Should George Bush feel accomplished after leaving office.

 As President  George W. Bush leaves office and we welcome in our new President of hope, Barrack H. Obama, is it fair of us to allow George W. to have a feeling of accomplishment? After all, the worlds economy is in a state of unrest, we are involved in two wars that many believe we shouldn't have engaged in, and corruption in politics seems to be a daily "breaking story".

While most people are not economists, most do have a fair amount of common sense. The fiscal responsabilities involving Fann, Fred, AIG, CitiBank and the like were not created by George W., they were inherited and were bound to happen. Please don't get me wrong, I'm defenitely not excusing the administration in question for not foreseeing, correcting, and/or warning us that this was coming sooner. I'm just saying that to think George could've waived his presidential wand and all would be well, would be naive and misinformed. I'd like to share a personally story that I think relates to how most of us should have seen the economic colapse coming.

Without getting to personal as to how and why my life is a financial mess and has pretty much always been, lets just say it is. So, a few years back when hurricane charlie hit southern Florida, many of my carpenter friends and relatives fled jobless Michigan for the promise of a plethera of work. They were right and soon convinced me to close the doors for awhile on my struggling home improvement business and leave my family(temporarily) and head down for the winter to earn some decent steady income. Things were good. Pay was higher than most contractors were paying back home, lots of work due to Charlie, and not to mention the developers building houses faster than we could populate the planet. And why not? After all, build a 200k house today and it promises to be 250k in 6 months. So, after flying my wife down to visit for Valentines day weekend, we began to consider putting our modest 100k home in Michigan on the market and moving down, 3 kids in tow, to sunny south Florida. Ya see, I spoke with a mortgage broker down there who promised to be able to get me into one of those 250k homes. Tempting. Sunny south Florida, beautiful new home, pool, lanai. Why not? Well, because I got to thinking and asking questions of this broker. With my credit? How? Little or no money down? How? Stated income? What's that? You mean I don't even have to show check stubs or tax documents proving my income? Nope, just tell them what I make and expect to make. Still I pressed, I mean a beautiful new 250-300k home sounds great but I still can't make those kind of payments. Remember, I'm just a carpenter with no emergency funds whatsoever. Not to worry, with all of the interest only, adjustable rate mortgages, you will only be paying a fraction of the full amount for the first 2 years. What then? "Not to worry", I was assured, by then your home will have increased its value 30 percent and you'll be able to either refinance or sell at a nice profit in a red hot market. I pressed further, "not to be a pest, I mean I am just a carpenter with no intricate knowledge as to how these things work, it's just that something doesn't seem right. How can these banks afford to take the chance of losing 250-300k on a risk like myself, especially when this seemed to be going on everywhere by thousands of others not unlike myself. Oh, because the loans are Governmently insured loans? Hmmm. Which means? Ok, I now have a better understanding of where AIG fits into the bailouts.

My point is that these things take years to establish, build, mismanage and ultimately come crashing down and it began long before George W. first sat in the Oval Office. That said, it would seem to this lehman, that instead of giving 700billion to those who manufactured this mess, distribute it among the rest of us who REALLY need it. I have never heard a satisfactory explanation as to why that wouldn't stimulate the economy. People could pay mortgages, buy cars, purchase new computers, those that would save the money would put it into the banks, giving them the capitol to lend, those that would invest it would be boosting a struggling market...etc..etc.. But, what do I know, I'm just a carpenter.

As for the Wars we fight, Afganastan was a must. I think most would agree that it was necessary. However, I personally believe we should have poured all of our might and power into the region until we were absolutely convinced that it was 100% safe, secure and free of the Taliban and AlQuida before we entered into a questionable war with Iraq. That is of course, using hindsight and not sitting in the chair resposible for the protection of 300 million men women and children. The Clinton's and the Bush's both agreed that it was the right thing to do armed with the knowledge they had at the time. Will history ultimately judge it right or wrong? We wont know until some history has been added.

Now, the corruption in politics, and I'll try to keep this short. Most of the corruption that I've been seeing lately is being towed by the tail of a donkey. Although, the donkeys and elephants, both have there fair share.

So, should George W. have feelings of accomplishment for keeping our nation attack free for over 7 years after the largest attack on our country in history? Should he have a sense of accomplishment for helping millions in Africa, ( much more than ANYONE in history), fight AIDS and Malaria? Personally, I think yeah, why not? As for the rest, I'll let history be the Judge, not me, I'm just a carpenter.