What caused the recession?

Was it Bush's fault?

Published on March 24, 2004 By KarmaGirl In Politics

It seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to blame bush for our economic problems. Everyone sees Clinton as the one who "balanced the budget". Unfortunately, what happens while a President is in office is usually not what he did, but what the Presidents before him did.

The decline in the economy started when Clinton was in office. A great article can be found at: http://www.house.gov/jec/press/2004/01-22-04.pdf

So, what has been getting us out of the slump? The changes in tax policies and low interest rates. People blame Bush and his tax cuts for the current state of the economy, but those tax cuts are what is pulling us out. It is also a long term plan. It will be much better in a couple years from now.

What do I think hammered the last nail into the economic coffin? Gas prices. Things didn't get too bad until gas prices raised so dramatically. The cost of everything went up because it cost more to transport it. It cost more for workers to get to work. Businesses had to pay more to ship things and pay more to buy things. People lost trucking jobs because companies had to downsize to stay competitive. Truckers and delivery people saw salary decreases. It effected us globally. If a tax break is needed- it should be applied to gas.

Comments (Page 4)

jeblackstar

on Mar 31, 2004

My brother has been driving a car he bought in North Dakota in Redmond for the past 10 years. Same engine, almost no nonstandard maintainance on it. Do you have some scientific study that refutes this? I understand what ethanol is, that's why "pure" was in quotes.

No one is saying that an increase in refining costs does not cause gas prices to go up, BUT, crude oil supply is by far a greater factor. Meaning it's the damn OPEC nations.

Cheers

KarmaGirl

on Mar 31, 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol

"Ethanol is flammable and burns more cleanly than many other fuels. When fully combusted its combustion products are only carbon dioxide and water. For this reason, it is favoured for environmentally conscious transport schemes and has been used to fuel public buses. However, pure ethanol attacks certain rubber and plastic materials and cannot be used in unmodified car engines. Additionally, ethanol has a much higher octane rating than ordinary gasoline, requiring changes to the spark timing in engines."

My husband also works in emissions at a large engine manufacturer, so I have many discussions about fuels and their effects

KarmaGirl

on Mar 31, 2004

Don’t let them fool you Ms. Karma

You're right....I hear the black helicopters.....

jeblackstar

on Mar 31, 2004

Pure Ethanol. Unpure ethanol has no where near the damaging power that you describe.

Cheers

KarmaGirl

on Apr 01, 2004

No, you are wrong. Ethanol oxygenates fuel to cause it to burn hotter. This has an effect not only on how your car runs, but also on how long the parts will last. Just like race cars spewing parts faster with NOS, so will a car running Ethanol. If you look at kbb.com, you will see the that cars have different models for each state that has boutique gas. Not only do they use different emissions parts, their fuel system is also designed differently as is the timing and fuel mixture. Ethanol will cause cars not designed for it's use to run rich due to the oxygenation. This causes all sorts of carbon build up as well as becoming a cooling problem and causing the car to get poorer gas mileage. I have tested it for myself, and my car gets consistently 1.5 - 2 mpg less when I run an ethanol blend. Considering that I drive over 500 miles per week, that adds up quickly.

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