Rethinking George Bush

摘要

George W. Bush did not give a prime-time address on the U.S. economy until seven years and eight months into his presidency, when, 10 days after the collapse of Lehman, he stood in front of the TV cameras and proclaimed himself a strong believer in free enterprise. "My natural instinct," he said, "is to oppose government intervention." Under normal circumstances, "companies that make bad decisions should be allowed to go out of business." In his folksy but stern best, he went on to declare that these were not normal circumstances. "I know that many Americans are wondering, 'How did we reach this point in our economy?'" He had recently asked his advisers the same question.