In an unusually candid moment when he thought the television cameras were turned off, President George Bush said Wall Street "got drunk" and described our current situation as a hangover.
"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk - that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras - it got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments," Bush said.
This will probably be read as a "gaffe" by pundits, which is how political commentators describe accidentally telling the truth in a particularly blunt and colorful way. After the jump, watch the video.
Bush says Wall Street 'got drunk' [Financial Times]
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 8:38AM
why is this news
Posted by s4xton , Jul 23, 2008 8:51AM
Depressing that the media is running with this non-story.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 8:51AM
Maybe so, but he was the one buying all the drinks and calling everybody a pussy.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 8:59AM
Yep, that one guy forced a considerable portion of the US population and corporations to overleverage themselves in the past decade.
Makes perfect sense. Myopia can be so useful.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 8:59AM
Slow. News. Day.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 8:59AM
Its not a terrible analogy. Don't know why this is news. If he hadn't asked that the cameras be turned off, would anyone write about this?
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:04AM
And Bush is the bartender.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:09AM
Yep. Every night at Ulysses.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:09AM
let's get rid of "all the fancy financial instruments" once and for all. From now on, nothing fancy, ok?
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:13AM
It is fortunate we have a commander in chief who knows a thing or two about how to rebound from a hangover.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:17AM
@ 9:04 Were Jenna and Barbara dancing on the bar or doing 8-balls in the bathroom?
Posted by diablo , Jul 23, 2008 9:21AM
Does he think Wall Street is an alcoholic? He should know.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:28AM
"This will probably be read as a 'gaffe' by pundits, which is how political commentators describe accidentally telling the truth in a particularly blunt and colorful way."
That is the reason why this is news. This is the most secretive and corrupt administration in generations so any moment of candor is news.
Posted by Melancholy Korean , Jul 23, 2008 9:31AM
Let's see. Blame "Wall Street" for "their" mistakes. Show that the Republicans are the "true" populists, standing up to those horrible New York (i.e, Democratic) bankers and financiers who got us into this mess. I'm sure the WH is horrified by this "leak."
If the stakes weren't so high, I would be amused by the irony. A president who has advocated radical deregulation is "shocked, shocked" that free markets don't regulate themselves. Yes, Mr. President, there's gambling going on in here.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:33AM
Wasn't he the one who told everyone to get out and spend after 9/11?
When he leaves D.C. and goes back to Texas it will raise the IQ average of both places.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:35AM
Hey, Melancholy Korean: Thanks for that Claude Rains reference from the movie "Casablanca"! I love that movie.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:39AM
@7: Doesn't Greenspan deserve a majority of the blame over Bush? Easy Al was the one that cut the FFR down to 1% and left it there for too long.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:42AM
We all should just thank God that Congress and the Executive Branch haven't allowed themselves to become intoxicated on spending other people's money with no restraint or sense of responsibility.
If those paragons of virtue even fell off the wagon and started wasting the taxpayer's money on ineffective social programs and wasteful pork barrel spending this country would have some SERIOUS problems.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:43AM
when the commander tells you to turn of the camera...and you don't... thats treason
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:50AM
sounds like the Prez was drunk on Mayo!
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 9:54AM
This is all over the Internets.
~LexSteelz
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 10:03AM
Bush should have stopped at "hangover", but he failed and continued to say "Wall St must stop using all these fancy financial instruments". The latter (but in the end, not really) is what might cause him look like an idiot, considering it is precisely those fancy instruments that helps companies, especially in the energy sector, hedge their naturally naked exposure to the products they hope consumers will buy, but fear they won't someday. So sorry to break it to ya G Dubbs, but "fancy financial instruments" are here to stay for the sake of all market participants. Unless of course, we come up with a more transparent, straight-forward way to hedge.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 10:05AM
I'm a fan of a fancy instrument known as the "cock ring."
-Barney Frank
Posted by NotNasser , Jul 23, 2008 10:32AM
More of a coke crash than a hangover.
Bush has the basics right here but he's behind the times.
BTW Mr. President, who was it who kept selling the 8-balls or the take-a-knee whiskey to Wall Street?
Posted by beentheredonethat , Jul 23, 2008 10:52AM
@22
Pure, unadulterated bullshit. By "fancy instruments", the President was referring to whole classes of derivatives that in the good times reap enormous profits, which the CEO's don't exactly understand how or why, but they won't say shit because its flowing directly to the bottom line, which is what everyone is getting paid bonus off of. When the inevitable reversals occur, outside the "models", those leveraged profits become leveraged losses in a heartbeat, and once again they can't fathom the reason. If you can't accept without reservation, that Wall Street has just been through another period of excess (getting drunk), you know nothing of the business or culture of the street. Dry your ears.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 10:58AM
If Obama said this, the media would have praised him! It is a silly(bad) analogy but it does make sense. Bush a break and give Wall Street a break. Everyone is to blame for this- from the man who made 25k a year and magically was able to purchase that 25 million dollar home to the equal opportunity financing laws to the "mortgage bankers" misleading lending practices for back end money, to the men on Wall Street... everybody is guilty!
Posted by DrederickTatum , Jul 23, 2008 11:05AM
I wish people would just stop the "get rid of fancy instruments" argument. If you hear it, its the surest sign that your talking to an uneducated moron.
Posted by beentheredonethat , Jul 23, 2008 11:25AM
@10:58
Not everyone is guilty. I, like many others, have been living within my means since I had a paper route. And if you really want an eye opener, step back a minute at look at the difference between living within your means as well as beyond your means. For all the risk you take in doing the latter, its not very much. A couple of extra rooms, maybe another acre, one more vacation per year......really fucking dumb.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 11:40AM
@9:43 - anyone knows that at an event like this one there's no guarantee that cameras stop rolling. Duh. Not the first time the presidential foot has gotten stuck in his gullet.
This is nothing but a throwaway line lame-duck attempt at repositioning to help the party image 6 weeks away from the RNC convention, with that folksy "fancy instruments" tag to make him more like Bubba at the backyard grill.
Bush can't blame Wall Street for getting crunk and disorderly when he was sponsoring the homeowner's "all you can drink special" brought to you by Big Al and the Fed...
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 11:49AM
Speaking of hangovers, just powered through one. Those 5 hour energy drinks are magic.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 11:59AM
Completely agree with 26. If Obama had said it would have been a complete different story. Why is he so loved anyway?
If he does become the president all the fancy instuments will go away. He is talking about change after all. Yes things will never be the same again. Hello socialism...
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 12:05PM
@11:25 I was not speaking of every individual person in existence. I am just saying that people like to point the finger instead of accept responsibility. Everyone who is in this mess from failed funds/banks- etc. to the person who is filing for foreclosure. People like to blame McDonalds for their weight problems but nobody is forcing them to eat a big mac, people today (not our grandparents) still smoke cigarettes despite the risk of cancer and yet they want to blame tabbaco. Let's sue and blame and lean on the government (not the evil republicans of course)
Maybe if more people were like you and understood that their choices impact their lives and lived within their means then we would all be in a better place today.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 12:06PM
@11:25 I was not speaking of every individual person in existence. I am just saying that people like to point the finger instead of accept responsibility. Everyone who is in this mess from failed funds/banks- etc. to the person who is filing for foreclosure. People like to blame McDonalds for their weight problems but nobody is forcing them to eat a big mac, people today (not our grandparents) still smoke cigarettes despite the risk of cancer and yet they want to blame tobacco. Let's sue and blame and lean on the government (not the evil republicans of course)
Maybe if more people were like you and understood that their choices impact their lives and lived within their means then we would all be in a better place today.
Posted by jerrydill , Jul 23, 2008 12:25PM
This is a hilarious speech that he is doing. I like his fancy sayamajig. Look out Wall street You may get ticketed for being drunk in public.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 12:35PM
@11:59 Methinks that the reason why Obama is so "loved" comes from his underdog roots.
Billary totally got played post Iowa caucus and her camp employed faulty strategy given DNC party laws/primary system. Obama was politely treated like an also-ran until Iowa, the oh-$hit moment in HRC headquarters. Billary was running for the natinoal election while Obama was running for the primary.
That being said, bigger issue to me is the low financial IQ of most Americans.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 1:07PM
Beenthere....
Agree with everything you are saying. But the reality for many (i think the majority) is that they consumed because the made a choice to consume and the culture encouraged them to consume. Which doesn't mean that their should not be consequences for "bad choices". David Brooks have an op-ed in yesterdays NYT along these lines.
You are very rational with respect to your personal financial viability. The thing is we have got to a point where you are in the minority. And as long as the federal government continues to intervene/bailout just about everyone at this point (except for short sellers - because as we all know they represent the real "moral hazard") the incentive for individual/corporations/government to behave rationally with respect to their finances is almost non-existent.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 1:08PM
Beenthere....
Agree with everything you are saying. But the reality for many (i think the majority) is that they consumed because the made a choice to consume and the culture encouraged them to consume. Which doesn't mean that their should not be consequences for "bad choices". David Brooks have an op-ed in yesterdays NYT along these lines.
You are very rational with respect to your personal financial viability. The thing is we have got to a point where you are in the minority. And as long as the federal government continues to intervene/bailout just about everyone at this point (except for short sellers - because as we all know they represent the real "moral hazard") the incentive for individual/corporations/government to behave rationally with respect to their finances is almost non-existent.
Posted by Suits , Jul 23, 2008 1:37PM
...“not try to do all these fancy financial instruments”
Ladies and Gentleman, A Harvard MBA at work.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 1:54PM
Bush quote cont'd: "Seriously, stop using those fancy pants financial instruments because, ya know, math is harrrd. It's harrrd work lemme tell ya."
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 1:57PM
@ 38 and 39 - Bush then and now...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pw4Bhmm22xo
Amazing.
Posted by asg , Jul 23, 2008 2:18PM
@10:03 You forgot to list "adopting a sensible energy policy" as something else that could prevent a lot of this bollocks.
Anyways, when he said "get rid of," he should have meant "price accurately."
/jumps out window for taking a position that isn't polar opposite to sitting Prez.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 2:57PM
The sooner we see the back of this ersatz "jes folks" country bumpkin the better.
Yale and HBS should be doing everything in their power to erase this knucklehead from their alumni rolls.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 3:11PM
@25 Bush had no idea what he was referring to by "fancy financial instruments". I am sure "fancy" is the depth of his understanding. Can we please get a President with a brain (and who does not screw around with his interns)?
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 3:42PM
@25 Bush had no idea what he was referring to by "fancy financial instruments". I am sure "fancy" is the depth of his understanding.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 4:04PM
@3:11 - "Can we please get a President with a brain (and who does not screw around with his interns)?"
Sure - take your pick. Either 1) the one who claims he is not very knowledgeable about economics and went from the military to working in the public sector his whole life, or 2) the one who wants to prove he isn't knowledgeable by increasing taxes, massively expanding entitlements and government spending, increasing regulation, and increasing the reach of government into private enterprises. Oh, and whose working credentials prior to government service was working as a 'community organizer', whatever that means.
Me, I'm picking the one who realizes that taxes stifle economic growth and won't try to control every aspect of my life.
Posted by guest , Jul 23, 2008 4:27PM
Well the value of a HBS degree just hit bottom with stellar analysis like that.
When is this ass clown leaving office?
- Registered Republican
Posted by guest , Jul 24, 2008 5:39AM
As a non-American I find this interesting as no-one seems to comment on the fact that in fact he was speaking complete gibberish.
"The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments," What does this mean? Or is this normal? Is English his second language?