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Originally posted by mml
First off, taking the nation to war has a strong influence on the economy. While the attack on Afganistan was IMO needed, the large financial strain being caused by the invasion of Iraq was IMO not needed at that particular time and in that particular way. I am sure that someone will comment that if we had not invaded Iraq it could have led to them supplying terrorist for another attack on the U.S. which would have worse economic effects, but that is speculative at best.
As far as giving Bush a "B", I would give him a "B" for short term econmic policy in regards to his first round of tax cuts. It was a good stimulus plan that got bipartisan support and helped to float the economy. However, I would give him a "C-" or "D+" for his long term fiscal policies. He continues to push for tax cuts while taking us into an expensive and potentially long term war/nation building endeavor(sp?) and in addition to the necessary war time military expenditures and the necessary increases in Homeland Security expenditures (which are still underfunded), he continued to increase domestic spending at a rate even Democrats (and let's be honest, we Dems love to spend money) would blush at. He is pinning his hopes on a, so far, elusive recovery that will help reduce the trillions in deficit spending. But if he continues to cut taxes and increase spending (while I'm no economist) it seems unlikely that these "Voodoo Economics" (his father's term) are going to succeed.
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The impact of large prolonged wars have had economic impact. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not even close to equivalent to wars of the past. If you'd like to debate the impacts of Afghanistan and Iraq both long term and short term, I think it would be interesting.
Long term, in my grade book, he has the potential for an "A" if he can get the government cutting programs along with making the tax cuts permanent. The government does not need more money to achieve fiscal responsibility but, in fact, less money. There's far too much fat in the budget and there's no motivation for our wonderful representatives to cut it. The only way this will happen is if the government is forced to make do on less rather than simply pass off their inefficient spending habits to the consumers/taxpayers.