Were recent Republican presidents really responsible for recessions or is this a myth?

[craig]

The economy is an ocean. It ebbs and flows. Administrations can support legislation that supports the economy and a future economy. But unless they do something calamitous it will not destroy the economy.

 

[Exquisitor]

They never ever cut spending so that side of the equation is dead to me. Republicans had their chance in 2017 and did NOTHING.

Being a fiscal conservative does not mean low taxes. It means believing in sound fiscal policy. That means low taxes follow low spending. Not the other way around. I don’t believe in ruination of my country, and I damn all the Republicans in this country for voting for this horrible ideology of low taxes and high deficits.

Thank you highroller, because of you, I was able to deliver the entire Republican Party to the Lake of Fire and they kind of made a sick ooze on the surface.

Previously, the only persons I dragged to that shore was Rudy Giuliani when he said he was going to make trouble in Heaven for people who put him in jail. He was meat. Now I got them all. I really, really thank you, let's just keep them there. They'll be all full of energy when they come out, why don't you and I go for a swim?

 

[Exquisitor]

They never ever cut spending so that side of the equation is dead to me. Republicans had their chance in 2017 and did NOTHING.

Being a fiscal conservative does not mean low taxes. It means believing in sound fiscal policy. That means low taxes follow low spending. Not the other way around. I don’t believe in ruination of my country, and I damn all the Republicans in this country for voting for this horrible ideology of low taxes and high deficits.

I didn't hang on to them under my arm on the shore like Giuliani, until he excused himself, I went down to the water's edge the and put them in.

Hey, I got Trump too, he's a little bigger than Giuliani and didn't so screw up.

Someone is trying to make the Lake of Fire look like my vat of rhodium, do you think I should care if they're in my rhodium? Yes, they'll get made into crystal, and I don't want them in the walls of my city forever.

I sucked up all the fire in that Lake of Fire looking for something to do one day, I was standing there and one Master said, "You can't just go into the Lake of Fire, bad things happen to people there, and then slammed my face into the rock and I knelt there bleeding and laughing wondering how I was going to feel when that really happened to me.

 

[Vern]

The economy is an ocean. It ebbs and flows. Administrations can support legislation that supports the economy and a future economy. But unless they do something calamitous it will not destroy the economy.

Sure its hard for a president to destroy the economy but Bush has proven it can be done. When he preempted all state laws against predatory lending, his regulators fought with state regulators trying to maintain standards and allowed investment banks to run their leverage up to 30/40 -1, he literally only had to sit back and wait.

 

[Cynical]

In the comments for some financial and political articles I have repeatedly heard the general idea that Republican presidents were supposedly responsible for the most recent recessions and that Democrat presidents have supposedly had to come in and clean up the mess and basically save the day.

Is there really anything to this? Can anyone here show a stronger connection than just the basic timing of events or clearly refute this claim once and for all? I wasn't an economics major and wasn't paying very close attention in detail to what was happening at the time and only vaguely remember the most recent recessions.

Of course there is more to the US economy than just the stock market. Right now I would be much more concerned about inflation and the relatively high number still unemployed than the stock prices for Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, etc.

The US economy does not move one way or the other at the whims of a single person. This is the most misguided notion when it comes to viewing a president. The overwhelming majority of economic activity is out of a presidents control.

 

[rickc]

The banks and corporations exist for one reason. Profits! They will do everything they legally can to increase their profits. They have no allegiance to the good of America or a social conscious.

It is government's job to regulate these business to protect them and us from their greed. When that fails bad things happen. The republicans believe in deregulation and democrats believe in regulation. I believe republicans belief that business should be able to run free is why their track record is such.

The FED is charged with keeping full employment and controlling inflation. They are preparing to act on present inflation. They are about to raise the fed funds rate for the first time since the Bush recession. They have a poor record of getting this right

That roll expanded during the Bush recession when they rescued the banks. buying worthless assets from the banks to get them off their balance sheet. Been doing it every since. The Fed's balance sheet has grown to over 8 trillion dollars. I wonder what the assets they have bought are worth. At any rate the Wall Street banks and the stock market has had a good run because of it. The rich got a bunch richer. Now the FED is planning to stop buying the paper and start selling what they have accumulated. Going to be interesting to watch.