Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech last month that the Fed and Congress, as well as other governments and central banks around the world, deserve credit for stopping the global economy from falling into a depression.
"Without these speedy and forceful actions, last October's panic would likely have continued to intensify, more major financial firms would have failed, and the entire global financial system would have been at serious risk," he said.
A number of economists agree that the Fed, Congress and both the Bush and Obama administrations all deserve credit for steps taken to end of the recession.
"The actions of the Fed and Treasury starting last October actually worked, regardless of how unpopular they were," said Bill Hampel, chief economist of the Credit Union National Association. "It was messy. It was dirty. It required a lot of money. But they were successful in preventing the implosion of a lot of institutions."
An article written by Chris Isidore, of CNNMoney is asking today, "Who should get credit for a Recovery?" is being shown in CNNMoney.com’s website this morning. I don’t know if Mr. Isidore is a Democrat or a Republican but it appears somebody wants to make sure that the Bush administration gets credit for helping to solve the economic crisis of the century.
Might I remind everybody and Mr. Isidore that President Obama was telling former President Bush what to do about the banking system even before he was inaugurated to the 44th President of these United States.
January 14, 2009: First things first. Even before President Bush makes his farewell address on Thursday and Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president next Tuesday, the outgoing and incoming administrations are engaged in a concerted drive to release the second $350 billion installment of taxpayer funds to bail out the banks.
Obama telephoned Bush Monday morning and asked that he formally request the second half of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) windfall for Wall Street approved by Congress on October 3. Bush complied almost immediately,
I might also remind you that it was the Obama administration that saved the automobile industry and by doing so kept the unemployment rate below the 11% mark:
November 25, 2008: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have said they want the government to help the companies and that the funding should come out of the $700 billion bailout plan passed by Congress last month.
The Bush administration, led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, has steadfastly resisted calls to use the bailout funds for the automakers... "We want to see legislation passed at this week's lame-duck session that uses existing funds intended for the automakers that will help them become viable for the long run," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Saturday. "We need to conserve the [$700 billion bailout] money for its intended purpose, stabilizing and strengthening our financial system."
While Paulson ultimately released some of the TARP money for GMAC, it was the Obama administration that ended up saving an estimated loss of nearly 2.5 million jobs if just half of the Big Three manufacturing companies were to have closed down.
I might also remind you all that it was former Senator Barack Obama that said the following way back in March 17 of 2008 before most of us even realized how bad things really were:
Obama claimed that the economy was "teetering on a potential crisis" at a news conference here today and pointed a finger at President Bush, accusing him of poor fiscal management.
"History will not judge President bush kindly," Obama said of the economic downturn over the weekend, arguing that Bush appeared nonchalant over the potential crisis in remarks last week.
"When I saw the president in his press conference, almost lighthearted and joking about some of these issues, I think it did not instill the kind of confidence in the American people and certainly it didn't instill any confidence in me that the Administration is taking the situation seriously," Obama said.
So my fellow readers, if Mr. Chris Isidore really wants to know who should get credit for the economic recovery --all he need do is read the facts, they are plain as day.
Senator Barack Obama, President-Elect Barack Obama and President Barack Obama, his administration along with the the Democratic Party in Congress and a few straggling moderate Republicans saved this nation from another Great Depression by not only pushing for the TARP money to be used for banks, AIG, GMAC and auto manufacturing but also by passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that totaled $787 billion in spending and tax cuts over the period of 2009-2019.
Those tax cuts were the biggest tax cut in history in a two year period.
This administration and the Democratic Party not only saved this nation from an even greater economic meltdown, they are improving our infrastructure all across America at the very same time -- by fixing bridges, sidewalks, roads, electric grids, gas lines and government buildings. They are also saving us millions of future dollars by changing the way we heat and light up our government institutions.
Meanwhile they are keeping hundreds of thousands of families from going bankrupt by providing them unemployment compensation while they get over the loss of their jobs. Last but not least, they helped to stop the credit crunch thereby relieving thousands from having their homes in foreclosure.
And I might add, they did this while conducting two wars, preparing for the pandemic H1N1 flu, getting FEMA to work better in Louisiana after Katrina in less than 7 months then it took the Bush administration in 3 years. And don't forget that his administration is also trying to calm things down around the world that the Bush/Cheney administration stirred up over the past 8 years with places like North Korea and Iran.
So I ask my fellow Americans, knowing all this ,do you still have any doubt as to who stopped us from going into another Great Depression, and at the same time improved our daily living environment and National Security? If you do, you are simply in denial or simply a Republican.