A little after George W. won his first election I decided to check out his personal history to see what kind of leader he would be. One of the most consistent threads through out his professional life was an ability to increase his personal wealth while his businesses generally suffered or even failed. On more than one occasion he showed an ability to jump ship just before the business would decline or go bankrupt.
Despite his businesses looking rather weak upon his departure he was always able to find partners for his next business venture. It appears that him and his closest investors always profited handsomely from his tenure and departure, but the business was left in a general state of decline.
It appeared likely to me that George would over leverage the US and bury us in a mountain of debt. Soon into his administration my concerns regarding his attitude towards the national debt were quickly validated. During the last two years of his first term and throughout his second term I use to joke with friends that George W. was going to implement his standard business strategy and bankrupt the nation.
As time passed my prediction of his leading us into bankruptcy became less of a joke and more of a somber warning.
As the stock market and the economy began to turn south it was my wife who pointed out that my prediction was a little short sighted. She noted out that I had underestimated George W.’s skills of profiting off of, and causing, the financial ruin of others. It wasn’t just the US he was leading into a deflationary depression, but the entire globe.
What was truly amazing to me and demonstrated a lot of luck or skill on George’s behalf was how long he kept the economy levitating on almost no real economy. I kept expecting the bottom to fall out before the second year of his second term. But, somehow, almost magically, the stock market and economy kept “bubbling” along.
Yet. just as had been his history George got out early enough where those following him could take the lions share of the blame.
I have the perfect business venture for George W. if he decides to go into another business. He could a company that manufactures “golden parachutes” because his career has been blessed with some of the most visually stunning “golden parachutes” ever devised by the corporate mind.
I think it should be mentioned that George W. comes from a long line of this form of capitalist. His family and extended family roots acquired much of their wealth during the Great Depression.
Few benefit from depressions, but those who do become the financial kingpins of the next economic cycle.
Jim Guido