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By Bradley Hennenfent, M.D.
Physician & Economist
GCC/Staff
Sept 1, 2010
President Obama has proven himself to be the most incompetent president in history. If you don’t believe me, I refer you to Obama Care and the economy.
Remember when Obama promised us that if we let him spend all our money his way with the $787 billion economic stimulus that unemployment would stay under 8.5 percent?
Well, unemployment is at 9.5 percent, and the “real unemployment” rate may be as high as 22 percent.
Commentators from both political parties on shows like the McLaughlin report say unemployment won’t get back down to 6 percent for years at least five years.
Teenage unemployment is 26.1 percent according to the bureau of labor statistics and Obama is almost entirely to blame for this dismal situation.
The young and idealistic voted for “hope and change;” they got unemployment instead.
Young people need to remember this lesson as they suffer what may turn into a lost decade: Obama’s socialist economic policies do not work.
Things are not too great for the older crowd either. According to Fidelity Investments a record number of workers made hardship withdrawals from their retirement accounts in the second quarter of 2010 and the number borrowing from their retirement accounts is at a 10-year high. This will destroy people’s retirement incomes.
Here is what Obama has done wrong:
1. Obama spent all our money bailing out Wall Street, General Motors, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, greedy corrupt Banks, and socialist unions
2. Obama raised taxes
3. Obama raised the minimum wage
4. Obama increased red tape and bureaucracy
5. Obama raised expenses with a ridiculous bill called Obama Care
According to some sources; Obama has spent more of our money than all previous presidents combined.
According to the U.S. National Debt Clock, the national debt is now over 13 trillion dollars and is increasing at a rate of over 4 billion dollars per day.
According to theObamaDebt.com, Obama has increased the deficit by $2.6 trillion in only 1.6 years.
According to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Debt is projected to grow to 62% of Gross Domestic Product in 2010, twice what it was in 2007.
Under one scenario, the debt could reach 100% of GDP around 2025, and could be nearly 200% of GDP around 2035.
The Congressional Budget Office Director’s Blog warns that the debt could “…rise to unsupportable levels….” The blog talks about a “tipping point” at which a financial crisis is “likely or imminent.”
Cash for Clunkers was a failure. The General Motors bailout was a huge mistake. It did nothing to bring back cars, toys, computers, textiles, the steel industry, and call centers from overseas.
The homebuyer’s credit stimulus plan was a failure. The housing crisis continues. In fact, home sales are now at a 15 year low.
Did I mention that socialist economic policies do not work?
After promising health care hearings would be on CSPAN eight times, Obama, Harry Reid, and Pelosi passed Obama Care via cloture against the will of the American people. Obama Care transfers power from patients, doctors, and nurses, to the government. Obama Care actually did create the figurative “death panels” Sarah Palin warned us about, and actually does “pull the plug on grandma,” as Senator Chuck Grassly warned us about.
What did Obama Care do for businesses?
They are writing off millions in projected costs.
They are anticipating rising health care costs because Obama Care failed to address the number one issue in health care – price transparency. Businesses are laying people off because of Obama Care.
A Russian immigrant, Ayn Rand, warned us about all this.
In Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, John Galt was a businessman who got all his colleagues to “shrug,” and quit being productive, stopping the engine of capitalism, until socialism was overthrown.
John Galt symbolizes the businesses of America. Obama has succeeded in getting the businesses of the USA to “shrug” and shut down because of his socialist economic policies.
Business people don’t like deficit spending, higher taxes, red tape, unions so powerful that secret votes are not allowed, increased risk, increased uncertainty, and they don’t like the fact that instead of ending the “Great Recession” he has extended it by years with bad economic policy. Small businesses won’t hire, invest, take risks, or expand under ObamaNomics.
Business people have essentially shut down the “engine of capitalism” because of Obama.
We can only hope that the people will understand the lesson and return to free markets, freedom, and liberty.
Here is what President Obama needs to do to save our economy:
1. Quit spending us into bankruptcy
2. Slash taxes
3. Remove government obstacles to starting or expanding a business
4. Abolish the minimum wage – at least on all new hires (far less expensive than going into debt to pay unemployment benefits)
5. Repeal Obama Care and do health care reform that will empower patients, doctors, and nurses instead of uncaring third parties and bureaucracies.
Obama has been in office nineteen months. A competent president would have turned the economy around by now.
If Obama does not wake up soon, a lost decade of “no jobs and no growth” will ensue, just like happened in Japan in the 1990s when government bailouts were repeatedly used to bail out companies that were “too big to fail.”
Yes, President Obama has met John Galt. But, has he learned his lesson?
REFERENCES:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/learn-how-to-invest/The-real-unemployment-rate.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nQd6VSIf90\
http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=1249
The $787 billion economic stimulus bill passed on Feb. 10, 2009.
http://townhall.com/columnists/Grace-MarieTurner/2010/08/23/obamacare_has_failed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_the_economy,_stupid
Source: Bradley Hennenfent
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