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Deja Vu and Nixon too
Author: BobR    Date: 11/30/2007 13:27:41

Everything old is new again. Clothing styles, hair styles, car styles... Apparently a drop in housing prices too. From this article:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The biggest plunge in new home prices in 37 years was not enough to revive October sales, according to the government's latest reading on the battered housing and home building markets.

The sales pace for October was well short of economists' forecasts. The Census Bureau's latest report also sharply cut back on its earlier estimates for sales in August and September, when a meltdown in mortgage markets kept many potential buyers from getting the financing they needed.

Also depressing sales and prices was a record 191,000 completed new homes on the market that have not yet been sold.

Like that same time period in the 70's we also have an economy heading toward inflation and recession, both of which will likely be blamed on the president's successor. This got me thinking about Bush and Nixon. What other similarities do we have?

  • Nixon tried to help overthrow Pinochet's government. Bush tried to help overthrow Chavez's government.


  • Nixon presided over an unpopular war that used secret bombing campaigns. Bush is presiding over an unpopular war that uses secret (privitized) forces to do things the military is not allowed to.


  • Nixon started down the road towards privitization of medical care by supporting the private insurance company initiative. Bush by comparison is NASCAR driver on that road trying to privitize EVERYTHING.


  • Nixon said "it's not illegal when the president does it". Bush attaches signing statements to every bill he signs to show his contempt for the law.


  • The waning year of both presidencies were (are) marked with plunging popularity and scandal.

This article also gives a glimpse into the extreme secrecy of Nixon's world, yet another hallmark of the Bush Administration:
As a reporter who occasionally covered Richard Nixon's presidency, I was fascinated to see the latest "dump" of Nixon documents released Wednesday by the National Archives.

So far, the most interesting papers I have seen today are not about the Watergate scandal or domestic issues, but about national security. The new revelations would have made big headlines back then, but some people may now find this all a bit arcane.

Of course Nixon did do a few a good things, so there's one difference. One other big difference between then and now: Back then Congress had the balls to cut the funding for the Viet Nam war.

Congress also had the balls to consider impeachment. Nixon resigned before that could happen. Perhaps it's time congress grew a pair. I'd take resignation, if that's what it takes to get him out of office.


 

232 comments (Latest Comment: 12/01/2007 13:48:16 by TriSec)
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