Bush Was Warned of ‘Greater’ Depression

Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration understandably overshadowed pretty much everything else in the news for the last week or so.  His presidency represents a stark change from the policies and approaches of the past, both from the perspective of the White House and the perspective of the American people.  This country faces dire, urgent problems, and President Obama’s ascension to the White House offers many people a sense of hope that maybe we can start to address those problems and dig ourselves out of the holes we’re in.

Unfortunately, the concentrated spotlight on Obama meant that even the parting words of then-President George W. Bush got little play in the media.  That’s unfortunate because, as Tom Engelhardt, founder and editor of TomDispatch.com, noted in a recent Tomgram, President Bush dropped a bomb on the media at his final press conference (or “exit interview,” as he termed it).

Take a look at what President Bush said:

“Now, obviously these are very difficult economic times. When people analyze the situation, there will be — this problem started before my presidency, it obviously took place during my presidency. The question facing a President is not when the problem started, but what did you do about it when you recognized the problem. And I readily concede I chunked aside some of my free-market principles when I was told by [my] chief economic advisors that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression.

“So I’ve told some of my friends who said — you know, who have taken an ideological position on this issue — why did you do what you did? I said, well, if you were sitting there and heard that the depression could be greater than the Great Depression, I hope you would act too, which I did. And we’ve taken extraordinary measures to deal with the frozen credit markets, which have affected the economy.” [emphasis added]

Um … wow.  The leader of this country and the free world was warned by his chief economic advisors that we could be headed for something worse than the Great Depression?  Did you know that?  Did you read about it anywhere?  See it on TV?  Hear it on talk radio?

Yes, Bush and Cheney were virtually booed off the stage at President Obama’s inauguration, and no, his administration didn’t exactly drape itself in glory over the last eight years.  Still, when Oval Office discussions start centering on economic conditions that could make the Great Depression seem favorable by comparison, shouldn’t that be brought to the attention of the American public?  And don’t we have a right to know whatever it was that caused Bush to “chunk aside” his “free-market principles”?

For a detailed analysis of what this may mean to all of us, I recommend that you read Mr. Engelhardt’s Tomgram in full.

Tags: bush depression, economic depression, Economy

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