Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush share a laugh at the launch of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program at the Newseum on Monday. (Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)
Re: “The U.S. economy and which party is in the White House,” Sept. 7 letter to the editor.
Sunday Post letter-writer Richard Van Scotter misses a critical point when criticizing Robert J. Samuelson’s Aug. 25 column (“Do Democrats do it better? Nope”).
Republican presidents and Congresses tend to get elected when the economy is bad. After Republicans have been in office for a time and things improve because of their smaller-government policies, voters become complacent and readily succumb to the often-empty Keynesian promises of utopia by the Democrats. With Democrats in control of government, excessive spending, taxation and regulations ensue, and the economy sputters, or worse.
But it must be noted that in 2008, the longtime Democrat-championed programs of the Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac caused the Great Recession to be blamed on George W. Bush, working in the Democrats’ favor.
Itap pretty easy to see where things are right now. We’ll soon know if the pattern broken in 2008 returns for congressional elections this November.
Sam Thiessen, Parker
This letter was published in the Sept. 11 edition.
