Dorothy Parker wrote in the local newspaper that she thought President Obama wasn't getting a fair shake because he was being criticized for being a Muslim. Her source of truth on this was a spam email she says was designed to tear down "Our President."
I don't know Ms. Parker, but it is safe to say that she should monitor her internet usage or the usage of it by members of her family and friends. While I agree that there are a number of people out there who believe that Obama isn't a real US citizen and/or he is hiding his so-called Muslim beliefs for some ulterior purpose, I don't honestly believe that those two issues are significant reasons for the uproar over policy decisions.
People are rightly outraged, not at his religion (whatever it may be), but rather the enormous costs and intrusiveness associated with them. Health Care, er, Health Insurance Reform, Cap and Trade and a nearly 800 Billion dollar stimulus package have done or will do little to the US Economy in the way of lifting it out of a financial mess that the Congress and previous administrations have burdened us with. Proponents of Healthcare reform tout the success of Medicare and the Great Society and Canada as great things we have done as a nation to lift people up out of poverty and how a government program can provide universal care. A casual examination of the costs associated with these efforts shows how the governments and abroad now project costs for social security at some 32 Trillion dollars in future liabilities and a Canadian system which delays and rationing have become the norm for dealing with the massive costs associated with health care administration.
The government states that some 640,000 jobs have been created or saved from the stimulus bill's passage into law. Many of these jobs have been created in political districts that don't exist or are part time/summer jobs for teens and college students. Businesses have inferred 50 jobs saved for the purchase of a riding mower, which theoretically should reduce labor due to its ability to cut more grass, faster. Joe Biden swears that people didn't know their political district when they filled out their forms for recovery.gov. I don't believe him. These are the people who will be counting heads next year and if they can't calculate economic metrics from their stimulus package, how many dead people are going to be counted in marginal districts in order to give liberals their increased stranglehold grip on your wallets.
I find it troubling that despite Joe's best guess at how many people have saved their jobs, data shows that the majority of these jobs that were saved, were probably not in jeopardy in the first place. Remember those cops in Cleveland who got to keep their jobs because the stimulus was passed? If the City doesn't get a handle on its finances, those cops won't keep their jobs in 2 years. As bad as the stimulus is, it could have been used to incentivize businesses to expand into markets that would need the competition as a result of uncompetitive firms falling by the wayside in tough economic times. Such is the way of capitalism. You compete and you prosper. If you don't compete, your get eaten up by your competitors. Providing a bailout bill to GM did nothing except cost tax payers millions of dollars in a bankruptcy that put the screws to the bond holders and paid off the UAW union bosses.
The Constitution does not provide that the government provide health insurance or guarantee anyone anything except the freedom to become the best at what they choose. It is the guarantee of opportunity, not of outcome which makes this country the best nation on earth. When the government attempts to guarantee outcomes, it artificially manipulates markets and economic forces that are best left to themselves. Reasonable regulations are necessary to prevent rampant excesses, but when political calculations such as those foisted upon us by Senators and Congressmen such as Masseurs Dodd and Frank, we end up with unintended consequences like the banking crisis and the mortgage meltdown.
I find it interesting to note that the Obama administration does not assume responsibilities for anything that has happened since taking office. While the country was clearly headed for a recession, they continue to blame Bush for everything. It's there economy now and in an effort to manipulate the people, they have shrugged off lack of transparency in government by not releasing names of white house guests and visitors (they are releasing those names who visit after the first 8 months Obama has been in office); by saying it was a technical glitch in the jobs reporting process for the stimulus bill; that cash for clunkers payments were being delayed because of red-tape and its massive popularity; that the number of vaccines available for H1N1 and seasonal flu would be 4 times what they actually are.
Perhaps the only point of truth that the President has spoken is the very real possibility that there will be a double dip recession, or a decline after one quarter of growth. Such declines are often the result of fewer jobs being created, causing people to save more and spend less or a lack of consumer confidence. I would like to take the President at his word, but I know he is lying when his lips are moving. His double dip revelation is probably an excuse to manipulate us into supporting a second round of stimulus, this time to support jobs creation. It should have been the first package, but God help us if it does come to be, because the same people who are counting recovery jobs, will also be counting population next year. I am too young to be this cynical, but my grandmother once told me that you know a man not by what he says, but what he does. Hasn't President Obama done enough?
Mike Rowland
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