Foolish Fiscal Fantasy

Obama wants nearly a trillion dollars to stimulate the economy in addition to the seven hundred billion already appropriated for the Paulson plan. The government can not even precisely account for much of the three hundred fifty billion dollars already spent. Obama's premise of a surge up prosperity as opposed to a David Stockman/Reagan style trickle down can not work. If the poor knew how to spread prosperity through industry and entrepreneurship, they would not be poor in the first place. The only job creation occurring will be the growth of government jobs. Low and middle income people with ambition, ability, and substance have not remained static in the capitalist America of the past. They have enjoyed incredible upward mobility and not because of a five hundred or thousand dollar government stimulus check. If a person were not satisfied with his station in America, it was possible to rise above it. The US is not Victorian England where people were hidebound by class. Just look at all the Asians who have come here with nothing and within a few short years end up owning a business and within a generation have their children enter the professions. They did not come here to sign on to the dole. Obama's plans from energy with massive expenditures on greening fuel with international demand for gasoline drying up making it very affordable, to medicine, to give free care (that is free for the recipient but glaringly expensive for the taxpayer) to dependent children up to age thirty(30) will at best bring us an extended recession under Northern or Middle European-style socialism. At worst, the US may find herself in an unending depression with entrenched Democrats cum Marxists running most every aspect of American lives.

Biden's Loose Lips

In the past, our future Vice President has been known for his bluntness, some incredibly poor choice of words, and a notorious episode of plagiarism. Did Biden make a verbal misstep once again by saying the economy is in "much worse shape than we expected"? I believe his statement was calculated, deliberate, and tactical. Biden accomplishes three goals by this utterance.1.) He immunizes the incoming administration from any of the responsibility for recession. The Bush administration is held solely culpable for the chaos and dislocation to come. 2.)Biden provides a rationale for Obama's Marxist ambition to attempt his Utopian cures for our economic ills. 3.) When Obama fails to restore financial prosperity and further destabilizes the market, his remedy is found faultless by the leftist lackeys in media and academe as Bush left the unrecoverable dire situation in the first place. Every conservative must contest this strategy and fight Obama's plans in order to preserve the capitalist and democratic nature of our Constitutional republic. There can be no era of good feelings, no crossing the aisle in the interest of the "new tone", no "kinder gentler" outreach to a man and his party who are at war with liberty and who intend to impose a self-perpetuating socialism from which there is no escape.

Turmoil, Trauma, Treachery

Economic dislocation is already escalating. Unemployment numbers are rising. Obama has promised a $3000 tax credit for each job a business creates. Even at minimum wage, a full-time employee will make many times that and that does not include the expense of training and benefits. Once hired, Obama's infatuation with trial lawyers will make it problematic to fire anyone. Under Obama, unemployment in the private sector is destined to skyrocket. Government will try to offset this with massive make-work programs in the spirit of FDR's New Deal or Johnson's Great Society, both dismal and demonstrable failures. The taxes to pay for Obama's government leviathan will only cripple entrepreneurs that much more. Herbert Hoover raised taxes in a recession and did a brilliant job of pushing the economy over a cliff. If Obama follows the path of John Maynard Keynes or Lester Thurow, he will injure the nation irrevocably. He must embrace the supply-siders, follow the path of Milton Friedman and Arthur Laffer and allow private enterprise to grow us out of our current travail. But Obama's animus to capitalism and love of power will prevent this. He will not honor his pledge to lower taxes on 95% of the people. In all likelihood, he will betray many of his own high earning voters and raise taxes on everyone already paying them. This was the victory of populism, progressive prevarication, and power madness over patriotism and productive people.

Flee in Droves

Investors are headed for the exits with the largest ever post-election drop and the biggest two day plummet since 1987. They know socialism-a doubling of the capital gains tax, increase in marginal tax rates for those earning as little according to Joe Biden as $150,000, and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire prevent any chance of recovery and might precipitate a depression. Obama will have a cursory meeting today with Warren Buffet and his other economic gurus. These people are window dressing-dupes to cover the vicious redistributionist nature of the cabal that has taken over. Obama's team said they would pressure China on the artificial valuation of the Yuan. What a joke. Red China was just insulted by freedom-lovers protesting as their representative talked trade matters in Taipei. China in short order will cross the Straits of Taiwan and seize Formosa and the weak Communist sympathizing Obama will not do a thing about it beyond calling a U.N. meeting and a strongly worded protest. Russia just deployed short-range missiles in Eastern Europe and will move by fiat against her former republics and the weakling in the Whitehouse won't do a thing about it. He will however send American forces to the Democratic Republic of Congo where we have absolutely no strategic interests. U.S. forces will after all be pretty busy at home seizing our guns.

Woeful Economic Ignorance

Obama says he will cure or economic woes. Generally, our Presidents are not responsible for our success or failure. They have under civil service very limited power to hire or fire, just a few patronage jobs, Cabinet level appointments, ambassadorships, and judicial appointments which all require Congressional confirmation (with the exception of the rare recess appointments to these positions). The Federal Reserve and Bernanke have vastly more influence typically than the President. Obama plans to change this. Like FDR or the Daleys, Barry envisions a voting public beholden to him for jobs. Massive patronage like in the old days of Daley Machine Chicago, huge new programs mimicking the New Deal, the WPA, the National Recovery Act, and even a national civilian force with duties that parallel the military. This is more akin to Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez than FDR, but somehow, our education system has failed so miserably that many Americans find this incredible expansion of government appealing. A full frontal assault on the investor class will take place under Obama. These risk-takers, already overburdened, may crumble under the weight of increased income and capital gains tax rates. Those who own businesses may be forced to sell with the return of the death tax. Obama will attack consumerism with tariffs and import barriers.Even investors who protected themselves with stop loss orders and hedge will not be able to save their assets from Obama's machinations. And while he ignores the needs of his aunt and hut dweller brother, the junior Senator calls us "selfish."