On who's watch did the economic collapse begin ? Bush thank you very much. As far as policies let's begin with Iraq. A war that was started by Bush under false pretense that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which were never found. How many lives were lost and billions spent unnecessarily. Those resources could have been used toward finding and killing Bin Laden. He. Came into office with a surplus during the Clinton years and his policies of tax breaks to the rich and starting unnecessary wars turned that surplus into a deficit. And if I remember correctly Bush enacted the first 700 billion stimulus adding to the deficit. My how you republicans have a selective memory. So do you really think the American people are that stupid to believe the Bush years were great for the country?
Yes, the economic problems came at the very end of Bush's 8 years in office. The housing bubble burst and, of course, he should have known it was coming and stopped it. In fact, I recall during the real estate boom, millions of people marching in the street demanding that he slow down the growth in the real estate market and pointing out that it was bound to collapse. That's what people do during a prosperous period -- they actively campaign to slow it down because they don't want to cash in on it.
Sarcasm aside, the Monday morning QB's love to blame Bush for what happened. Bear in mind that during the real estate boom, no one was asking the government to slow things down. The general consensus was that you should either mortgage your house for 125% of its value to take advantage of low interest rates or buy an investment property with zero down and an unconventional mortgage. Maybe both. Democrats and Republicans alike were waist high in it and the attitude seemed to be to jump in and get some while the getting is good. Then the bubble burst and people who had absolutely no problem with what was going on suddenly decided (after the fact) that the president should have personally stepped in and prevented people from getting mortgages. Go figure.
Iraq. You make a move on the data you have, not on the data you get after the fact. You're risking a Type I error against a Type II error. Can't win either way.
Tax policies don't cause deficits. Speaking of deficits, would you like to compare Bush's deficits to Obama's? If you have a problem with Bush's deficits and not Obamas, then you're either so blindly partisan that you need help or you need some help with basic math.
As for whether or not the Bush years were great for the country, I have no idea. I'm looking strictly at economic matters. If you want to argue that the economic health of the nation over the last 4 years is better than the preceding 4 years, please be my guest.
