The Bubble Setup

Warning: Conspiracy Theory/Conjecture

Remember the dot com bubble? I do. Burst just before Bush Jr. took office. Remember the housing bubble? Burst just before Bush Jr. left office. Coincidence?

Historically, Republicans have been known for sound fiscal policy while Democrats create social program liabilities to buy proletariat votes. On the surface, it would appear that democrats get to destroy the economy for short term gain and the Republicans have to bite the bullet and repair the damage.

Now, from the data I've seen, that seems to have changed under Reagan, where his tax cuts were made in a way that left a large deficit ... but, he's also credited for the economic recovery during that period.

I think that what happened recently, though, is that conservative politicians realized that if they fixed the (underlying) economic problems during the Bush administration, that they would not get re-elected. So, instead, Bush brought us to the brink of an economic collapse through the housing bubble (in part to reduce the pain from the dot com bubble correction), while filling the pockets of cronies and hoping the burst would force the next (Democratic) administration into sound economics, and limit their ability to initiate or continue entitlement programs. Instead, Obama has been "doubling down" - blaming the Bush administration (rightfully, but you rarely heard Bush blaming Clinton), but instead of correcting course he has been hitting the accelerator, and we're heading off the cliff.