by the Left Coast Rebel
As a columnist, Micheal Barone often makes a lot of sense. And this makes even more sense than usual. Barone sums up what you and I instinctively have known about Obama and the Chicago way:
One prime assumption of the Chicago Way is that there will always be a bounteous private sector that politicians can plunder endlessly. Chicago was America's boom town from 1860 to 1900, growing from nothing to the center of the nation's railroad network, the key nexus between farm and factory, the headquarters of great retailers and national trade associations.
The Mayors Daley have maintained Chicago's centrality in commerce by building and expanding O'Hare International Airport and by fostering a culture of crony capitalism with the city's big employers and labor unions. Chicago survived the Depression and recessions to thrive once again. Sure, small businesses and some outfits lacking political connections fell by the wayside. But the system seems to go on forever.
So it's natural for a Chicago Way president to assume that higher taxes and a hugely expensive health care regime will not make a perceptible dent in the nation's private sector economy. There will always be plenty to plunder.
Of course you and I know that there will not always be more to plunder, as the plunder(er) eventually kills the goose that lays the golden egg. Today's economy is an example of just that.
Catch the rest of Michael Barone's column in the Washington Examiner here. Discussion over at Memeorandum.
The Chicago way, peas of a pod (more on Blago coming up at LCR):
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