Awol Bush

[Rob67]

Originally posted by Johnny Stew
That's only partially true. We're a "depressed area," but our local economy definitely improved during the Clinton Years.

Just speaking from personal experience, we had literally five houses on our block alone, that went up for sale during the Reagan administration, and pretty much stayed unoccupied thru Bush Sr.'s term in office.
Each of them were sold while Clinton was in office... and they didn't sell to just anyone, they sold to young families with children. Exactly the same kind of people who vacated those houses in the '80s... leaving behind mostly retirees and senior citizens.

The willingness of young familes to move to your area is always a good sign, and our prospects definitely picked up during Clinton's 8 years, and a lot of good things started to happen to our town again.

But in the time since Bush Jr.'s been in office, my dad was laid-off (thankfully, he's back to work), my uncle has had to find a new job, several other friends and relatives have either been laid-off and/or had to find new jobs, and my co-workers and I are all dealing with our hours being cutback.

So, it may be a little black and white, but this is the way I see it...
12 years of Republicans in the White House equalled lay-offs, a lousy local economy, and the necessity for families to uproot and move to other areas.
While 8 years of a Democrat in the White House lead to our local economy improving, jobs being created, and young families returning to the area.

And now, of course, with 4 years of another Republican, we're seeing the same patterns as we did in the '80s and early '90s.
And that's the trouble... one shouldn't have to uproot their family in order to find a decent paying job.
In our little town, we're a very tight-knit community, and the majority of the families who live here, have been here for four and five generations. It's painful when the younger generations have to move elsewhere in order to make a living... as they had to during the Reagan and Bush Sr. years.
Having to do so, prevents their children from having a close relationship with their grandparents, cousins, et al., and denies them from being raised in a true family environment.

Yeah, but no one said life was fair. Times change, places change. You have to make do sometimes...

I can understand where you are getting your impression but I think it is oversimplifying things to look at the economy that way. For one thing, you have to take 9\11 into effect when talking about economics over the last couple of years. The economy has always been on a rollercoaster pattern of going up and then back down and a downward turn did come while Clinton was still in office. Many point to this time period in mid to late ’00 as the beginning of a recession. 9\11 definitely helped it along, and did more to the job market (especially around here) then anything (I lost my job as did my Mother. I had to switch industries while my parents moved to Kentucky for lack of decent positions in my mother’s field).

You could also argue that Bush was handed the economy in the shape it was in. And our local economy doesn’t have so much to do with the Federal Government as it does the bumbling and mishandling of our local taxes. I have never seen a city so poorly run. Tax & spend, tax & spend….it always has and always will drive economies into recession. The policies of presidents and politicians have ripple effects that last after they are out of office. I think most presidents inherit economies that are the results of policies enacted years before.

Rob