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How about some facts?
First.
The banking deregulation bill that many claim led to the crisis was Graham-Leach. It was signed by Bill Clinton, not Bush. I remember Bush making numerous attempts to reregulate the industry, particularly Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, only to be opposed by Democrats like Dodd and Frank who were ranking members of and then in charge of the Senate and House finance committees. I think they all wanted access to home ownership for lower income people, which is fine, but it's also easy with 20-20 hindsight to see that the regulation adjustments were, in fact, needed.
I found a speech by W in 2002 where he proposed a plan for low income people to be able to afford home ownership. It included a fund to provide the down payment, $440B of loans by Fannie & Freddie, and most importantly, incentives to home builders to build homes the people could actually afford to make mortgage payments on.
In 2004, Freddie and Fannie were in trouble. Not because of the housing crisis, but because of accounting practices. Fannie fired its CEO Franklin Raines and was pushed by Democrats to make riskier loans. Fannie paid a $400M civil fine in the matter as well.
In 2005, Richard Shelby wrote a bill that would have prevented Fannie and Freddie from acquiring the kind of mortgages that precipitated the crisis. This, in turn, would have led the banks to not make those loans, since they couldn't sell them to Fannie or Freddie. All republicans in the senate voted for the bill, all democrats voted against it. And that was after Fed Chairman Greenspan had testified and warned them that Fannie and Freddie were playing with fire and that stronger regulations were needed.
I found this Senate bill from 2005 as well. This one was introduced by Chuck Hagel and cosponsored by 3 republicans, Liz Dole, John McCain, and John Sununu. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/s190 The bill died in committee. It's sister bill http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr1461 passed the house 331-90.
I found this 2003 NYTimes article where W had proposed and lobbied hard for housing regulation and oversight by a new agency in the treasury dept. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/b...ed-to-oversee-freddie-mac-and-fannie-mae.html
Bush did sign reform in 2008, a bill his administration started crafting in 2007 - before the crisis came to a head.
I also found this snippet of an interview with Bill Clinton after the crisis occurred:
CHRIS CUOMO, ABC NEWS: A little surprising for you to hear the Democrats saying, "This came out of nowhere, this is all about the Republicans. We had nothing to do with this." Nancy Pelosi saying it. She signed the '99 Gramm Bill. She knew what was going on with the SEC. They're all sophisticated people. Is that playing politics in this situation?
BILL CLINTON: Well, maybe everybody does that a little bit. I think the responsibility the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Second, look at years 2000 and 2001. This is the economy W inherited.
That's recession (negative GDP growth) in 3 of the previous 5 quarters.
The GDP growth that followed might be directly attributed to those tax cuts, no? Tax cuts are an economic stimulus of choice by govt. Obama cut taxes in a targeted manner (like lowering FICA taxes twice) that had less positive results.
Let's see more of your list.
