Why has the Bush economy been so lousy?

This is the title to a recent post on Paul Krugman's blog raising the questions of what has gone bad and how much is Bush's fault. 

I commented (#13 by Roger Chittum) that PK can indeed blame Bush for the recent tripling of oil prices because the range of world oil prices is politically administered by the governments of producing nations (except during times when demand is so slack that they can't maintain production discipline amongst themselves).  In a later post, PK indicates he is not impressed by non-market factors in oil pricing.  I respectfully disagree and think, on this narrow issue, I may have better information than he does. 

Another comment (#22 by Karl Smith ) is a very thoughtful and apparently informed discussion of the difference between the real economy and the financial engineering economy and why the latter has recently done much better than the former.  I want to know more about the two economies. 

Update on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 04:38PM by Skeptic

Well, I have to take back the assertion that OPEC administers prices.  That was true decades ago but not now.  I summarize the history and current status in this post.