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Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

> I'd argue the same thing about the Clinton administration and Greenspan specifically.

I'm curious, what are the things that happened during the Clinton administration that you think were short-term gains at the expense of long-term improvements? I've always felt that many of the fiscal policies of Clinton were in favor of long-term stability (e.g. specifically his tax policies and balancing the budget).

Now, with monetary policy and Greenspan specifically, I 100% agree that the "Greenspan put" was absolutely a disaster for long-term stability, but Greenspan was in office from 1987 - 2006 (originally nominated by Reagan), so I see his choices as pretty orthogonal to whoever was president at the time.

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Here is an interesting article outlining some specific Clinton-era laws that were an enormous help to private equity: https://prospect.org/economy/cut-off-private-equitys-money-s...

There used to be strict leverage restrictions on funds that raised money from investors, as well as limits on who/what entities could invest in the funds. The article really goes into more detail but lawmakers and the Clinton administration eliminated these laws and birthed the modern private equity industry which is pretty much the definition of short term focus.

Some people pin the repeal of Glass–Steagall (99) as a source of what happened in 08.

> fiscal policies of Clinton were in favor of long-term stability (e.g. specifically his tax policies and balancing the budget)

Of special note, the two BRAC rounds that were conducted under his presidency (93, 95), as well as one under H.W. Bush (91) and one under Reagan (88), substantially reduced the number of extraneous, pork barrel military bases across the US.

The 1988-2001 US defense budget decreases made a lot of hard and politically unpalatable choices that were fiscally responsible.

And since the US budget is ~15% DOD, that addressed a big chunk.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Realignment_and_Closure

> I'm curious, what are the things that happened during the Clinton administration that you think were short-term gains at the expense of long-term improvements?

The dot com bubble forming and then popping is a notable one, Enron's fraudulent ascent is another.

> The dot com bubble forming and then popping is a notable one, Enron's fraudulent ascent is another.

While I agree with this, I interpreted the parent comment as saying there was something specific about the Clinton administration's policies that led to short term thinking. New technology boom and busts have been going on since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution (just look at early railroads and auto companies); the dot com bubble had nothing specifically to do with Clinton. Similarly, WTF did Enron have to do with the Clinton administration?

> the dot com bubble had nothing specifically to do with Clinton. Similarly, WTF did Enron have to do with the Clinton administration

Who is responsible for allowing these things to happen if not the President at the time? Sure, there are limitations to executive power but far more leeway in raising the alarm via the bully pulpit and plenty of scope for using the investigation and regulatory powers that did exist and it would have been a great opportunity for spending political capital to act or at least try. I’m not aware of any evidence of any of that being done and the notion that Clinton couldn’t have known or couldn’t have done anything at all about it is ridiculous. Therefore it’s the implicit Clinton policy of neglect or inaction which is where the culpability lies. I’m happy to be proven wrong and I’m not blaming Clinton alone or even primarily but he deserves plenty of blame nonetheless.

> Who is responsible for allowing these things to happen if not the President at the time?

The President is not God, or a king. People seem to be confused about the role and powers of the President in our system. What, exactly, do you wish the President had said on his bully pulpit about Enron??

I always find it bizarre that people blame the President for everything that happened on his watch, just as much as I think it bizarre that they give him all the credit. I mean, I generally think Clinton was a good president, but he also had much more than his fair share of luck in presiding during a booming economy (which would have boomed no matter who was president at that time).

> The President is not God, or a king.

Keeping Presidents accountable doesn't mean expecting Godlike powers.

> The dot com bubble forming and then popping is a notable one, Enron's fraudulent ascent is another.

Let's not forget WorldCom and Arthur Anderson, who later formed Deloitte if I'm not mistaken. We have them to thank in part for SOX and SOC audits as well as the PCAOB.

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