BUSH'S 14 MINUTE CAMEO

Here's a few comments on George Bush's 14 minute cameo appearance ...

Bush tried to explain everything that's gone wrong in the markets in real simple terms. This is hard enough to do when you understand what's going on. Bush clearly has no idea what's happening. His blank "reading-the-teleprompter" eyes made this clear. Still there are several things to cull from Bush's appearance.

THE ISSUE(S): With President Bush's "our entire economy is in danger" observation he efectively said "We're in trouble and we have no money in credit markets because people got greedy and stupid." He used his standard M.O. to get America and Congress to support his Paulson-escorted bailout plan; i.e. "Be Afraid Because Worse May Be Around the Corner."

HOW DID WE REACH THIS POINT?: President Bush tried to explain what's happened with reference to easy money (created by funds from abroad and low interest rates) and the emergence of toxic mortgage backed securities (MBS, a form of CDOs, which I posted on below). He then tried to pin blame on house flippers. Conveniently, Bush said nothing about a culture of debt, tax breaks, and deregulation.

What really happened? Effectively, the same people he dumped tax breaks on ran the economy into the ground.

HOW WILL THE PLAN WORK?: President Bush effectively said "By bailing out stupid and greedy people with my plan we remove the risk from the market, for now."

In an 8 year span of self-serving and pathetic moments, this was one of his worst.

WHAT ABOUT OUR ECONOMIC FUTURE?: President Bush pretty much told us, "Don't worry, the government has your back." Everything else he said means nothing.

At the end of the day, Bush missed an opportunity to look presidential. He could have said, "We were wrong ... I was wrong, forgive me." Instead, he said "Give me the money so I am remembered only as a blundering General George Custer, and not as a floundering Herbert Hoover too."

- Mark