Washington budget shortfall nearly doubles in 4 months; $9,000,000,000.

[AlohaHuey]

Originally Posted by 70Ford

2009 - global recovery on the way - recession over.

2010 -
Off life support, but in intensive care.
http://www.erfc.wa.gov/publications/documents/nov10.pdf (broken link)

How does this guy keep his job?

If you are referring to Obama, he has no magic wand to pull the country out of the 8 years of Bush fiasco. Anyone with an economics degree will tell you spending during a downturn is a requirement. BTW, the recession has been over for awhile.

Where was all the outrage, I wonder, when Bush was cutting taxes during two wars, an unprecedented action? Now we see how stupid that move was.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by AlohaHuey

If you are referring to Obama, he has no magic wand to pull the country out of the 8 years of Bush fiasco. Anyone with an economics degree will tell you spending during a downturn is a requirement. BTW, the recession has been over for awhile.

Where was all the outrage, I wonder, when Bush was cutting taxes during two wars, an unprecedented action? Now we see how stupid that move was.

Am I the only one that thinks the sole cause of our current economic crisis was the bursting of the housing bubble? It had nothing to do with tax cuts, or any other main economic policy by a president. We give presidents too much blame when things don't go well, and too much credit when things go well. It takes a lot of people to do things.

Take the housing bubble. The first bricks that led to a bubble were laid before Bush was in office. He added a lot more bricks. The members of congress added a wall of bricks here and there. The increase in housing prices was stimulating our economy in a big way. Nearly everyone in areas with good price increases was taking out equity loans on their homes. What were they doing with the $50K+ they were taking out of their equity? Buying a lot of good and services. OK, some paid off their credit cards first, so that they could max them out again

Anyway, NO POLITICIAN from any party wanted to be "the guy" to spoil all of the fun and say it isn't sustainable and will kill us down the road. Sure, they all try to sound like they knew now, but they were as quiet as mice back then. It was political suicide to stand up and say you wanted to tighten loan standards. Politicians on both sides were allowing this to continue. And remember, congressional committees had a lot to do with this too.

I remember a few economists at the peak of the bubble appearing on the financial shows warning that if the bubble bursts, it will not only cause the biggest economic turmoil since the depression for the USA, but also severely impact the world's economy. They were mostly laughed at. No doubt they are laughing now.

I get it. I understand that Dems are going to blame everything they can on the opposing party. The GOP does the same thing. But don't blame our current economy on Bush's tax policies. It was the bursting of the housing bubble that caused this mess. The housing bubble was a thoroughly bipartisan effort. Go figure. The one time the two parties can work together they nearly bankrupt us.

Bush was not fiscally conservative. He was a big spender too. I hated that about him. However, his failure to keep spending in line with revenue over eight years contributed less to the deficit that the first two years alone of his successor (not counting bailout funds since we have been getting paid back). I wouldn't trust either of them with my checkbook.

[AlohaHuey]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

Am I the only one that thinks the sole cause of our current economic crisis was the bursting of the housing bubble? It had nothing to do with tax cuts, or any other main economic policy by a president. We give presidents too much blame when things don't go well, and too much credit when things go well. It takes a lot of people to do things.

Take the housing bubble. The first bricks that led to a bubble were laid before Bush was in office. He added a lot more bricks. The members of congress added a wall of bricks here and there. The increase in housing prices was stimulating our economy in a big way. Nearly everyone in areas with good price increases was taking out equity loans on their homes. What were they doing with the $50K+ they were taking out of their equity? Buying a lot of good and services. OK, some paid off their credit cards first, so that they could max them out again

Anyway, NO POLITICIAN from any party wanted to be "the guy" to spoil all of the fun and say it isn't sustainable and will kill us down the road. Sure, they all try to sound like they knew now, but they were as quiet as mice back then. It was political suicide to stand up and say you wanted to tighten loan standards. Politicians on both sides were allowing this to continue. And remember, congressional committees had a lot to do with this too.

I remember a few economists at the peak of the bubble appearing on the financial shows warning that if the bubble bursts, it will not only cause the biggest economic turmoil since the depression for the USA, but also severely impact the world's economy. They were mostly laughed at. No doubt they are laughing now.

I get it. I understand that Dems are going to blame everything they can on the opposing party. The GOP does the same thing. But don't blame our current economy on Bush's tax policies. It was the bursting of the housing bubble that caused this mess. The housing bubble was a thoroughly bipartisan effort. Go figure. The one time the two parties can work together they nearly bankrupt us.

Bush was not fiscally conservative. He was a big spender too. I hated that about him. However, his failure to keep spending in line with revenue over eight years contributed less to the deficit that the first two years alone of his successor (not counting bailout funds since we have been getting paid back). I wouldn't trust either of them with my checkbook.

There is no one sole cause to this recession. So yes, you are distinctly in the minority if you believe it was one sole issue.

Offshoring jobs. Lobbyists. Tax cuts and unprecedented spending. Deregulation and erosion of financial checks and balances to the point where mortgages were being given to anyone with a pulse. For a couple of years, I kept hearing how 40% of mortgages were for 2nd or non-primary residences. Foreign currency manipulation. The derivitives market sham. The popularity of "Trading Spaces"...all have a role in our current economic woes.

Everyone is to blame. This wasn't a GOP caused problem or a Democrat-caused problem.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by AlohaHuey

There is no one sole cause to this recession. So yes, you are distinctly in the minority if you believe it was one sole issue.

Offshoring jobs. Lobbyists. Tax cuts and unprecedented spending. Deregulation and erosion of financial checks and balances to the point where mortgages were being given to anyone with a pulse. For a couple of years, I kept hearing how 40% of mortgages were for 2nd or non-primary residences. Foreign currency manipulation. The derivitives market sham. The popularity of "Trading Spaces"...all have a role in our current economic woes.

Everyone is to blame. This wasn't a GOP caused problem or a Democrat-caused problem.

I should probably have said the "primary" cause, and not the "sole" cause. The economy goes in cycles, and without a housing bubble and subsequent collapse we probably would have witnessed a slowdown anyway...but nothing remotely as bad as what we went through. The bubble bursting amounted to a nuke detonating on our economy. Without it we would have seen a more typical slowdown.

Yeah, and "everyone" includes a lot of ordinary consumers. A lot of people dabbled into something they knew little about (real estate speculating). Oh well, I guess everyone learned a valuable lesson...that will be forgotten in about 15 years....lol.

[AlohaHuey]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

I should probably have said the "primary" cause, and not the "sole" cause. The economy goes in cycles, and without a housing bubble and subsequent collapse we probably would have witnessed a slowdown anyway...but nothing remotely as bad as what we went through. The bubble bursting amounted to a nuke detonating on our economy. Without it we would have seen a more typical slowdown.

Yeah, and "everyone" includes a lot of ordinary consumers. A lot of people dabbled into something they knew little about (real estate speculating). Oh well, I guess everyone learned a valuable lesson...that will be forgotten in about 15 years....lol.

Agree 100%, though 15 years might be generous!

I call it the "Trading Spaces" effect...that show was hugely popular, and after the 9/11 attacks, people were more inclined to stay home. Property values were rising, so people pulled out money to give their homes granite counters, new floors, hot tubs, Viking appliances, etc.

[Ultrarunner]

Seem to recall Dino Rossi was very outspoken about keeping WA in the Black...

I'm sorry he didn't make the first go round...

Property owners continue to bear the brunt of tax increases and we've had it being told we are not paying enough.

The Governor did next to nothing when the Port of Olympia was being ransacked by mobs... right there we lost millions of dollars in local revenues.

It is not like she didn't know what was happening.

[drquinn23]

I have to say that, America is going to fall just like the Roman Empire did... I voted no on any new tax increases this year! They should be able to do with what they already have. If a billion dollar business can do it to survive so should the states...