President Bush wanted to avoid a depression greater than the Great Depression

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Karen Tumulty points me toward some depressing comments from President Bush this morning:

I was in the Roosevelt Room and Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson, after a month of every weekend where they’re calling, saying, we got to do this for AIG, or this for Fannie and Freddie, came in and said, the financial markets are completely frozen and if we don’t do something about it, it is conceivable we will see a depression greater than the Great Depression.

So I analyzed that and decided I didn’t want to be the President during a depression greater than the Great Depression, or the beginning of a depression greater than the Great Depression.

Greater than the Great Depression, huh? You mean like the depression of the 1870s? Karen wonders if these comments constitute candor or alarmism. I lean towards the former. It would have been nice if he’d decided to avert the depression back in 2005 or 2006, though.