WASHINGTON, May 9, 2012 — The economy has changed drastically since President Obama took office. The country is trillions of dollars deeper in debt. So much of the population that developed, maintained, and marketed the products that helped build the great economy has aged or dropped out of the workforce. Instead of helping to grow the economy, they now draw on the benefits of the welfare state. Social Security and Medicare have not been brought under control, and other entitlements keep the federal budget growing.
The world is no safer than it was four years ago, and American forces remains spread thin. The costs associated with combating terrorism have escalated extending far beyond homeland security.
So how did Obama deal with the budget, debt, and government obligations? He increased government expenditures as no other president has done in American history. He was supported by Rahm Emanuel who articulated the strategy that “a crisis should not be allowed to go to waste.” How has this strategy of simply spending (and printing) money to deal with a budgetary crisis worked in the past? In Zimbabwe? Or Weimar Germany? Argentina? If it were possible to cure economic difficulties by simply printing and spending money, why doesn’t every country in the world spend itself into prosperity?
Obama’s approach to this type of Keynesianism involved some subtle refinements. With the help of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, America was treated to two rounds of “quantitative easing.” The underlying logic of quantitative easing (QE) is the ex nihilo creation of money – not really any different than the printing of bank notes in Weimar Germany. However, QE did one thing that simply printing cash never did. The QE tactic concealed and contorted the way created money flows into the economy, thereby pushing the inflation problem back for our children and grandchildren.
Other actions stand out. On national TV Obama characterized the possibility of a Supreme Court decision against the constitutionality of PPACA (“Obamacare”) as an “unprecedented” act. One would think that this Harvard graduate didn’t know that we have three branches of government, and that the Supreme Court of the United States has as a basic function to determine whether federal, state and local governments are acting according to the Constitution of the United States. And we might add, they have done it many times.
Then we have the appalling and bizarre administration record of regulations and permit denials aimed at restricting drilling, exploration and production of oil and coal. This includes the Keystone Oil Pipeline that would be delivering crude oil to American refineries. The Keystone product as well as other oil drilling efforts would reduce the cost of gasoline. Coal will reduce electricity costs. Oil and gas production, besides reducing costs for Americans, would also generate an enormous number of jobs. There is also the consideration of national security. It would certainly seem to be a “no brainer” to prefer that American energy production be under American control rather than in unstable countries that may not like us and who could disrupt deliveries.
Obama and his administration have blamed high energy prices on speculators. A number of factors will affect the price of energy, but the major factor is supply, not speculators. Increase supply and the price falls; reduce it and the price rises. Is it possible that Obama and his henchmen don’t know this?
It is inconceivable that anyone with a basic knowledge of economics would not know that if the amount of money in a country is increased by fiat, inflation will result. Nor would a trained constitutional lawyer not know the meaning of “unprecedented.” It’s unlikely that an educated man would be unaware of the relationship between commodity prices and supply.
Is it possible that what we are seeing is not low intelligence, but very firm, determined and committed ideology, so intensely committed that minor matters such as economic principles and constitutional law are just not given much thought? Does Obama’s pleasant, easygoing personality serve to mask this intractable, uncompromising ideology?
Michael Savage’s book, “Trickle Down Tyranny,” touches upon a characteristic shared by both the Obama administration and the Mafia. Savage notes that running the Mafia is too big a job for one man alone and that accomplices and henchmen are needed. Money is the glue that binds them. It may have been amusing but the point hits the nail on the head. Obama’s crony capitalism uses our tax money to co-opt and control corporate cronies, many members of Congress, government employees, so-called Czars and Cabinet Secretaries.
In the final analysis, Obama is anything but unintelligent. His intelligence is not focused on making America great or the American people prosperous, though. What it is focused on is a matter that should concern us.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
