It’s been about 120 days since President Obama was sworn in as our 44th President. To me, it feels like years. Rarely a day passes where I don’t see the President, Treasury Secretary Geithner or another cabinet member speaking of, proposing or acting on radical changes that affects every citizen. Consider the following blistering pace of policy and initiatives:
1. Proposing and ultimately signing what is called a fiscal stimulus bill into law using borrowed money to provide very little in the way of fiscal stimulus. The President repeats incessantly that 95% of all Americans will receive a tax cut. If this were true it would indeed be a good measure. However, what actually is happening is that 10’s of millions will receive, this year and next, a check of several hundred dollars, whether or not the individual citizen is actually paying income tax. This is not fiscal stimulus that “we can believe in.” There is no decrease in actual tax rates that will last year after year. There is precious little here to build anything, particularly infrastructure. The final law, rather than stimulating the economy, is rather a huge political payoff to those in the traditional Democratic Party bloc i.e. big unions, including the teacher’s union which has done nothing in my lifetime to improve public education in this country.
2. Taking the baton from the previous administration, Obama has continued and accelerated the nationalization of the banking system. The government now owns and controls a large piece of the entire banking system. This control is ominous at least as we are already seeing intervention, central control and the dismantling of free market capitalism. Rather than living with and dealing with the natural ebbs and flows (booms and recessions) of the free market, a proven and natural self-correcting system, the government is arresting control and clearly seeks to keep it. Just look at the resistance to repaying the TARP by the likes of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, et al. It’s like your mortgage company disallowing pre-payment of your home loan.
3. The expansion of TARP to include other businesses and industries. Another huge threat to free market capitalism and another major step towards control of the economy by a huge central government.
4. A 4 trillion dollar budget; twice as much as last year with a projection of a 1.8 trillion dollar deficit this year. The national debt is projected to balloon to over 20 trillion dollars within the next 10 years. These numbers indicate the deep commitment to central control and command of what we once knew as the free market. Rather than rational regulation, the numbers, the rhetoric and the actions repudiate capitalism, spreading the wealth in the name of “the greater public good.” What this ultimately means? … The government now controls almost half of our national economy (45%). By definition, we have withdrawn from a free market system if this stands for much longer.
5. The signing into law of a huge supplemental spending bill that includes thousands of earmarks; directly in defiance of his campaign pledge to end earmarks. Rather all spending (stimulus bill, budget and supplemental spending) are incalculable earmarks for special interest groups.
6. The government takeover of Chrysler and General Motors. We have a “car czar.” Can you believe it? We actually have a car czar to control and command the future decisions of 2 of the 3 major auto manufacturers in this country. Further, and of great importance, is the bankruptcy package for Chrysler which will surely be repeated when the GM deal is done. The bond holders of Chrysler, those free market capitalists that risked their capital, got the finger from President Obama by being put at the end of the line instead of the front of the line which is the way free market capitalists have sold bonds for the past 100+ years. Instead, President Obama put the unions and the government first and gave the bond holders only 30 cents on every dollar they invested. Moreover, Obama ridiculed the bond holders referring to them as speculators and blaming them for the failure of a settlement. The bond holders are just exercising their right to seek a better deal through the bankruptcy court. I wonder what the final result will be for the bond holders.
7. Nationalization of Health Care. The administration, Pelosi, Reid et al are moving swiftly to nationalize health care to control all aspects of health care; that is, how we will receive health care, who we will get it from, whether we will get it, from whom we will get it, etc. The proposal claims that this is what has to be done to control health care costs. However, this will cost the taxpayer over 2 trillion dollars, fully 17% of our national economy. What they aren’t saying is what precious few realize … that everyone will be under the thumb of the government for health care. We will be dictated to short and sweet. Health care will be rationed so that you will not necessarily get the care that you need when and where you need it. The government will use statistical analysis that will result in decisions based upon the likelihood of success of the medical procedure or treatment. There will be no options to seek the best care for the individual based on individual analysis. The individual will be subordinate to the state. Yes, I am describing centrally controlled socialized medicine. Where is the media on this? Where is a truthful and strong investigative report that exposes what it is like to live in Great Britain and Canada and receive health care?
8. The Carbon Tax. This is something else that few in this country understand. Those who received the paltry tax cut and / or a check from the government will see all of that go away many times over when they see the government cause you to pay more for almost everything you buy; gasoline, heating, electricity, food, cars, etc. The reason: Global Warming. Global Warming is being used by the Obama administration to justify the so-called Cap and Trade which simply means that the government seeks to control the use of carbon and its derivatives in the name of saving the planet; never mind that man-made global warming is NOT a fait accompli AND never mind that China, Russia and India have no plans to do this. Global Warming is being used to justify further command and control of our economy and our lives.
9. Just this week, President Obama, showing no signs of slowing down, is laying the ground work for new taxes. With no shame or reflection, he had the gall to tell an audience that the borrowing and spending is unsustainable. Can you believe this? He just spent the last 100+ days spending us into oblivion and now he says that it’s unsustainable. It reminds me of giving your kids $100 and spending it inside of 30 minutes and coming back to daddy and asking for more only to realize that the money is spent and there isn’t any more. Obama is starting to prepare us for new taxes as he surely shows no signs whatsoever of limiting spending. He had more gall announcing a grand total of 17 billion in spending cuts … he made an announcement about this … its less than one tenth of one percent of our deficit! He made an announcement! I could do better with GEICO!
10. At the same time that all of this is going on, NOT ONE WORD about Medicare and Social Security … why, you may ask? These are government-controlled programs that control our lives; never mind that they are horribly run and waste valuable capital that can clearly be better used by the individual.
Ok, so we have a Democratic Socialist who is pushing his policies and beliefs. But why all the hyperactivity … a generation of change in 4 months! I suggest that President Obama is trying to do exactly what he said he was going to do; effect fundamental change in this country. Further, he knows that his time is limited and he can’t afford to spread out all of his initiatives because he will never be more popular than he has been up to now. He has taken his plurality in the election with Democratic Party domination in Congress and is acting under his perceived mandate to transform us into a socialized democracy which seeks to control our lives. All of his policies and initiatives follow the playbook of socialism; the limitation and control of the individual by the state.
Arthur Cooper
Tags: conservativism, Government, obama, Politics
