http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/...01103&sid=arZtukNqWYvAOct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President George W. Bush urged the Obama administration to sell the government?s stakes in banks and carmakers ?as quickly as possible,? arguing that only private companies can spark an economic rebound.
Government ?has got to get out of the private sector, and therefore I hope our government gets out of the autos and the financials in which they have a stake,? Bush told members of the Montreal Board of Trade, an association of local business people, in a sold-out speech today. ?Temporary measures must be temporary.?
U.S. taxpayers are ?extremely unlikely? to earn any return on the $700 billion government program to invest in banks and other companies that was approved as the financial system teetered on the edge of collapse last year, a quarterly audit said yesterday.
In a report to Congress, the Troubled Asset Relief Program watchdog Neil Barofsky said that recouping the billions of dollars given to insurer American International Group Inc. and automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC ?is far from certain.? He also said that $50 billion set aside for helping struggling homeowners lower their mortgage payments will yield ?no direct return.?
Bush, in his remarks today, said that when his administration introduced TARP, ?the whole system of capitalism was frozen, it was like a frozen corpse with a faint heartbeat.?
?Here Is Some Blood?
?So we said, ?Here is some blood. When you get on your feet, you can find cheaper money and give us back the taxpayer money with a nice return,? Bush said. ?But these measures have got to remain temporary for us to recover.?
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Oct. 20 that the administration would end some of the biggest TARP programs in coming weeks, including the one that made capital injections into large banks.
?I don?t believe government can lead us out of the mess we are in,? Bush said. ?The private sector is the only engine for economic growth.?
About 1,000 people paid between C$200 ($191) and C$400 each to attend Bush?s speech in a downtown Montreal hotel, according to the Board of Trade. Hundreds of people protested outside the building, with police arresting five of the demonstrators, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. report.
Bush?s Fee
Speaking fees for Bush, 63, may exceed C$150,000 ($143,175), the Montreal Gazette reported in August. Christian Darbyshire, a partner at Calgary-based TinePublic Inc., which organized the event, declined to say today how much the former president was paid for his appearance.
Bush prefaced his remarks by saying they shouldn?t be construed as a criticism of President Barack Obama.
?I didn?t like it one bit when former Presidents criticized me,? he said. ?I wish President Obama all the best. I love my country. I understand how tough the job is. He will have plenty of critics throughout his presidency, and I don?t intend to be one of them.?
On foreign relations, Bush urged the U.S. to continue its military mission in Afghanistan. Obama has been reviewing his strategy for the war there; former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech last night in Washington, said the White House was ?dithering? in its deliberations.
Troop Decision
Among the decisions facing Obama is whether to add as many as 40,000 more U.S. military personnel to the 68,000 that will be in Afghanistan by the end of this year.
Under Bush, a NATO coalition led by the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 and ousted the Taliban government that had harbored the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. As part of Bush?s war on terrorism, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in early 2003 and drove out the government of the late Saddam Hussein.
?I am deeply concerned that if we abandon Afghanistan too soon, the extremists will find a safe haven and I feel pretty confident that they will hit us again,? Bush said. ?A functioning democracy, a democracy that can defend itself and govern itself, that will happen sooner in Iraq than it will in Afghanistan.?
Bush also urged the U.S. Congress not to endanger the $1 billion-a-day U.S.-Canadian trading relationship and to repeal the ?Buy America? provisions in the stimulus package passed in February that sparked calls for retaliatory measures in Canada. ?Trade leads to wealth,? Bush said. ?The ?Buy America? provisions are bad provisions in U.S. law and ought to be taken out.?
The stimulus measure requires that steel and manufactured goods purchased with the funds be made in the U.S. or in countries with whom the U.S. has a trade accord. Because of a provision in the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada doesn?t qualify for projects in which the stimulus money is spent by state or local governments.
GWB does something right... tells Obama to get OUT of the private sector
- Thread starter MikeMike
- Start date
What a load of shit coming from the person who ignored Afghanistan for 7 years. :roll:
Also I wouldn't give two shit about his opinion anyway from the guy who wanted to Privatize Social Security.
Blackjack200
Lifer
- May 28, 2007
- 15,995
- 1,688
- 126
QFT. He said that it "shouldn't be construed as criticism", but then goes on to criticize him.
And btw, this whole 'I'm to classy to criticize former presidents' shtick is a joke. The reason he hasn't criticized him until now is that he didn't have a leg to stand on, his own record is so horrific that if he had tried to criticize Obama the press would have crucified him.
Is this before or after he signed a bill into law that granted those very same companies $700 billion in free money?
If Bush had a shred of integrity and any spine, he would have put his money where his mouth is and refused the bailout, for better or for worse. But chastising Obama for doing what he's doing, when Bush did the exact same thing for the exact same reasons is one of the most hypocritical things I've ever witnessed.
If Bush had a shred of integrity and any spine, he would have put his money where his mouth is and refused the bailout, for better or for worse. But chastising Obama for doing what he's doing, when Bush did the exact same thing for the exact same reasons is one of the most hypocritical things I've ever witnessed.
frostedflakes
Diamond Member
- Mar 1, 2005
- 7,925
- 1
- 81
I don't think OP's title really jives with Bush's message. In the article he asserts that the bailout was the right thing to do in order to "unfreeze" the credit market. All he's saying is that the sooner the government gets rid of its stake in these companies, the better, as the measures were only meant to be temporary. And he's right, although it's kind of a "well, duh" statement.
Especially after seeing his conduct post presidency, I have a ton of respect for Bush. I'm not going to claim I see eye to eye with him on many issues, but he's a class act IMO. Cheney, on the other hand...
Correct me with evidence if I'm wrong but weren't the bailout LOANS to GM ect LOANS that are to be paid back???
It just seems the detractors forget that LOAN part.
Kind of like the LOANS to the banks, that now the banks aren't allowed to pay backthe loan because the guidlines for showing stability and funding keep getting changed by the current admin.
how about you rtfa because you are making claims that GWB is doing something "right" by telling Obama to do what Obama is already doing.
Dude whatever. You guys were crying about Iraq the whole time anyway. It's not like you nor any other intelligent liberal really voiced their opinions about the importance of Afghanistan during the Iraq crisis.
Now when Obama talks about Afghanistan and all the doves & hippies cry about no more bloodshed, you opportunists use this situation to go "HAH IT'S BUSH'S FAULT." Well you didn't want any troops overseas to begin with. If Bush said 2 years ago that Afghanistan is worsening and we need 30k troops, what would you have said? "FVCK NO?" Or would you have said "Yes a surge would be the best choice right now?" I doubt the latter.
I was looking for expert advice on what the nation should do now, and naturally was interested in the opinion of the man who got things so wrong.
Alan Greenspan had the integrity to admit that his ideology to free the market from government regulation was wrong. Bush did not admit his was wrong.
Perhaps Germany should turn to the writing of Hitler for advice on what they should do next in foreign policy. Russia can look to Stalin for what to do. Etc.
Indeed, the best thing FDR did was to ask Coolidge and Hoover for advice on how to fix the Great Depression, and their advice led the way to prosperity.
Where would Churchill have been without the sage guidance of Chamberlein in how to deal with Hitler? OK, so I'm beating the point in - some here need it.
Alan Greenspan had the integrity to admit that his ideology to free the market from government regulation was wrong. Bush did not admit his was wrong.
Perhaps Germany should turn to the writing of Hitler for advice on what they should do next in foreign policy. Russia can look to Stalin for what to do. Etc.
Indeed, the best thing FDR did was to ask Coolidge and Hoover for advice on how to fix the Great Depression, and their advice led the way to prosperity.
Where would Churchill have been without the sage guidance of Chamberlein in how to deal with Hitler? OK, so I'm beating the point in - some here need it.
blackangst1
Lifer
- Feb 23, 2005
- 22,902
- 2,359
- 126
But dont forget Churchill was an outcast to much of his country, including the parliament, for his opinions on many issues. It was in this time he did most of his writing. In fact, that period of time inspired movies like this one.. He was effectively blitzed out of the conservative movement for many years.
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