Mr. President: That Dog Won't Hunt

There was so much weaselly, misleading and muddle headed rhetoric in Obama's recent speech on economics, which, of course, mirrors his weaselly, misleading and muddle headed thinking on economics, that it was to pundits what a "target rich environment" is to combat. Nonetheless, I will see if I can finish with this half baked piece of blame and misdirection and then leave this speech to precede the rest of the Obama administration onto the ash heap of history.

Obama trots out some of the same failed boogeymen he's trotted out before. Did you know that automation costs jobs? Bank tellers replaced by ATMs, telephone operators replaced by...dial telephones? Really, Mr. Obama? Tell us how many telephone operators lost their jobs in the last three years? And were ATMs invented in 2008? How many jobs have we lost to ATMs over the last three years, Mr. Obama?

And you speak of automation like a true Luddite! How many typists lost their jobs with the invention of electric typewriters, copy machines and computers? How big of a setback was that in the context of a healthy economy? Should carpenters forego nail guns for claw hammers? Construction crews trade jack hammers for pick axes? Tell us you have a plan for the 21st. century that doesn't involve taking us back to the 19th.

Remember in those years, in 2001 and 2003, Congress passed two of the most expensive tax cuts for the wealthy in history. And what did it get us? The slowest job growth in half a century. Massive deficits that have made it much harder to pay for the investments that built this country and provided the basic security that helped millions of Americans reach and stay in the middle class -- things like education and infrastructure, science and technology, Medicare and Social Security.

Remember that year in 2010 when you signed an extension to "tax cuts for the wealthy"? Must have forgotten that one! And did anything else happen in 2001 that might have adversely affected the economy other than tax cuts for the wealthy? Anything?? Anything at all???

The cowardly attacks on 9/11 had a devastating effect on our economy. The airline industry was shut down completely for a time. Followed by a period when people were afraid to, or at least hesitant to fly. The tourism industry, largely dependent on the airlines was affected. And then, we went on a war footing by invading Afghanistan, which was not without cost. For all the 9/10 partisan liberals who like to gloss over the Global War on Terror and pretend that "tax cuts to the rich" was the primary factor behind the economic downturn of 2001, is disingenuous, to say the least.

Someone counted how many times Obama used the word "fair" in this speech. I won't bother to count, but needless to say, it was a lot. Let's talk about the word "fair" for a minute. If three other guys and I put up the same amount of money to buy a business, then each of us should have 25% ownership of that business. That's fair. We split the expenses four ways and we split the profits four ways. That's fair. But we don't have a "fair" income tax system, we have what is known as a "progressive" tax system, where the poorest pay little to nothing and the wealthy pay the lion's share of the taxes. That may be charitable to the poor, but whatever it is, it's not "fair". A flat tax would be fair, but I would be happy if at least the taxes were "flatter". All but the very poorest should have some "skin in the game", if for no other reason than to be there to join their fellow citizens in opposing all these tax increases and out of control spending.

And, by their rhetoric, the President, liberals and the great unwashed "occupiers" imply that if the rich were to just "pay their fair share", everything would be rosy. Unfortunately, if the wealthy were to have their entire income confiscated by the government, it would not fund the insatiable spending of the current profligates in power.

As we have pointed out, Obama wants to pose as the voice of reason. Candidate Obama said he would scour the budget line by line and page by page for programs to be cut. In three years, all he has cut is his golf score. President Obama claims to have cut a trillion dollars from the federal budget, but the federal budget is projected to grow every single year for the next ten years.

Obama wants to raise taxes so he can "spread the wealth" to a hand picked few as he did in the last "stimulus" bill. How's that working out for you, America?

And this next line is outrageous beyond words:

"mortgage lenders that tricked families into buying homes they couldn't afford"

"Tricked", Mr. President? The federal government and community organizers coerce banks into making bad mortgage loans, Democrats in Congress block any reform to the system, and it's the mortgage lenders' fault?

I think it was Charles Krauthammer that may have first noted that since Obama hasn't got a record he can run on, he would have to find villains. And so our "post partisan" president spends his time pitting one group of people against another, blaming everyone but himself for not effectively addressing the problems of this country, but like pouring gas on a fire, only made them worse.


Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.