Eight Years Wasted, the Economic Failures of the Bush Administration Essay

Eight yrs wasted. That is the comment that befits the George W. provide system of the get together States amid 2001 and 2008. Nevertheless, this is non a plate of cheating(prenominal) criticism of the scouring giving medication, as observe by Republi fucking Senator John McCain who served in chaparrals era (Curl). check to McCain as he campaigned for the presidency in 2008, bush spent a rope of the unite States resources on the state of contend in Iraq, which consequently lead to a coarse economic downturn (Curl).The al most(prenominal) unambiguous impacts of bush-leagues actions are reflected in the changes in station of unemployment, s stronging, money summate in the united States, and shifts in external exchange rates as hearty as take rates (National nerve for Women). Unemployment The rate of unemployment has curiously been worrying since the current amongst 2000 and 2001 when scrub took the leadership of the unite States (OECD). concord to Sh i and Stevens, the rate of unemployment has been fluctuating speedily since 2000 when it was about 4. 0 perpenny (59). at bottom over a year of Bushs leadership, the unemployment rate shot up to 5.8 per centime in 2002 (59). Women and their families were especially affected by the mellowed rate of unemployment, as they would rarely make ends reckon at the start of the Bush cheek. In fact, according to the National Organization for Women, the year 2001 marked the period of massive ponder loss among women in over 40 years (National Organization for Women). Along this line, the set for Womens Policy Research report that in the period amidst 2001 and 2004, women workers broken over 300,000 jobs (National Organization for Women).In the equivalent breadth, unemployment rates among single m some differents rose of an already bad situation of 9. 5 per cent to a worse level of 10. 2 per cent (National Organization for Women). Statistics from GPO Access establish a grim picture of the increase levels of unemployment since the year 2000 when the get together States presidential alternative that ushered in President George Bush was held. In the mannikins provided, overall civilian unemployment rate fluctuated from 4. 0 per cent in 2000 to 6. 7 percent in November 2008, which marked the end of the Bush boldness (Table 1).Along the said(prenominal) line, the same trend in unemployment rate was notice among different age groups, fa Another shot of the Bush administrations ill luck is an uncontrolled increase in inflation. At the beginning of the Bush administration in 2001, at that place was a notable go down in the prices of all items and work as compared to the preceding year. Perhaps this was because of the effort by Bush to fulfill campaign promises. The accuracy of the matter is that after 2001, the prices of all items went up, declining altogether slightly in 2003.Since then, there was a notable fluctuation in the prices tho when overall, the prices remained at an all time luxuriously. In fact, the 4. 1 per cent change in price of items (Table 2) was the proudest margin to gift been enter since the 6. 1 per cent rate enter in 1990 at the height of the disconnectedness War (Irwin and Dan. ). The high prices of commodities and services detect during the Bush Administration not only affected the financial positions of many families only if alike influenced the peoples advance to essential services much(prenominal) as health care (Atkinson and Hutto).According to Hanke, the 2003 unite States count showed that any family of three lived on a mean of $51 a day. This figure was arrived at using an assumption that child care and health care services were fully financed by the government ( linked States Department of boil). Nevertheless, this was not the model for most families, as they had to rely on their own means to support themselves. In the context of high cost of commodities and services and with particula r reference to childcare and healthcare services, many families had to spend as a good deal as over 20 per cent of their incomes in pursuit of these services (Robinson).According the new-sprung(prenominal) York Times, the Bush administration love funding programs for many essential programs much(prenominal) as childcare, which were particularly appropriate for single parent households (The High live of health Care). This move was done as the administration aimed at improving and expanding other less-traveled programs such(prenominal) as promotion of join (United States Bureau of Statistics). However, the downside of this point is that as centralise was shifted to newer programs, the already existing programs suffered an even heavier rape in terms of the exorbitant be that had to be incurred (The High Cost of health Care).According to Shi and Gregory, the highest number of individual without healthcare services was recorded in 2003 (60). This is because most attendance w as diverted to acquisition of other essential commodities and services such as food and housing (The High Cost of wellness Care). Yet president Bush still insisted on funding the war to oust President S summarizeam ibn Talal Hussein from power in Iraq. This action can be considered as a case of misplaced priority because whereas President Bush was busy pursuing the United States overseas policy, topical anesthetic affairs (which perhaps involve more attention) were thrown into disarray.money provision During the Bush Administration, the supply of money increased, precisely with some fluctuations. For instance, the total value of the United States currency, travelers checks, demand deposits and other checkable deposits rose from $1087. 4 one million million to a high of $1473. 1 billion in October 2008 (GPO Access). The high supply of money does not imply that the United States deliverance meliorate in the period of eight years. Rather, it is an character the value of the U nited States dollar could have depreciated (Crutsinger and Aversa).Thus, the full-grown sums of money released to fund the war in Iraq in 2003 did not add any impetus to the United States economy (Crutsinger and Aversa). Instead, the economy became vulnerable with reference to a weak dollar against other human world currencies. In spite of the increase in the sum of currency, there was an increase in debt of domestic nonfinancial sectors from $18,183. 6 billion in 2000 to $32,436. 5 billion in 2006 . This means that nonfinancial institutions increasingly had to lift out during the era of George W.Bush. It therefore no enjoy that the United States was crippled by a great financial crisis only parallel to the Great Depression towards the end of Bushs reign, the overriding factor being that the United States government had spent so much money on defensive measure and war in Iraq and Afghanistan at the outgo of internal development. impertinent Exchange As mentioned above, ther e was a significantly high supply of money in the United States, which characteristically led to depreciation of the United States dollar.In addition, the period was characterized by a high rate of inflation, implying that considerably big sums of money would be used in buying commodities that would have been bought inexpensively in the earlier period (Atkinson and Hutto). On the internationalist scale, the high cost of United States commodities meant that importers had to buy off lots of money to acquire the goods, which finally lowered the level of international bargain between the United States and other countries (Table 3).Consequently, the United States dollar fluctuated against other world currencies such as the Japanese yen, the greatest Pound, Chinese yuan and the Australian dollar (Atkinson and Hutto). For instance, the Sterling Pound exchanged at between $1. 9548 and $2. 0442 in 2007 (Table 3), which was a very large variation. The strong dollar against the yen betwee n 2001 and 2002, which was the beginning of the Bush administration, discouraged importee by Japan from the United States (Atkinson and Hutto).At the same time, citizens of the United States opted to import semiprecious items such as automobiles at the outgo of the locally manufactured ones, thus move the United States automobile intentness in the quagmire in which it is today (OECD). The moment of this is that major competitors such as the Japanese automakers have adversely affected local automakers such as Ford, and the whole industry has been earmarked for revival in the Economic input signal Package (OECD). Interest rates political science bond yields and interest rates by and large declined between 2000 and 2008.For instance, the value of bills at vendue declined steadily from $ 5. 85 to $1. 01 in 2003, but steadily rose from $1. 38 to $4. 73 in 2006 (GPO Access). The low price of bonds meant that banks were in a position to purchase more government bonds, thus divertin g their attention from other financial service users such as borrowers (Crutsinger and Aversa). Ultimately, banks were forced to impose high interest rates on the loans they offered to the public, implying that most small business holders and individuals were crippled by a massive credit densification (Crutsinger and Aversa).The ensuing credit crunch adversely affected the United States economy particularly towards the ends of the end of the Bush administration (Crutsinger and Aversa). Banks were most affected by the financial woes and this necessitated the Bush administration to consider taking ownership of diverse banks in a ask round to protect them from collapsing (Crutsinger and Aversa). This move was however also ill planned, as it would result in unnecessary government expenditure, resulting into higher inflation in the United States (Hanke).In addition, there was no assurance that with the governments acquisition of the banks, their surgical process would improve (Hanke ). evidence Even though the world witnessed a massive economic recession, the woes in the United States stemmed from the fact that the Bush administration spent excessively on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which generally weakened the performance of most local institutions. The underperformance in various sectors was shown in high rates of unemployment, high inflation, fluctuating levels of money supply and immaterial exchange rates as well as high bank interest rates.The combined effect of the various phenomena led to a crisis in the entire United States economy, thus making the Bush administration one of the worst leaderships of the United States. 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