Bush's crowning achievement

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By Olli Kivinen
     
     The financial crisis, which began in the United States, and which was caused by that country, is causing a greater upheaval in world structures than people can imagine yet. Having blustered with superpower bravado, military strength, and unilateralism, President George W. Bush has weakened the United States on many different levels. To borrow an economic term, he has devalued the whole country.
     Other nations should not gloat, because the crisis affects people all over the world.
     During the last months of his term, the economic collapse has become a bitter symbol of his failed presidency. The politics of right-wing defiance, which has promoted hard and regulation-free capitalism, crashed into a wall in economics, bringing with it the worst nightmare of the political right: Bush turned into the country’s most significant socialiser.
     Already before that, his bellicose foreign policy, which flouts international treaties, has eroded the prestige enjoyed by the United States, and with it, that of the whole Western world. Faith in Western democracy weakened, encouraging, all kinds of preachers of oligarchy, from China and Russia to Iran and North Korea, and many other countries.
     Like so many other writers, I have said before that President Bush is the most incompetent president of recent history. However, nobody can hope to see new events, similar to the economic chaos that is now apparent, as evidence of the kind of chaos that a leader of a big country can achieve through truly stupid policies.
     
The lack of political leadership was underscored the week before last when Republicans in the House of Representatives first rejected the bank bailout project built under the leadership of a president of their own party. It was real derision directed at a president who has lost his power. His credibility had collapsed among Republicans as well.
     The economic chaos has led to much thinking about a thorough change in the world order, and a crisis of capitalism. In the first assessments, there were typical exaggerations, but the main direction is clear. The new president and the Congress will have a massive task ahead of them as they seek to show that American democracy works even though it produces leaders like Bush.
     
The market economy has not collapsed: only one of its applications. The United States will remain the leading power in the world.
      Naturally Bush cannot be held accountable for all changes that have shaken countries and people around the world, but in economics as well, his responsibility cannot be disputed.
      A few readers have been asking why Bush is being blamed for everything that is happening in the United States. The answer is in the political system in the country. The President has very much power, and consequently, great responsibility. That is why he can reap the fruits of victory, and must bear the burden of defeat.
     It is unlikely that Bush even understood all of the financial systems that caused the confusion. He and his aides have nevertheless encouraged the reckless policy line that has now come to its end.
     
Unofficial slogans of this policy line include “deficits don’t matter” and “all regulation is bad” and “the power of the federal government is destructive”. The Bush administration, which has constantly denounced the centralised system, has increased the federal government’s share of American GDP from 18.4 per cent at the beginning of the millennium to 20.8 per cent now. At the same time, the national debt has reached astronomical levels.
     Favouring the rich is a clear factor, with a big psychological impact in the present situation. The Republican Representatives who rose in rebellion were frightened by pressure from their supporters. They demanded in a loud voice that the bailout law must not let those who became ridiculously rich off the hook.
     The thinking is largely understandable, as brokerage houses created complicated financial systems of the kind that would send an ordinary citizen to jail if he or she tried to sell it, as one angry member of Congress expressed the matter. In fact, a pyramid scheme of sorts was set up in the monetary market.
     We should add here that Republican members have eagerly given their blessings to Bush’s actions so far, both in economic policy and in the march to war, and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, who is acting the part of a rescuer, was one of those who eagerly weakened banking oversight.
     
The desperate state of the big picture is revealed when the economic chaos is added to Bush’s other mistakes. There is disagreement as to which of them has been the worst. The most important candidates are the Iraq War, the war on terror, and the weakening of the moral authority of the United States through torture and similar violations.
     The war in Iraq was an obsession for Bush, and the results are yet to be seen. It has cost three trillion dollars. Compared with that, the 700 billion needed for the bailout is a modest sum - about as much as - and even less than - what the United States spends on its military in a year, when other expenses are added to the official defence budget. In addition, Bush has suffered a number of serious defeats in domestic policy.
     The renowned British author, columnist, and Oxford University professor of European studies, Timothy Garton Ash, wrote a “final report” on the Bush term in a recent column, whose last paragraph is easy to concur with:
      “For years now, we have seen those who hate the US abusing and burning effigies of Bush. The truth is, the anti-Americans should be building gilded monuments to him. For no one has done more to serve the cause of anti-Americanism than GW Bush. It is we who like and admire the US who should, by rights, be burning effigies. But now, at last, we live in hope of a better America.”
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.10.2008


Links:
  Timothy Garton Ash: The time has come for a final report on the 43rd president of the US (The Guardian September 25 2008)

OLLI KIVINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
okivinen@kolumbus.fi