In honor and appreciation of George W. Bush’s new Gallup polling numbers out this week showing how favorable he is becoming(49%-46%) with the passage of time and enough revisionist history, I thought it might be an educational exercise to look back at the man, the myth, the legend in his natural habitat: Fucking shit up.
Sure, sure, we could post some photos of bodies floating faced down on the streets of New Orleans, but that would be crude. And I suppose we could show some graphs depicting the main drivers of our debt and deficit. But charts, graphs, empirical evidence, and reality are too difficult to determine these days.
So, here’s a handy guide in retrospect looking back on the housing bubble and subsequent mortgage crisis that led to the financial crisis which led to the largest government bailout of the private sector in history and the resulting collapse of the global economy:
It was this week in June 2002 that George W. Bush decided that not enough minority homeowners have been taken advantage of– calling for expanding opportunities to home ownership. Then, in 2003, the House That Fraud Built became law:
George W. Bush signing the “American Dream Downpayment Act” December 16th, 2003– White House photo by Eric Draper
Good times.
Fast forward to December 2007, George W. Bush signing the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act. Oh, George. We forgave you at Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief A-
President Bush signs H.R. 3648, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, during a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room.
October 3, 2008.
To quote Goodfellas: “Then finally, when there’s nothing left, when you can’t borrow another buck from the bank– you bust the joint out. You light a match.”
George W. Bush signing The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
Oh, where does the time go?