‘President Clinton's Policies Sent the Economy Seriously Off Course’

[Locutus]

Say wut?

Here’s something I bet you thought you’d never see at the perilously liberal Huffington Post.


In a Dean Baker article published Tuesday with the astonishing title “There Is No Santa Claus and Bill Clinton Was Not an Economic Savior,” the second sentence read, “Just as little kids have to come to grips with the fact that there is no Santa Claus, it is necessary for millions of liberals, including many who think of themselves as highly knowledgeable about economic matters, to realize that President Clinton's policies sent the economy seriously off course.”


For those unfamiliar with Baker, he is no conservative.

Far from it, as he is currently co-director of the Center for Economic Policy which even the liberal Wikipedia categorizes as “progressive.”

It is therefore fascinating to see a liberal economist on Christmas Day go after the saintly Clinton.

“[T]he point of economic policy is to produce an economy that improves the lives of the people in a sustainable way,” wrote Baker. “Clinton badly flunked this test.”

Baker then proceeded to speak inconvenient truths that the left and their media minions have ignored for over a decade.

“The Clinton economy was driven by a stock bubble,” he wrote. “This is not a debatable point. The ratio of market-wide stock prices to corporate earnings was well over 30 to 1 at the peak of the bubble in 2000. This is more than twice the historic average.”


more


HuffPo Shocker:

 

[damngrumpy]

Confirms what I have said time and time again, Clinton was part of the problem.
The worst offender however was Ronald Reagan he destabilized the society with
his penchant for deregulation. That process allowed for the first round of trained
snake oil salesmen to gain control.
Second came Bush Senior though not as bad as his nutty son who gave everyone
six hundred dollars to shopping and buy things made offshore.
Clinton set the stage for Bush to be able to do that, he created a belief system that
we could buy it cheaper than make it, here. His wife Hillary was even on the Board
of Directors of the greatest greed machine and destroyer of communities the world
has yet seen WAL-Mart.
The mess has been created and the present administration has to deal with it.
Republicans believe there is a free lunch for the rich and trickle down is still a good
thing. Obama is going to tax them but at what rate? I think that both sides in the
economic debate have to understand that everyone is going to pay more for the sin
of greed and stupidity, demonstrated by all economic groups.
Yes tax the rich and cut off those breaks if they sit on investment money tax it
If they move the money off shore tax it, if they invest it outside America tax it.
As for the rest, here is the size of the mess and you helped to create it so at the same
time as we tax the rich you will pay your share of the mess.
It is time to understand there is no free lunch. While we can blame Clinton, and Bush
fair enough, we cannot escape the fact that an entire society bought into a fiscal fantasy
and now everyone has to pay their share. The cliff sounds like it might be a good thing
in the long run. as long as pensions and medicare are left alone.

 

[captain morgan]

Republicans believe there is a free lunch for the rich and trickle down is still a good
thing.

The top 10% pay about 70% of the income taxes.

Read more: Okay, Folks, Let's Put Aside Politics And Talk About Taxes... [CHARTS] - Business Insider

Obama is going to tax them but at what rate?

More

I think that both sides in the
economic debate have to understand that everyone is going to pay more for the sin
of greed and stupidity, demonstrated by all economic groups.

Everyone, except for the 50% that don't pay Federal Income Taxes.. So, maybe you ought to rephrase your statement to say that everyone understands that the wealthy will have to pay more for the sin of greed, stupidity and laziness of the 50% that don't pay Fed Incomes Taxes

Yes tax the rich

They don't pay taxes right now?... Does that mean that 100% of the US population doesn't pay Fed Income Taxes?

and cut off those breaks

What tax breaks are you talking about?

if they sit on investment money tax it
If they move the money off shore tax it, if they invest it outside America tax it.

The wealthy and their money will leave the nation; but you can at least thump your chest and slap yourself on the back on a job well done - albeit, in an economy that is akin to a third world nation... It's really that simple.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisco...reasons-to-give-thanks-for-one-percent-taxes/

and now everyone has to pay their share.

I get a laugh out of your use of the word 'everyone'.. Your idea of 'share' is that 1 specific group pays for everything.

 

[taxslave]

Confirms what I have said time and time again, Clinton was part of the problem.
The worst offender however was Ronald Reagan he destabilized the society with
his penchant for deregulation. That process allowed for the first round of trained
snake oil salesmen to gain control.
Second came Bush Senior though not as bad as his nutty son who gave everyone
six hundred dollars to shopping and buy things made offshore.
Clinton set the stage for Bush to be able to do that, he created a belief system that
we could buy it cheaper than make it, here. His wife Hillary was even on the Board
of Directors of the greatest greed machine and destroyer of communities the world
has yet seen WAL-Mart.
The mess has been created and the present administration has to deal with it.
Republicans believe there is a free lunch for the rich and trickle down is still a good
thing. Obama is going to tax them but at what rate? I think that both sides in the
economic debate have to understand that everyone is going to pay more for the sin
of greed and stupidity, demonstrated by all economic groups.
Yes tax the rich and cut off those breaks if they sit on investment money tax it
If they move the money off shore tax it, if they invest it outside America tax it.
As for the rest, here is the size of the mess and you helped to create it so at the same
time as we tax the rich you will pay your share of the mess.
It is time to understand there is no free lunch. While we can blame Clinton, and Bush
fair enough, we cannot escape the fact that an entire society bought into a fiscal fantasy
and now everyone has to pay their share. The cliff sounds like it might be a good thing
in the long run. as long as pensions and medicare are left alone.

If wallywirld is so bad then why do so many on the left shop there?
If we are cutting the fat, why should pensions be left alone? If we are going to share the pain then let the generation that is most responsible for it share the pain as well.
Speaking of sharing the "pain', My buddy's wife turns 55 in the spring and is planning on collecting her government employee pension. When do the rest of us get to share that pain? And can mine be retroactive to 55?

 

[Kreskin]

It's hardly news that there was a stock market bubble in the late 90's. The Roaring 20's had one too. Optimism is the primary fuel of any bubble.

 

[JLM]

The cliff sounds like it might be a good thing
in the long run. as long as pensions and medicare are left alone.

And it might be a better thing if it did include pensions and medicare!

 

[Kreskin]

The fiscal cliff is basically the Republican plan. The Bush Tax cuts are dropped but those additional taxes aren't due until April 2014. Not a big effect for 2013. I suppose some payroll tax deductions will be increased and remitted. The rest and most significant effect will be large spending cuts. Not much different from what Reps propose to begin with, but because Obama is involved it's a fiscal cliff?

 

[gopher]

Interesting how he fails to mention Clinton's role in creating 25 million jobs and the budget surplus. If Clinton is to blame for anything bad that happened then surely he gets credit for the good as well. But at least he does say Bush misdirected his tax cuts which added to the problem. This means he had ample opportunity to correct the so called bad course created by Clinton. Therefore, the real blame goes to Bush. I don't see conservatives accepting that as fact. If the writer is a liberal who blames Clinton, then let's see conservatives blame Bush for his role in all this.

 

[tay]

Yes Clinton did create jobs but he also kicked wide open trade with the communist bogeyman China with his endorsement of favoured trading status.

He also is riled for his dismantling of the Telecommunications Act which has changed media, for the worst, forever.........

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

The American political system as a whole is a mess. You can blame a single politician or even a party, but money and special interest are the lubrication that turns the gears. Special interest back politicians, politicians are inclined return favors and lawyers are brought in to write legislation that politicians don't even read. [Check back on that anti-pirating legislation, that was written in the government, but the politician who got the ball rolling had no idea what was in the bill] Because he didn't read it.

We get pissed off in Canada when Jean Chretien calls the Bank of Canada for a pal or when Peter MacKay takes a helicopter ride to a picnic, but in all honesty, we are very lucky not to be saddled with the same dysfunctional system.