Digest This!

On January 8, 2009, President Elect Barack Obama said “only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy - where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.” “Only government can” are the words that a socialist would say. A “Big Government” person would think this.

I firmly believe that “government is the problem”, to quote President Ronald Reagan. Economist will tell you that there is only 100% of the Gross Domestic Product GDP that can be spent and that the bigger the share that government spends, the smaller the share that consumers can spend. That means that the government gets to puck the winners and losers in “Life’s lottery” as the democrats would say. If this does not scare you it should.

I don’t have to say but one word. Yugo. The car of choice for most environmentalists. If they had their way we would be driving this disaster of a car. No room for anything but people.

Lets look at other parts of this.

President Elect Barack Obama said: “Throughout America’s history, there have been some years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare. Then there are the years that come along once in a generation - the kind that mark a clean break from a troubled past, and set a new course for our nation.

This is one of those years.

We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime - a crisis that has only deepened over the last few weeks.” We start 2009 in this mess because of the elections on 2000, 2004, 2006 & 2008. In 2000 George W. Bush won the election by all recounts yet the democrats used this election as a call to arms. They disregard the fact that the press called the state of Florida while the poles were still open in heavily republican areas in the panhandle. Talk about disenfranchisement. Estimates are that President Bush would have won the State by more the 2500 votes instead of the 600 he did had the press not called the State until ALL the poles closed.”

The democrats should have won the 2004 election because they had the perfect wartime candidate in John Kerry. He received three Purple Heart medals. A veteran from war. Yet when the truth about his war record was exposed, it was call “Swift boating”. Did not matter that the facts were true.

The democrats took over the US House and Senate in 2006 putting Democrats like Chris Dodd (D CT) and Barney Frank (D NY) in charge of the financial committees. They were some of the top campaign donations receivers from Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. Lets not forget Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton round off the top four-campaign donation from Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac.

They had a lot to do with hiding the true fact of what was going on in the financial industry with Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. They also kept regulations from being passed that would have stopped the bad management practices. Remember that Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac were the beginning of the problems we have now. The effects of election of 2008 have yet to be seen.

President Elect Barack Obama said: “I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible.” What does he mean by “change course”? Now that he has been inaugurated, does he mean going back to the 1930’s as his economic stimulus plan shows? An honest look at the 1930’s shows that the government spending huge amounts of money does not work. There is much evidence to support this. Besides he said that we need a 21^st century plan to fix this problem. If that is what he believes than why is he looking to FDR’s “New Deal” to solve this problem? Could it be President Obama is a socialist and he believes that only socialism is the answer? Could it be that he is looking to set Democrats up to control the government for decades to come like the “New Deal” did? Only time will tell.

President Elect Barack Obama said: “This crisis did not happen solely by some accident of history or normal turn of the business cycle, and we won’t get out of it by simply waiting for a better day to come, or relying on the worn-out dogmas of the past.” So now the President wants to return to the past of nearly 80 years ago to solve the same problems that his party created back then. The actions taken back then did not work and for sure they won’t work now. In campaigns past, the democrats accused the republicans of returning to the past and that we needed to move ahead not backwards. Why will returning to the past work now. Only for one reason. It will put democrats in charge of the government for a long time to come regardless of how much it hurts the country.

Continuing: “We arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate boardrooms to the halls of power in Washington, DC. For years, too many Wall Street executives made imprudent and dangerous decisions, seeking profits with too little regard for risk, too little regulatory scrutiny, and too little accountability. Banks made loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them, and some borrowers took advantage of cheap credit to take on debt they couldn’t afford. Politicians spent taxpayer money without wisdom or discipline, and too often focused on scoring political points instead of the problems they were sent here to solve. . . . Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness. “ Here he wants us to believe republicans, business and banks are to fault for these problems. Where this is in part correct, we have to include President Jimmy Carter (D) who pushed the “Community Renewal Act” which is responsible for banks making loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them. I re-mortgaged my home without an income margin to support the loan payments. Lucky for me that I found the income sources to make the payments.

We can also blame ACORN who used their political muscle to make these loans happen. This was only the beginning of the problems. We have discussed some of the other people involved and there are republicans to blame as well for being a part of this and for not putting up a strong fight to keep this from happening.

President Elect Barack Obama said: “That is why I have moved quickly to work with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will immediately jumpstart job creation and long-term growth.

It’s a plan that represents not just new policy, but a whole new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges. For if we hope to end this crisis, we must end the culture of anything goes that helped create it - and this change must begin in Washington. It is time to trade old habits for a new spirit of responsibility. It is time to finally change the ways of Washington so that we can set a new and better course for America.” Now that he is President he is definitely moving quickly. He is returning to the same old things that did not work in the past. There is nothing new about the policy or the approach. We did the same thing in the 1930’s. Only WWII got us out of the depression. In that government managed the was is the only reason government spending got us out of the depression. The highway jobs and end results won’t show up until 2012. What a surprise. By the way. Where is the change in Washington? Is it that the republicans won’t be allowed to make any changes to legislation? Another return to the past. It was Newt Gingrich who made the real change after the 1994 election by changing the House Rules allowing the democrats to present their changes on legislation.

President Elect Barack Obama said: “It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth, but at this particular moment”. In a meeting on January 27, 2009 President Obama meet with CEO’s from companies saying the same thing. However, in the January 8^th speech he followed this sentence with “only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy - where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit.” The only way government can do this in the short term is to allow us to keep more of our hard earned money NOW.

President Obama continues to say we need this “Bold New Plan”. That this stimulus plan he has put forward will create and save jobs. This plan is neither bold nor is it new. It is just a return to FDR’s New Deal. Recent articles suggest that President Obama believes the FDR was correct with implementing the New Deal. That FDR’s only mistake is he did not spend money fast enough. This is a way to ignore the fact that WWII got us out of the depression. He believes that we need to spend lots money as fast as we can.(Can anyone say inflation? Can anyone say he is mortgaging our grandchildren’s future? This is what he is doing with this payback package.) If he wants to spend a lot of money quickly, then why is the payback package designed for the bulk of the spending to happen in 2010 and 2012? I’m sure that they are election years has nothing to do with it.

Maybe it is because he is going to come back with another spending package with more liberal projects being funded. Who knows? Because this will be the most transparent administration (I’ll believe it when I see it) we should see the evidence soon. After all, he said that all the things he does will be put on the web for all to see. Most likely this is only a ruse. If he says it than we should believe it. Maybe in the beginning with what the President is proud of, but you can bet there will be information not put on the web because he won’t want us to know and they won’t be national security secrets.. His administration will make the claim to be transparent, but they won’t be.

If the President wants a “Bold New Plan”, then I suggest looking at history. Not just American History, but World History. Take a comprehensive look at what worked and what did not work. Be honest with the review and then develop a plan that will work moving forward. The plan should include short term, mid term and long term components that will provide growth. Avoid the temptation for political paybacks. Avoid pet projects and most of all, government blockades to growth. Perhaps a constitutional amendment limiting what the federal government can spend. An amendment that allows for the day to day operations and the defense of the country, but not for pet pork projects. Government must help but not take control. We need to look back before we can move forward. History is the best predictor of future behavior.