Vice President Joe Biden had some pointed words about the economy this week. He quoted his grandfather when he said “When the guy in Minooka's out of work, it's an economic slowdown. When your brother- in-law's out of work, it's a recession. When you're out of work, it's a depression.”
“Well, it's a depression - it's a depression for millions of Americans, through no fault of their own.”
Biden was right on the money. While the Obama administration is busy playing God with the nation’s healthcare system and dreaming of a world with no nukes, nearly 10% of the American workforce is unemployed.
Not only is the current predicament of these individuals dire, but most economists agree that the Obama economy as it is currently structured will result in unemployment remaining in the 10% range or higher for the next 2 to 3 years at least, though most likely permanently just like in socialist Europe. This means 1 in 10 Americans will be forever denied access to that most basic of human needs, the means with which to support themselves.
Rather than concentrating on a solution to the unemployment problem, it would seem that job creation isn’t even on Obama’s top ten list. He is far too busy manufacturing a takeover of the healthcare system, figuring out a way to skyrocket energy costs, and basically abusing the American economy to benefit his left-wing sensibilities than worry about the plight of millions.
Biden even admitted as much in June when he said "We misread how bad the economy was." What Biden really meant was that the Obama administration from the moment it took office to the present day was doing absolutely nothing … nada … zilch to address the suffering and needs of unemployed America.
Democrats now plot a second stimulus bill when there wasn’t even a first
Obama has not only ignored the plight of the unemployed, but has made the situation far worse with his wasteful domestic agenda. Obama’s highly touted $787 billion stimulus bill, $16 billion spent thus far, has recently been found by a federal oversight study to have created a pathetic 30,083 jobs to date. At this rate the entire almost one trillion dollar investment will produce 1.5 million new jobs total at an astronomical cost of about $500,000 each.
The interest payments alone on this huge sum of money, which we had to borrow from China and elsewhere, will be dragging down the economy for years if not decades. Buy American clauses embedded in the legislation threaten international trade wars and mandated employment quotas for expensive union workers substantially reduce the positive effects that the stimulus could have on the economy. In addition, one of the biggest problems with this type of government spending will be the rampant theft that will surely surround the dispersal of billions of poorly tracked dollars.
It is estimated that nearly 20% of the Medicare budget is lost each year due to fraud - false claims, phony doctors and the like. This comes out to almost $50 billion in 2008 alone. The haphazard nature of the Obama stimulus package will surely follow the same path. It would not be surprising if upwards of $100 billion of the stimulus package or more will be flat out stolen by politically connected insiders.
Obama buddies and Chicago natives Valerie Jarrett and Tony Rezko are typical of how the corrupt get rich off of the public dime. Both were paid handsomely by the city and state to provide affordable housing for the poor however, because of lousy workmanship and zero property maintenance many of the units built were soon in such a state of disrepair that they were condemned only a few years after opening. Tens of millions of dollars meant to benefit Chicago’s neediest at the end of the day only managed to enrich the slum lords themselves.
The Regan Revolution
The most important domestic priority for government isn’t free healthcare, or free housing, or free anything … it’s to create and promote an economic environment that is good for business. This was the secret to the Reagan Revolution in the 1980’s whose lasting effects have lifted more people out of poverty not only in America, but throughout the entire world than at any other time in human history.
Reagan understood that government didn’t have all of the answers when it came to the economy. He felt that if you allowed people to keep their money that collectively they would do a far better job at investment and job creation than any government bureaucrat could. Reagan instinctively knew that people didn’t need handouts, what they really needed was low taxes and the government off their backs.
And he was right. During Reagan’s tenure as President national GDP increased 35.7%, the workforce grew by 19.9 million, and tax receipts improved by 28% … a record of achievement that Obama can only dream about.
We have a President who believes he is exceptional presiding over a country he insists is not
Obama routinely states that he was elected by the American people to remake healthcare, implement green initiatives, and promote whatever leftist issue happens to be on his mind at any given moment. When will he learn? Obama wasn’t put into the White House because of any of his bright socialist ideas … it is doubtful that many of his voters even had a clue to what Obama’s policy priorities were during the election. He was elected because Americans got nervous during an unprecedented economic meltdown and they wanted a new face in the White House.
At that time it was clear that Obama’s most important task was to get the economy back on track. Of course liberals being liberals, instead of concentrating on job creation or promoting business expansion as was expected from the President, Obama handed the reins of government over to his crackpot czars in the White House and liberal fanatics in Congress who recklessly spent a trillion dollars we don’t have … and they’re just getting warmed up.
Democrats never let a serious crisis stop them from fleecing America
One of the great perversions of the Democrat party and is that it is entirely beneficial to their legislative agenda for the country to remain in a state of emergency. As Rahm Emanuel pointed out during the campaign, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste ... and what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Like negotiate complete government takeover of the healthcare system before most people understand exactly what this means - or - massive cuts in Medicare that should be used to benefit those who built this nation to support illegal aliens who did not.
Between Obama’s battles over global warming, healthcare reform, and lately with Fox News it is in his best interests to keep the country on the edge of calamity … it is the only way he will be able to ram his radical agenda through Congress. Every time a piece of legislation comes up for a vote he can say that it will “create new jobs”, just like he insists for healthcare reform and CO2 cap and trade legislation. It does not matter that neither initiative has anything to do with boosting employment, as long as he can claim they do.
Reagan demonstrated that with proper application of government that people can be put back to work … but that would mean the abandonment of Obama’s left wing priorities, a personal sacrifice he is unlikely to make. Put simply, 10% of America has been condemned to permanent poverty because it does not benefit Obama to do anything about it.
