F. Buckley. Don't take my word for it, listen to Ron Paul or CATO, where I've gotten 99% of my criticisms of Bush.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don't give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
