Who's to blame for USA's economic woes?

I don't agree with everything President Bush did, but he did try to reform while others (democrats and community organizers) were forcing banks to make loans to those who couldn't pay them back. If the dems's hands weren't so dirty with the scandals they would have been on board back then to fix things. They were directly responsible for the downfall of Freddie and Fannie, and their greed led to a near total washout of many of the foundational aspects of our ecomomy. They have no right to lay this on President Bush's doorstep.

"I don't agree with everything President Bush did, but he did try to reform while others (democrats and community organizers) were forcing banks to make loans to those who couldn't pay them back." Again, show me where Bush called on congress to change the mortgage industry. It wasn't just democrats that were calling for this, there were republicans, along with the Alan Greenspan who told congress to find better ways for people to get mortgages. If Bush was so worried about the mortgage industry, then why did he take credit for minority ownership? You can't take credit for something, and blame it for destroying the economy at the same time. "They were directly responsible for the downfall of Freddie and Fannie, and their greed led to a near total washout of many of the foundational aspects of our ecomomy." You said yourself that Bush warned us of this housing crisis, again I ask you to show me what he did. This is the same man that spent months selling the country on a war that we didn't need. Are you telling me that the war was more important than the destruction of the economy? George W. Bush was president when all of this happened, he also sat by while energy prices went through the roof, and did nothing to stop it (even though he was sitting on the worlds largest stockpile of oil, and COULD have released that at anytime). The man that has nothing to do with this is Obama, and he is the one being blamed for it. George W. Bush has accepted no responsibility for anything that happened to this country while he was president. The president of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, and the buck stops at his desk. He gets the credit when things work out right, and all of the blame when they don't. That is how it works

I think it started in the early nineties and the opportunity for reform was ignored. I believe President Bush and others pushed for reform but other politicians with dirty hands wouldn't help because it would break up the crooked dealings that had them rolling in the dough at the expense of the US citizens and ultimately the economic wellbeing of the whole world.

I agree. Blaming people for what has happened is not going to help solve the problem.

It is hard all over. I hope that instead of trying to place blame the government will come up with some real solutions that will help people--and soon! I'm praying too because I know a lot of people are hurting.

I think the banks and corporate greed in general(don't forget the Bernie Madoffs out there) contributed a lot to the problem. Reform and regulation in those areas would help to rebuild our economy, but not to the point of snuffing out capitalism and free enterprise through socialism.

Corporate greed definitely played a big part.

Good points, all of them. Those trying to lay the blame on someone else are only trying to deflect people's attention from their own failures.

Good point. Things are steadily getting worse. Hopefully there is a real pilot in there somewhere with what it takes to rescue the ecomony.

The buck ultimately falls at the doors of the voters. I hope Congress is able to put the brakes on the out-of-control spending spree. The nationalized healthcare idea is one for the trash heap in my opinion.