As I watched Barack Obama’s latest press conference I kept going back to my impressions of him during the campaign - he looks like a student. Not exactly a big confidence builder. I was reminded of a piece Allen wrote a while ago - He’s not a bad man, he’s just stupid.
No, I don’t think Barack Obama is a bad man. I think he really believes he can build a perpetual motion machine. I hear in his voice the faith that he can overcome the laws of economics, and physics, and human nature. This naiveté is great for philosophers but dangerous in politicians. It’s dangerous because we expect our leaders to protect us from rain makers, snake oil salesmen, and faith healers. We don’t expect them to be of that ilk.
Sadly, it seems Mr. Obama is worse than the old snake oil salesman. He’s even worse than Bernard Madoff. At least Madoff’s victims all willingly signed up for the too-good-to-be-true. Fifty-seven million Americans didn’t sign up for Mr. Obama’s programs, nor did our children or grandchildren, but we will all be stuck paying the tab for decades to come. Michelle Malkin nailed it when she called his proposed stimulus package The Generational Theft Act of 2009.
Obama’s line about seeking out Marxist professors also sticks in my mind. I’ve never heard a quote where he said to balance the Marxists he sought out supply-side economics professors, of the FA Hayek ilk. While dreaming up his grand plans to control the economy, does he ever take the time to read economic theory that’s counter to the Marxists?
He made sure he mentioned that he inherited the $1.2 trillion deficit. No reporter thought to ask him why he didn’t do something about that while he was a voting member of the US Senate. The last time I checked Congress controls the purse strings, the President just signs spending bills when they land on his desk.
It also would have been nice if a reporter had asked whether the $700 billion TARP program is included in the $1.2 trillion deficit, and if it’s included, whether they’re accounting for the revenue to the Treasury that program is generating. They’ve already realized a gain of $8 billion or 4%. According to the Wall Street Journal “if you annualize TARP’s return on the assumption that it will continue to succeed, it would add up to a roughly 16% return on that initial $200 billion investment a year.”
Sure, Obama’s promising more “investment”. But what will he invest in? Unproven green technology that may be more expensive than current technology? 600,000 government jobs? He said the deficit will expand into the trillions (note this is plural of trillion) in the months to come. From what I’ve heard, it sounds more like he plans to just spend, not invest, a great deal of our money.
Finally, the media could have redeemed themselves by asking whether his constant attacks on the US economy over the past year or two could possibly have had anything at all to do with the current situation. Think about it. Americans were hearing for months and months that our economy was failing. Responsible Americans stopped spending money and started saving.
What happens when we stop spending our money on goods and services? What Mr. Obama doesn’t seem to understand is that the more money Americans have in our pockets the more we spend. In other words, when we use the fruits of our labor to purchase things we desire we are ”spreading the wealth around.”
What happens when politicians promise small business owners that their taxes are going to increase? They lay people off. They stop “spreading the wealth around.” Unless Mr. Obama starts to understand these simple principles we, our children and the children who are yet to be born are in for a world of hurt.
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