Obama's administration inherited the GFC. Do you suppose you could explain to me how the US's part in the GFC came about?
Ooh! Ooooh! Pick me!
A large part of the Financial Crisis was triggered by the collapse of the Housing Bubble in the United States in 2007 (kind of like the bursting of the Dutch Tulip Bubble in 1637). The collapse resulted from actions by two parties--the American government (in this case, the Bush administration), and Private Banks.
The rapid growth of the United States' real estate market started in 2000, when the Bush administration provided strong incentives for home ownership, even to those who could not normally afford housing. As such, many private banking firms performed inaccurate risk-assessments, loaning money to those whom they would not normally provide loans for. Come 2006, when as more and more of those loans were defaulted on, not only did the banks lose huge amounts of money, but the values of properties dropped dramatically, causing an estimated $15 trillion in losses.
This was largely a problem because over 70 countries were invested in the United States' housing market, not to mention countless corporations and shareholders. So as investment capitals dropped in the housing market, they dropped for individuals, businesses and countries all around the world.
The causes GFC are, of course, slightly more complex than this, but they can mostly be traced back to the real estate bubble and actions on the part of the Bush Administration.
On another note, the reasons the economy did so 'well' under the Bush administration had nothing to do with the administration itself. Say what you like about Bill Clinton, but the man's administration knew how to handle debt. The Bush administration rendered their efforts null, managing to stop the decrease of the national debt and start big spendin' all over again.
