Quote:
Originally posted by CarneVaca
Do you honestly believe that presidents are responsible for the country's prosperity or lack thereof?
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I agree with you to an extent in that the economy is the sum of many parts. I actually think the Fed. via Greenspan has the most control/power in one person because it controls two very important things the money supply (all of the definitions of that) and the Fed Fund rate, which is an effective tool in controling inflation and deflation. But, I do think W's policies have stimulated growth via the tax cuts (not meaning to start an argument over them
) because they put spending money in every taxpayers' pocket (albeit in different amounts), although I certainly agree the tax cuts certainly were not the only thing.
Interestingly, I read an article awhile back perhaps in The Economist that suggested the tools govt's use are helpful only to a limited extent and the economy traditionally just goes in cycles. So who knows.
Finally, I think the last boom economy fell so hard because it was built on stock prices which in no way even closely resembled the value of the company as traditionally calculated (future earning in present day value divided by number of shares). The nasty deeds of Enron, MCI, and others, which cost the taxpayers about a trillion dollars overall and brought many related and unrealted companies and people to financial ruin, certainly did not help once the recession was started.
Food For Thought