George W Bush, former US president
The meltdown happened on Bush's watch. While Clinton
got the ball rolling with sub-prime lending, Bush failed to bring in much
tighter regulation, bar the Sarbanes-Oxley Act brought in after the Enron
scandal. And he didn't do a lot to stop the boom in lending to
"Ninjas" [no income, no job applicants.
Nouriel Roubini, the economist who earned the
nickname Dr Doom for his prediction that the crisis was about to hit, blames
Bush. Obama "inherited a mess", Roubini has said. "We're lucky
that this Great Recession is not turning into another Great Depression."
Bush is in self-imposed political exile and has been
notable for his absence in Mitt Romney's campaign to become the next Republican
president. "He is enjoying his life in Texas. He's not seeking the
limelight. And he is really focused on the Bush Center," his spokesman
said recently. He has "no plans to endorse, at least not at present,"
the spokesman added.
The former president has written a book, Decision
Points, about the 14 biggest decisions of his presidential career. The former
president was paid $7m for 1.5m copies.
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