Monday, July 11, 2011

USA: An Economic Obamanation

I love it when lefty columnists write headlines like this:

GOP Out to Sabotage Economy!

It gives me a chance to say,

"Too Late, Obama Beat Them To It!"

You can always count on lefty loon Michael Tomasky to give us a good hearty laugh at his expense.  His naked psychological projection is stunning:
It’s about time the Democrats started saying openly what has been clear for months or even years now—that as long as economic recovery would work to the political benefit of Barack Obama, the Republicans have been, are, and will be in favor of sabotaging the economy.
Tomasky must have been on the moon during the Bush years, when democrats and their toadies in the press spent 6 whole years talking down the economy until finally they got their wish and it crashed.

What's Obama's economic plan?  Mine involves hoarding ammo, water and MREs...  It could get ugly out there.

It's not getting a lot of press here in the US, but the European streets are simmering with anger, and this time it's not the Muslims, but the natives who are violently restless.  Could anger spill over to violence in this country against those running the joint?  Hell yea, concludes eternal skeptic and unabashed liberal Paul Farrell.

He calls Reaganomics evil, but is silent at the progressive evil that has racked up northwards of $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities, all in the name of “progress” and prosperity, while actually driving us to retrograde penury.

That street violence, in Athens, Madrid, and someday here, was brought to us by the bankrupt promises of progressivism.
The European Union, like the 19th-century Congress of Vienna, can point to one achievement: a general absence of war in Western Europe for more than 60 years. Otherwise, almost all the socialist promises of an equality of result are imploding before Europeans’ eyes. (VDH - Europe is Warning Us)
Income inequality is at an all time high, unemployment is rampant and we are trapped in an Obamanomics stagflation death spiral.  People have a right to be angry.

If the people at the top got there by the sweat of their brow battling it out in the free market arena, good for them.  I begrudge them nothing.  But that’s not always the case in the United States of Crony Crapitalists.

The Big Banks are still to big to fail, despite what Chris Dodd and Barney Frank told us.  The sweaty pornographic embrace (with the taxpayer as the pivot man) between DC and Wall Street is simply too lucrative to abandon.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, and other giant U.S. banks have been profiting at your expense through an implicit taxpayer guarantee of their debt above and beyond the bailout funds they have already received, a recent report from credit agency Moody's shows.
We are in for a painful deleveragingWalter Russell Mead writes that we will pass through a profound societal change as well.  There’s no way around it.  We are out of easy answers.  We bought our prosperity with borrowed money, and it must be paid back, but the Obama administration is blissfully ignorant of this reality.

Victor Davis Hanson asks...
If dispirited Europeans are conceding that something is terribly wrong with their half-century-long experiment with socialism, unassimilated immigrants, cultural apologies, defense cuts, and post-nationalism, why in the world is the Obama administration intent on adopting what Europeans are rejecting?
Liberals love to preach about environmental sustainability, but they ignore the fact that the social model they have built is financially unsustainable.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't think of anything brighter to say than YES to all of it.


Apparently, there really is "nothing new under the sun."


"Like the diet prescribed by doctors, which neither restores the strength of the patient nor allows him to succumb, so these doles that you are now distributing, neither suffice to ensure your safety nor allow you to renounce them and try something else."

~ Demosthenes (384-322 B. C.)


"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."

~ John Tyndall (1820-1893)


"The only prize much cared for by the powerful is power. The prize of the General is not a bigger tent, but command."

~ Oliver W. Holmes (1841-1935)

From Demosthenes to Justice Holmes it seems apparent that our species has to keep learning the same old lessons over and over and over again.

"The powerful" have a tendency to gain and hold power by promising much in a way that softens up, raises the expectations of, and weakens their subjects all at the same time, thus ensuring their increasingly helpless dependency -- and serf-like status.

Who among us has the wisdom, the courage, the wit, and the will to resist "improvements" that promise to make his life easier? That new ways of "ease" are almost invariably gained at the expense of old ways of freedom, independence and integrity tells us there is much wisdom in the saying attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch:

"The farther ahead we go, the behinder we get."

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

I sort of doubt there will be riots. The reason there are huge riots in Greece are because of the heavy-handed austerity measures they're taking. I'm not sure if austerity was avoidable in Greece's situation, but I think they made budget cuts larger than what US House Republicans are proposing.

What floors me is how Liberals tend to cite the good old times of the 1950's with Eisenhower, yet they seem to ignore one of the big reasons we were so ecnomically prosperous: government fiscal responsibility. Eisenhower was committed to making sure that every project the government undertook, every dollar that was doled out, was actually paid for.

In a "modern economy," though, I fear that fiscal responsibility is becoming as passe as using words like "honor" and "virtue."

Bunkerville said...

I am with you with your personal economic plan. Earlier from the Mountain House Website that supplies food storage:
FEMA has purchased a survivor population of 7M to be utilized for the sustainment of life during a 10-day period of operations.

We should do the same, but no doubt much longer.

Thersites said...

FT,

"The powerful" have a tendency to gain and hold power by promising much in a way that softens up, raises the expectations of, and weakens their subjects all at the same time, thus ensuring their increasingly helpless dependency -- and serf-like status.

No, the powerful are not that stupid. It's the weak power-seeking "drones" who worm their way INTO power through the buying of votes in a democracy by offering income and medical service "guarantees" that undermine the Republic. (See Plato's "Republic")

Anonymous said...

I think you have called exactly right. what we saw in Wisconsin was jus a sneak preview of things to come. It will, IMHO, get ugly indeed.

Lisa said...

And having weak leadership is not helping. We have an indecisive ,inexperienced president who like all chameleons can adapt to whatever situation needed to elude. Today his speech was of sadness and empathy like he is the "compassionate" president ,other times he is pointing and blaming like he is the "angry president" and the on weekends he is out golfing and partying like he is the "non-caring" president.
And to think there are people who put their trust in this president. Now there's a scary scenario.

Anonymous said...

Thersites (Is that you FJ?),

We probably disagree only on the proper definition of "the powerful." I mean the people who hold the reigns of power -- political and economic. I think you must mean intelligent, creative, forceful individuals who have something of tangible value to contribute. Am I right?

Lisa,

I don't think Obama is "weak" at all. I think he is very strong and very capable in carrying out his assigned determination to weaken, undermine and ultimately destroy our economic ascendancy, our sovereignty and our security. He's all about the Marxian notions of "fairness" and "equality" through forced redistribution of wealth -- not only within the confines of the USA, but WORLDWIDE. He -- and more importantly those who PUT him in power -- will not be satisfied till they have reduced the United States -- and all the once-Christian West -- to Turd World status.

Europe hit the skids decades ago, and is already well on its way, and thanks to all four of the presidents since Ronald Reagan, we are not far behind.

~ FreeThinke

Z said...

SF, I heard Katrina VanDerHeuvel on CNN yesterday talking about how the Right isn't being sporting and are running from their responsibilities and how horrible that is. Obviously, WISCONSIN came to my mind and I couldn't get over the irony; I'll bet she was okay when the Democrat senators ran to escape their responsibilities regarding the unions, right? :-)
My husband was from Germany and said SO many times the last 10 years before he recently died, "Why is America following in the failed footsteps of EUROPE now? I came here because it was better here!" SO true. He was devastated by Obama's election...absolutely devastated; and I'm glad he hasn't seen it become this bad.
When you see what I just posted, you won't believe your eyes. If you have time to look, let me know if you'd heard of it before...a lack on everyone I know's part which scares me more than the actual turn-down by Obama....where IS our media?

Always On Watch said...

Yes, it's going to get ugly.

Middle America is stretched to the bone: taxes, gas prices, food prices, etc. And we see the elitists sitting at the top -- untouched by the misery we're enduring.

Obama's statements today in that press conference were filled with arrogance ("time to eat our peas") and even anger. His anger toward the GOP is misplaced; rather, he should be looking at his own spendthrift policies, which have contributed much to the present crisis with our economy. I just hope that the American electorate can see his most recent power play for what it is. Hell, he even admitted that taxes will be going up if he's re-elected in 2012.

Silverfiddle said...

Z: There are many European expats here in Colorado, and they express sentiments similar to those of your husband. They, along with escapees from Cuba are watching in horror as Obama and his socialist horde knock down the bulwarks of our citadel of freedom.

It took a century of work by progressive sappers, cheered on by socialists of all parties, to get us to this point.

Trekkie4Ever said...

People are so frustrated and tired of waiting for the incompetent government to do something. It's festering and sooner or later there will be an explosion.

Jersey McJones said...

"...democrats and their toadies in the press spent 6 whole years talking down the economy until finally they got their wish and it crashed."

Ya' know, Silver, sometimes you can be so brilliant, and then sometimes you say stuff like this. Do you really believe that silly notion that the economy can be talked up or down? Really???

It BS. You shouldn't believe silly things like that.

There is some reasonable fear that the GOP has been working to kkeep the economy down, and certainly conservatives in the private sector - the people who really run the GOP - have made it clear that they simply will not invest until the GOP is back in command of everything.

So, I can understand the cynicism.

On the other hand - and this to me says it all - of course the opposition party is going to be in opposition!

So, it's a pointless, divisive, unprovable indictment.

Liberals would be well-advised to avoid that slam.

And then, Silver, you drone on about "too big to fail" and how it's the fault of liberals or Democrats, when the GOP has been just as if not much more cozy with the particular interests you cite.

And it is neither partisan nor the source of the problem. We now live in a country where a corporation has human rights! We live in a country where big moneyed interests can legally bribe politicians to get them to do whatever they like. And these sleazy, scummy, lowly, evil developments are brought to us courtesy of the Right.

Physician, heal thyself.

JMJ

MathewK said...

"...why in the world is the Obama administration intent on adopting what Europeans are rejecting?"

Like all liberals, stuck on stupid, either that or the mess that's engulfing Europe thanks to socialism is what he wants for America.

So he's either too stupid to see that failure is what he'll get or failure is really what he wants.

Silverfiddle said...

Jersey: I didn't say Bush haters crashed the economy, just that they were talking it down his entire presidency. Ham-handed government intervention and crony crapitalists crashed the Bush economy.

but yes, an economy can be talked up or down, since economics is not an exact mathematical science. There's a lot of psychology and human judgement that goes into it.

You make the mistake of thinking all business owners are republicans. Would you throw your money in the game right now? With so much uncertainty? The socialist hordes have taken over government departments and are inventing new regulations and inspection regimes as we speak. It's like a third world regime. You'd be nuts to invest your money right now, unless you were Jeffery Hemelts or a green company who enjoys Obama's favor.

Most Rev. Gregori said...

The real "Audacity of Hope" is the government expecting an increase in the debt limit so that they can just keep on spending that much more. Give the government a limitless credit card and they will charge like a bull in a china shop.

We the People just have to pull the rug out from under them.

Finntann said...

Hmm.... post just vanished... 2nd attempt. Forgive me if it miraculously reappears.

Physician pull thine head out of thy...

Seriously? You think either party has a monopoly on ethics?

Your problem is you try and fit everything into neat little boxes...Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative.

I don't think anyone here is defending big statist republicanism. We despise it equally with big statist liberalism.

You miss the point and the whole argument that the system is broken literally and figuratively. Obama's answer to alcoholism is to pledge to not drink as much but to increase his alcohol rations at the same time. The problem isn't income...it's SPENDING!

George Bush, Bill Clinton, I didn't like either of them particularly much. But either of them would be a vast improvement over what we have in office now. Yeah... run for cover, lightning's going to strike... I'd rather have Bill Clinton in office.

We don't find the Democratic Party evil incarnate, and I'll be the first to admit that the Republican Party has serious flaws (though undoubtedly not the same flaws you think it has). What we do find is that the Republican Party is a closer starting point to our destination than the Democratic Party.

Put the labels aside and answer a few questions:

Is government in bed with special interests?

Do our representatives prostitute themselves for power, money, and votes?

Who as more influence on government? The people or special interest groups?

And don't try weasling your way out by claiming that the special interest groups represent the people.

No matter how noble the purpose, you can't spend what you haven't got. The only problem I have with liberalism is economic:

You are very generous with other people's money.

Cheers!

WomanHonorThyself said...

he wont stop until we are pure commies ..what a horror show to watch Silver..............

Jersey McJones said...

Silver, you can't have it both ways. You can't believe markets behave rationally and they behave like gossiping teenagers. It doesn't work that way. If anything, the very interests who incite the talk are the very interests who profit from the consequences.

I'm sorry, but if you believe entire economies can be talked up or down by marginal political rhetoric, then you do not understand macroeconomics.

JMJ

Finntann said...

So... media can't influence public opinion?

And public opinion has no influence on markets?

Nice.

You want to make a lot of money?

Instill a loss of confidence in a particular stock and short sell.

You gain at the expense of legitimate stockholders.

That's the least of our worries with the government backstopping piss poor management and product lines to protect one group of us at the expense of another.

Screw the investors, give the company to the union... nice.

That's government in business and finance... wrong whether Republicans or Democrats do it.

Who's the government who decides who wins or loses? Oh wait... investors are spread across a wide demographic, and the unions encourage their members to vote in bloc. Who sold out to who???

Lisa said...

FT-
Even though I know he knows what he is doing I refuse to call it "strong" .
Deceit is not a very strong characteristic.
But I love your "Turd World" terminology

Silverfiddle said...

Yes Jersey, you are sorry, and you do not understand the term "rational" as it relates to markets.

Markets are made up of people, and people are psychological beings with fears, pride and all the rest. The sometimes act like gossiping teenagers.

Human logic is also at work, protecting one's self-interests.

When government cooks up nefarious deals in shady backrooms, and imperious agencies can swoop down and regulate your money away from you in an instant, people are wary of investing their money in economic activity that can grow the economy and create jobs. That is perfectly rational.

What is irrational is to believe anything Obama is doing will create jobs and grow the economy.

Ducky's here said...

Markets are made up of people, and people are psychological beings with fears, pride and all the rest. The sometimes act like gossiping teenagers.
-----------------------
Absolutely, we give our future to the market, a collection of individuals who care about what itch to scratch and have little concern for the long term future.

Speedy G said...

Yes, it's me, FT.

And yes, there are two paths to power. One path is through being an exceptional "flatterer" of the "less powerful" voters (as in the current President). Another path involves being "competent" and knowing what it takes to make EVERYONE (and not just a flattering few) MORE powerful.

Anonymous said...

"... we give our future to the market, a collection of individuals who [only?] care about what itch to scratch and have little concern for the long term future."


Probably true, Ducky, but the exact same thing could -- and should -- be said about government -- an entity that produces nothing but ever-burgeoning, ever-weightier burdens on the taxpayer and ever-tightening restrictions on our individual liberties at MUCH too great a cost.


The market may cater to buyers beguiled by fluff and nonsense, but it also provides the necessities of life in a competitive manner that encourages innovation and (sometimes) produces genuine improvement.


The government may
Be as great as they say,
But it might not be missed,
If it ceased to exist!



The private sector makes,
While government only takes.


It has always amused me that we look to government to protect us from the evils of monopolists, when it's as plain as the nose on Anthony Weiner's fiendish, furious, fatuous, feisty little face that government is the biggest MONOPOLY that ever existed bar none.

No one ever seems to ask the important question: WHO IS GOING TO PROTECT US FROM THE PROTECTORS?

~ FreeThinke

Bd said...

The GOP has stonewalled this economy and would rather see us driven into another depression and hurt average Americans like you idiots than see another Obama success.

The debt ceiling was raised 10 times during the Bush administration without the stupid fanfare it's getting now. Hell, it was raised last year!

Bush was losing 700,00 jobs a month when he left office. Obama has turned this around.He created more jobs so far than Bush did in 8 years.

Bush never included the wars, or the tax breaks in his budgets. Obama put them.

Grow up, all. Turn off Fox News.

Silverfiddle said...

Bd: Grow up and explain the logical connection between "stonewalling" and economic recovery.