Someone simply must speak to this unmitigated, doleful tone from our new commander in chief! The message is clear; things suck, they're going to suck for at least the rest of the year, and if you don't vote for my trillion dollar spending bill, things are going to suck so bad you gonna think today's sucking look good! It's mystifying to me how the American people can so passively accept such an oppressive and pessimistic scenario. Since when has the hope, enterprise and the 'we shall overcome' spirit of the American people been so woefully underestimated - let alone by our own President! I'm here to tell you that America can and will rebound and soon if our almighty government will just quit trying to fix everything, doesn't raise or better yet lowers taxes, slows the growth of government spending and keeps their hands, money and laws off of the private sector. This downturn is nothing new. We Americans have had a dozen of them in our history. What's new is how this new bunch of Democrats is choosing to deal with it. This bunch says tax cuts got us into this mess. (Well, if they'd bother to check, they also got us out of the recessions of 1980, 1992 and 2000. And it didn't take years either! ) This bunch thinks the government can spend money more effectively than the private sector. ( Well I'd rather put my faith in Exxon to fill my tank with affordable energy than Uncle Sam thank you very much ) This bunch thinks that you can fix an international monetary crises caused by too much borrowing by borrowing more. ( If I borrow more than I can possibly repay I declare bankruptcy; what does the government do? ) This bunch can't tell the difference between investment and spending. ( Does anyone really think that building new school buildings will raise test scores? )
I may not have the leadership skills to be President of the United States but I know you don't need no P.H.D. in brain science to be certain that telling the America people that things are going to suck for at least a year no matter what they, we, or our government does, can only make national economic failure and the accompanying despair self-fulfilling and as a direct result prolong our eventual national recovery. So where's the 'Man from Hope' when we need him? ( Yes, I'll take Clinton over this guy )
Could it possibly be that those that can lead can usually inspire but those that can inspire can't necessarily lead?
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Let me be clear up front- I like Obama. He seems like a good guy, and though I wasn't sold enough to vote for him, there was no chance I would have voted for McCain/Palin. I didn't care for any of the other candidates either.
ReplyDeleteI was kind of happy when he got elected because I felt had he not won, the world never would have found out what kind of President he would have been.
After a short time, I have to admit I'm disappointed.
This "stimulus bill", which will probably run over a trillion dollars, is failed Keynesian theory at its worst.
When Obama said "There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy." he was dead wrong. There is plenty of disagreement.
I disagree. 250 of the world's most respected economists, including three Nobel prize winners, disagree- and took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to let us know.
The bill is mainly just burning money. As always, billions will go to line the pockets of the wealthy and well-connected who will score the biggest contracts, as usual. It won't create many jobs.
One of G.W. Bush's biggest failures was his completely irresponsible, record-shattering, enormous explosion of debt, culminating in a biggest-ever $400 billion deficit in 2008 (contrasting sharply with Clinton's very-close-to balanced budget). For his first year, Obama is on track to more than double that.
FDR's disasterous expansion of government made what would have been a few year downturn into the 15 year Great Depression that caused widespread starvation and suffering.
Here we go again.
I think all your observations are right on. I'm still befuddled how so many politically moderate Americans could have been so viscerally disgusted with Bush to vote for Obama with his widely reported extreme left voting record. If this presidency goes as badly as I fear it might, a lot of people, especially those 'cross-over' moderates and going to have tolook themselves in the mirror and ask how they could have been so stupid as to turn this country over to an FDR inspired leftist when there already was in place an activist left wing majority in the House and the Senate.
ReplyDeleteTHE UNMALAISING [SIC]OF AMERICA
ReplyDeleteThe problem is clear -- the solution always has been clear. When we consider history and human nature - nothing changes - and we never have to look far afield to find the correct social laboratory to model all our ills - and their solutions.
First the problem -- plainly, it's government mismanagement. Without the absurdly easy money policy of the Greenspan and Bernanke era, without Fannie and Freddie, there would be no liar loans, no securitization of CDOs and CMOs, no hedgey gassy wall street gizmo deals that lead to the failures of Bear, Lehman, the banks (with more to come) and layered on top of all this the intractable debt of governments -- federal, state, municipal -- with the concomittant overall "malaisimg" of America (and if it were only as bad as Jimmy said it was in the 70s).
Secondly the solution. Economics. (What? What the hell could that possibly mean? Does anyone know what that means anymore?!?) Consider the root of the word -- oikonomos οἴκοιςνόμον -- our word for economics comes from the Greek root for stewardship, housekeeping and charging the administration of affairs to an overseer. Fancy that! Run an economy like a household? What an ancient and silly notion. (Oh, those Greeks!). So what if we pictured government as a household, where it had to budget, pay its bills, not go into massively absurd debt, not overpay for things, be careful with the finances of the home -- like most responsible American households who practice ancient Greek-like stewardship over their lives? What an amazing thought -- hold government to the same test of stewardship as Mr. and Mrs. America, supporting and bring up their children all on their own.
Yes, the problem is obvious -- the solution is simple. But the will is forever lacking.
As the Greeks also said: “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
Very interesting the root of the word economics. Sadly it would appear the American people, or should I say rather, the majorities of the populations of the western democracies have now accepted some new paradigm allowing their respective governments to dictate policy using a separate set of economic rules from the 'household'. Without some uniformity in fundamental values in our society, ( what's true for the King is true for the subjects ), it's hard to imagine any long-term scenario for economic success. The disassociation of frugality from virtue is complete. Overspending has become the clear measure of compassion by governments. The bigger the problem, the more we spend, the more we demonstrate how much we care. No need to read the bill, just count the zeros behind the dollar sign.
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