The Obama administration has made it abundantly clear that some people are more equal than others. What began as “hope” and “change” has turned into despair and stagnation as average citizens like Yours Truly watch our tax money fall into the hands of preferred political interests.
Where are you in the federal government's pyramid? And, where are our children and grandchildren? Perhaps in the impossibly unsustainable level? Awesome!
What sent Ken Lay and his Enron minions to prison pales in comparison to the fraud regularly being perpetrated on the American people by our public servants. Yet instead of languishing in prison, the politicians and the preferred political interests who defraud the taxpayer in the name of “green jobs,” “affordable housing,” “social justice” and whatnot are handsomely rewarded.
President Obama likes to talk about crumbling bridges and a deteriorating infrastructure to justify more drunken, crack-smoking sailor spending. These days, the problem is that when the federal government gets involved with building bridges and other infrastructure, every project is forced through the intestines of a vast regulatory, money-skimming bureaucracy that puts the completion date somewhere in the far-distant future at a price tag umpteen times higher than if the locals got together and made it themselves.
Never mind Social Security, big government as a whole has become a vast Ponzi scheme. It has been set up to reward itself on the backs of the average citizen. It is sold to us as an “investment in the future,” but whose future, exactly? Certainly not mine nor my kids’ future, nor any future generations that will follow me. As Mark Steyn puts it, we’re looting the future to bribe the present.
And that’s essentially what these various so-called jobs, stimulus, health care, financial reform and other bills are all about: bribing specific constituencies to build political power. These constituencies are given preference over others, violating one of the bedrock ideas of America’s founding philosophy, equality before the law. Those who are being treated unequally – the average hard-working American who wants nor expects anything from the federal government – sees much of what they pay in taxes go into the black hole of political favoritism.
Black holes are formed from stars that collapse from their own weight, and that is the future of America as so vividly illustrated by solar-collapsing Solyandra. We said goodbye to half a billion of our taxpayer dollars and yet in today’s surreal, hyper-inflated atmosphere it seems a mere drop in the bucket when your average “stimulus” bill is reckoned in the trillions.
Just as we’ve become used to buying gas for more than $3 a gallon, the political class has desensitized us to the concept of trillions of dollars as a reasonable amount for the government to regularly outlay to those whom it favors. And you better believe that politicians and bureaucrats tend to favor themselves over any others, followed closely by those who help them ensure they stay in office so they can continue to favor themselves.
James Madison wrote that “power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.” Unfortunately, we have strayed quite far from that philosophy, and have allowed a remote central government to operate almost completely unrestrained. One need only read the Constitution to see how far astray we’ve really gone.
What do Americans really want? Is it a nation of do-nothing slackers who expect that all of their problems will be solved by Sugar Daddy Uncle Sam? Or, is it a nation of independent innovators who welcome risk and the consequences of failure?
I’m afraid the answer is increasingly the former, and as Americans purposely shackle themselves to this dependent model they will find they have fewer real liberties as their political betters grow in wealth and power. The pyramid in the world’s largest pyramid scheme ever is being assembled as we speak, write and read. Where are you in the pyramid?
Libya could very well be President Obama’s Bay of Pigs, or Desert of Camels, if you prefer. I blame the military-industrial complex, the anti-Gaddafi Libyans, the CIA, night club owners and Frank Sinatra, may he rest in peace.
Whatever the case may be, it’s time for Gaddafi (a.k.a., al-Qaddafi, al-Gadhafi, etc., etc.) to go, or not go. This is either a stroke of genius, a disaster unfolding or a pointless waste of military hardware and the oil needed to fuel said hardware.
It’s genius if the Gaddafi is toppled from power and the Libyans are able to cobble together some sort of functioning government that’s not mullah-oriented. It’s a pointless waste of military hardware if Gaddafi stays in power, keeps his head low and basically turns into Joan Rivers, albeit it a Joan Rivers sitting on tons of oil and more money than you could count in a lifetime.
It’s a disaster if Gaddafi is toppled and the Libyans cobble together an Al Qaeda outpost. And, it’s a disaster if Gaddafi remains in power and decides to cobble together a nuclear program to help ensure that he and his cronies are never in danger of being toppled again.
However it turns out, let’s hope this semi-war for oil ensures cheap energy for Europe for generations to come. It’s almost certain that Europe cannot get by with “green” sustainable alternative energy sources like wind and solar because they simply don’t work. Besides, who in their right mind would go to war for solar or wind anyway?
Welcome to the New New Deal, which means that economic bad times last at least five times longer than they should.
“The effect of the people’s agreeing that there must be central planning, without agreeing on the ends, will be rather as if a group of people were to commit themselves to take a journey together without agreeing where they want to go; with the result that they may all have to make a journey which most of them do not want at all.”
-Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
That’s right, I said it, and I don’t care if you think I’m a racist, homophobic child-hater. Obama is at least part Keynesian, and I don’t need a birth certificate to prove it. Simply witness the unending Stimuluspalooza.
Mr. Obama’s spending spree is based on a Keynesian/Field of Dreams model… Spend it, and they will come. Unfortunately, there’s not one example in the history of the world where this works. If FDR’s New Deal popped into your mind as a good example of spending your way out of a bad economy, congratulations, you likely received a government education.
The simple economic fact is that central planning and artificial economic inputs in the form of government spending actually have an adverse effect. It skews supply and demand, making booms and the subsequent busts much more severe, while causing the bust to last far longer than it would if the markets are left to heal on their own.
As an example, witness the Internet boom and bust of the late ‘90s. Though there was some economic hardship because of the bust, it was mainly relegated to the Hipster Dufuses who traded reality for imaginary stock options. And, though it caused some short-term pain, the government didn’t interfere and bail out companies that made bad decisions. Without government interference, and despite a crippling attack on 911, the economy rebounded nicely. By the way, tax cuts do not count as artificial economic inputs.
You may argue that the entire financial system was at risk this time around, and thus any comparison is apples to acorns at best. I would argue, however, that the short-term economic problems would have been more severe, but that the market would have corrected itself. There’s always some enterprising soul ready to pick up the pieces and make it even better. You don’t find those enterprising souls in centrally-planned economies.
The problem with central planning of any stripe, even minor tinkering in the market, is that it’s inherently unfair, rewards bad behavior and cannot possibly adjust for the complexities of the economy. In the example of stimulus and bailout spending, companies that made poor decisions were rewarded. Other companies that suffered because of those poor decisions and weren’t politically connected were left to die. Is it government’s job to hand pick which companies survive and which don’t? I don’t think it’s a good idea. There’s too much potential for corruption and cronyism. If you voted Democrat this election, congratulations, you’ll help ensure that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Thanks a lot!
In case you received a government education, here’s a quick economics lesson… It’s based on supply and demand. When the government, which has no clue what consumers want, starts monkeying with the supply side of the equation, it throws the whole thing off-kilter. The free market is organic and reacts to foreign bodies (central planning) like any other organic system; it either gets sick or it dies.
These basic concepts appear to be lost on the “progressive” left. Perhaps they’re really not lost on those with enough money and political connections to not only be shielded from the effects of their policies, but are rewarded handsomely in the process.
So, while Mr. Obama pursues a Keynesian economic course, I would suggest opening your mind a bit and reading up on the Austrian School of economics, starting with Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom.
“Please! Remain in your seats, I beg you! We are not children here, we are scientists! I assure you there is nothing to fear!”
-Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein
Back in April 2002, David Levy proclaimed that the Unted States was in “the Frankenstein recovery.” If 2002 was the Frankenstein Recovery, then this is the Young Frankenstein Recovery. It’s so bad that it’s a parody of a stitched-together, made-up recovery. Charged with finding what we need to reanimate our economy, the geniuses on Capitol Hill, a.k.a., Igor, bring us the Abby Normal brain of “stimulus” spending. Unfortunately, after inserting the abnormal brain and pumping megagigawatts of electricity into his creature, Dr. Frankenstein didn’t have a plan after it came to life.
Likewise, our own Dr. Frankenstein, Obama, and his foolish sidekick, Igor, have created a monstrosity that threatens to force a double-dip recession. Sure, I suppose there’s a smattering of “shovel-ready” jobs, but that doesn’t exactly save the economy. To see another version of how Obama and Congress explained all the pointless spending to the American taxpayer, please check out the video clip below (the part of Obama/Congress is played by Marty Feldman; the part of the American taxpayer by Gene Wilder):
Liberals continue to believe the Great Depression myth that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s massive growth of the federal government somehow saved the economy and will always save it. All it really did was create a 7-foot-tall, 54-inch-wide gorilla that lumbered around terrorizing the villagers for an entire freaking decade. Now the monster’s twice as large and the angry racists villagers are fresh out of torches and pitchforks. Oh well. At least it can sing Puttin’ on the Ritz…
Another way to put this would be that I hate women because I oppose abortion. Plain and simple, “feminism” has radically shifted from an equal rights movement to a special interest lobbying group for the abortion industry. It is especially galling that “feminist” groups like NOW and NARAL oppose any restrictions on abortion, including the horrific procedure known as partial-birth abortion.
In fact, our “above my pay grade” president opposed a law in Illinois that would have protected babies who survive a “botched abortion.” Nice. Do I oppose Obama’s position on abortion because he’s black? You be the judge.
This is less a religious issue than it is a simple human rights issue. Choice is actually something that happens before conception. I shouldn’t need to spell it out, but it should be rather obvious to any sentient being. But “choice” has been turned into a propagandistic euphemism for wholesale slaughter. Does that seem harsh? Sorry, but the “procedure” itself is harsh.
Most people – me included – prefer to close their eyes to what abortion really entails: the dismemberment and destruction of a human being. If you can’t handle seeing what an abortion looks like (go to YouTube and search for “silent scream” if you think you can), then you’re admitting how horrible it really is. I know I can’t watch it, and won’t, but that tells me everything I need to know about where to stand on this issue.
Even the most ardent pro-choicer would rarely refer to their unborn child as a “fetus” or a “clump of tissue”. No. They refer to it as their “baby”. But when it’s someone else’s child, particularly a poor minority woman’s child, it magically transforms itself into something less than human.
But this is no surprise really, since the pro-abortion movement is based in eugenics, which originally sought to sterilize the “unfit” and control the human population as if we were a bunch of rats. But that’s how many leftists see the human race, as a parasite or virus on the earth to be controlled (excepting them, of course). It doesn’t take much imagination to see where this leads if the people who control the government believe that some people are more worthy of life than others.
BTW… As mentioned in my previous post, I’m a Racist, the views above do not necessarily represent the views of its host since this was written by me, Club Soda. Next time, we’ll explore my homophobia.
Let’s make one thing very clear right away. What you’re about to read, if you haven’t given up already, is written by Club Soda, a semi-regular contributor to The Daily Plunge. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of its host, Henshaw. Though I’m not fond of disclaimers or prefaces like this, it’s a necessary evil since many regular readers have blamed Henshaw for some of Club Soda’s most outrageous posts.
But let’s get to the core issue here; that Club Soda is a racist, misogynist homophobe. Guilty on all counts, at least according to people like Keith Olbermann and similar ilk. But I’ll leave it to you, loyal Daily Plunge readers, to decide whether or not the accusations are true. I’ll start with my racism in this post and move on to my misogyny and homophobia in subsequent posts…
There are two primary reasons I’m racist: One is that I’m against affirmative action and the other is that I’m not an Obama supporter.
To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., people should be judged based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. To single out specific minority groups for preferential treatment is inherently unfair to everyone. Plus, it dehumanizes those singled out. It says, in effect, you’re not smart or good enough to make it on your own merits or abilities because you have none. It creates a parent-child relationship between the state and certain classes of citizens, here based purely on external factors. If that’s not “racism straight up,” to quote the ever-tolerant Janeane Garofolo, I don’t know what is.
As mentioned in a Club Soda post last year, Star Parker, a black woman who herself was enslaved by the state in a cycle of welfare and abortion, calls it Uncle Sam’s Plantation. Parker is living proof of how the state has usurped the dignity of the individual just because that individual has dark skin. She is also living proof that the individual trumps the state in an America that lives up to its founding principles, not those espoused by America’s left.
I understand and sympathize with the argument that blacks were treated as second-class citizens and much worse for most of America’s history. However, Jim Crow is dead and buried along with the systemic racism it represented.
It’s long past time to move on, embrace a colorblind society and finally live out the truth that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Unfortunately, the Olbermanns, Maddows, Garofolos, Pelosis, Boxers, Sharptons, Jacksons and Rev. Wrights of the world would rather we didn’t, and continue to play racial politics in order to maintain their power and fill their coffers with the ill-gotten gain of continued racial division. If we weren’t divided by race these people wouldn’t have a job and they know it. In fact, we probably wouldn’t be divided by race if it wasn’t for this group of charlatans and others like them.
As for Mr. Obama, I disagree almost entirely with his ideology. It’s that simple. I don’t care if he’s black, white, orange or purple; his race has nothing to do with it. If race played a part in my logic, Thomas Sowell wouldn’t be my favorite economist and Clarence Thomas wouldn’t be my favorite Supreme Court justice. Oh, but I forgot! They’re Uncle Toms, according to the race-baiting left, so they don’t count! Let’s see, so I’m not supposed to take race into account when judging people and their ideas, just as long as they hold certain beliefs. Typical leftist paradox.
There’s certainly a lot of blame to go around about the latest foiled airplane bomber; however, I don’t get all the ire toward the President. I understand the nature of politics. It’s not just the Right that’s beating up Obama. It’s the Left. When Maureen Dowd bashes Obama there’s definitely a problem. As the Politico has pointed out, Bush didn’t receive this kind of press after Richard Reid tried to blow up his Air Jordans.
I think this stems from the Katrina Effect. After Bush was reelected in 2004 the press and the Left became adept at blaming everything on the Executive Branch. As I’ve stated before, Katrina was a natural disaster that was the most poorly-covered event in my lifetime. Since that time the President isn’t getting a pass on any issue. The nation’s press is so mired in negativity even Obama can’t rise above it. Sure, I have some real problems with this administration’s attitude on national security. There’s no doubt that the White House’s war with the CIA isn’t good for our nation’s security; however, the press won’t cover that angle. Given the way the press is covering events Obama is in deep trouble politically if he faces any kind of disaster.
I received an email from one of my esteemed U.S. Senators the other day, Mark Udall. Mr. Udall’s email urged me to sign a petition telling credit card companies to “stop taking advantage of their customers.” In other words, to stop jacking up their rates in response to a credit card “reform” bill President Obama signed, which Udall co-sponsored.
I’m not a big fan of credit card companies, the bait-and-switch tactics they employ and the usurious rates they often charge, but I’m also a firm believer in caveat emptor. Apparently, our left-wing politicians are not very familiar with this versatile Latin phrase.
The progressive politician’s answer to everything is more government. Then, when government causes the inevitable litany of unintended consequences (rising credit card rates in this case), the government is “forced” to come back in and fix what it broke in the first place. Then, the “fix” is worse than the first one and I get to pay for it. Thanks a lot!
I sure wish this logic worked for me, like the time I hit a patch of ice and spun into the back of another car. I had a beauty of a dent in the passenger-side door. In progressive la-la land I could have magically fixed that dent by backing up and hitting that car again instead of taking it to a repair shop (I foolishly took it to a repair shop). Unfortunately, I’ve tried this approach before, usually with golf clubs, and it actually doesn’t work.
Progressives approach public policy as if they were Fonzie; you know, the lovable character from Happy Days who could make anything work just by slamming his fist on it, usually the juke box at Mel’s Diner. Unfortunately, Arthur Fonzarelli was a fictional character on a sitcom made in the ’70s and set in the ’50s. Fonzie’s magic touch does not translate to the real world, especially to government.
When progressives take the Fonzie approach, the hapless citizen gets saddled with a second-rate spin-off, like Joanie Loves Chachi.
Take a guess; which one of these is considered “high art” and which one is akin to “lynching?” Who said liberals can’t take a joke?
HT: Sonny Bunch
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