I would just like to point out one thing first: The President doesn't pass laws. That's right, the President does NOT pass laws. To blame everything that happens to the economy on the President sitting at the time is a huge exageration. Congress passes laws, the President signs them. True, this gives him (or, perhaps sometime in the future, her) some control over what gets turned into law, but it doesn't go very far. A veto blocks every part of a bill, which is why it is not often used; it brings everything to a halt, sometimes delaying things for years. So, economic policy is directed to some extent by the President, but Congress has most of the authority.
Next, just as a recession is not good for people in an economy, growth that is too rapid is also a bad thing. Most of the policies implemented while Clinton was in office were to prevent the economy from "overheating". Had actions not been taken to control growth, the recession could have come much, much earlier. Think of it this way: when there is lots of growth, businesses start to build an inventory of goods. There comes a point where there is so much excess inventory, that production is cut back, meaning workers are cut back. Businesses still have their supply to sell, yet suddenly the workers/consumers can't buy them. This is basically what happened in the Depression. You can curse these policies all you like in hindsight, but in reality, they were what was needed at the time.
In response to Mudshark, Isolationism isn't the answer. Been there, done that. But back then, the world economy wasn't nearly as interconnected as it is now. The United States buys things from everyone, and everyone buys from us. To simply say "to hell with the rest of the world" is economic suicide. It could also turn out to be the suicide of our entire civilization. Sure, we're a superpower, the only one left. But, to use a SEIV analogy, we're also right on the edge of MEE, and the only thing keeping us from MEE is the fact that it is more profitable to be our friend. Cut off the rest of the world, then we no longer become profitable, and I don't care how advanced the military is, we might not survive.
That's all I have to say about that (for now
Re: OT: Our Economy (US)
Threaded Mode