I have an economic stimulus plan every bit as large as the one grinding its way through Congress. I have based my approach on William F. Buckley’s notion that he would rather be governed by the first 1000 people in the Boston telephone directly than the faculty of Harvard. I would rather give ALL of the stimulus dollars to the American people, and let them spend it, than give it to the legions of government Rod Blagojevich’s at the Federal, State and local level.
Here’s my plan. Enlist the support of the credit card companies to manage a process where:
Every family with a credit card receives a credit of $4,000 (on one of the cards) every six months for a total of $12,000 per family over 18 months
Each payout is “use it or lose it”, with any of the $4,000 not spent in 6 months being returned to the Treasury
Any family not currently in possession of a credit gets sent one, but without a credit facility beyond the stimulus “check” amount
For simplicity, every family gets the three checks
Unmarried individuals get 50% of the married stimulus allowance
As no one is going to look a gift horse in the mouth, this plan guarantees that the economy with receive a cash injection of $300bn every 6 months for the next year and a half, based on the fact there are 75m families in America. Best of all, the $300bn will be spent on the things Americans need, rather than the things politicians want.
Simple, not perfect, but effective and best of all, it cuts out Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
DoublePlusBad—Liberal Group Think In An Age of Crisis
So, so many journalists and politicians still don’t get it! As I sit through hour after hour of moronic punditry and asinine interviews, where it is abundantly clear that neither, reporter, anchor, pundit nor politician has the remotest idea what they are talking about, I find myself feeling like one of those aliens in the 1950s movies who look at earthlings with pity, wondering can we really be this dumb?
Here are the top five myths trumpeted by the on air “talent” in our nation’s newsrooms:
Myth #1: The last eight years prove that free market capitalism doesn’t work. Baloney: The last eight years prove only one thing. George W. Bush is an idiot—and half of us were idiots to vote for him! The laws of the free market are as indisputable as the physical laws of the universe. If you are stupid (or unlucky) enough to fall out of a tree, does it mean that gravity is wrong?
Myth #2; The New Deal worked. Yes, if you think that doubling government spending, tripling the tax burden with a consequent decrease in unemployment from 25% to a median of 17% (through the 30s) is a walloping success. How successful do you think Barack Obama is going to be at the next election if he reproduces that result?
Myth #3: In bad times, government can run economies more effectively than the private sector. If that were true, Detroit and New Orleans would be the richest cities in America. Ever wondered why places like Detroit stay basket cases for decades despite voting Democrat across the board, year in and year out? If liberal policies worked, the Detroit’s of the world would be fixed. Unfortunately, meddling in the economy, vilifying business and free trade, increasing public spending according to a wish list of party activists and (subsequently) raising taxes to pay for it all, kill any chance of recovery—it’s that simple!
Myth #4: All government spending is stimulative. Apart from the fact that this is blatantly not true—art spending may have the power to move us, but it won’t move our economy one bit—what are the chances of one person (or a small group of people) guessing where the government will get the most bang for it’s spending buck? I love the Orwellian double think that allows friends of Obama to believe that when Geithner was on “Team Bush” he was an idiot and now he is on “Team Obama” he is suddenly omniscient! After all, he has been so successful up to now.
Myth #5: If we ignore it, it will go away! If we don’t report bad news (the morning after, NPR didn’t feel the need to mention the post-Geithnerian stock market plunge at all) or if we don’t ask the President any tough questions, the American people won’t notice that the economic meltdown isn’t being fixed. Not true. The American people are, quite rightly, giving the President and his team the benefit of the doubt, for now. But, the only metric that matters for Obama is not just related to whether or not the economy is working, but, whether or not the American people BELIEVE the economy is working. And that, as we all know, is, like unemployment, a lagging indicator.
Obama has 18 months to get this right. It sounds like a long time. It isn’t.
Here are the top five myths trumpeted by the on air “talent” in our nation’s newsrooms:
Myth #1: The last eight years prove that free market capitalism doesn’t work. Baloney: The last eight years prove only one thing. George W. Bush is an idiot—and half of us were idiots to vote for him! The laws of the free market are as indisputable as the physical laws of the universe. If you are stupid (or unlucky) enough to fall out of a tree, does it mean that gravity is wrong?
Myth #2; The New Deal worked. Yes, if you think that doubling government spending, tripling the tax burden with a consequent decrease in unemployment from 25% to a median of 17% (through the 30s) is a walloping success. How successful do you think Barack Obama is going to be at the next election if he reproduces that result?
Myth #3: In bad times, government can run economies more effectively than the private sector. If that were true, Detroit and New Orleans would be the richest cities in America. Ever wondered why places like Detroit stay basket cases for decades despite voting Democrat across the board, year in and year out? If liberal policies worked, the Detroit’s of the world would be fixed. Unfortunately, meddling in the economy, vilifying business and free trade, increasing public spending according to a wish list of party activists and (subsequently) raising taxes to pay for it all, kill any chance of recovery—it’s that simple!
Myth #4: All government spending is stimulative. Apart from the fact that this is blatantly not true—art spending may have the power to move us, but it won’t move our economy one bit—what are the chances of one person (or a small group of people) guessing where the government will get the most bang for it’s spending buck? I love the Orwellian double think that allows friends of Obama to believe that when Geithner was on “Team Bush” he was an idiot and now he is on “Team Obama” he is suddenly omniscient! After all, he has been so successful up to now.
Myth #5: If we ignore it, it will go away! If we don’t report bad news (the morning after, NPR didn’t feel the need to mention the post-Geithnerian stock market plunge at all) or if we don’t ask the President any tough questions, the American people won’t notice that the economic meltdown isn’t being fixed. Not true. The American people are, quite rightly, giving the President and his team the benefit of the doubt, for now. But, the only metric that matters for Obama is not just related to whether or not the economy is working, but, whether or not the American people BELIEVE the economy is working. And that, as we all know, is, like unemployment, a lagging indicator.
Obama has 18 months to get this right. It sounds like a long time. It isn’t.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
"Nancy Reid" Must Go....!
I want Obama to succeed and still believe he may be a great President, but he needs to take control now! Who would have thought Obama would have been getting press like this 17 days in…..?
The Stimulus Bill is a Bomb - Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal
Obama Losing Stimulus Fight To Defeated GOP - E. J. Dionne, Wash Post
Can Obama Reboot After Daschle? - Joe Klein, Time
Obama's 'Screw-Up' Puts Geithner on Thin Ice - Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
Obama Losing The Stimulus War, Jeanne Cummings, Politico
Here are 10 crucial errors he has made already. Obama:
1. Hasn’t learnt the key lessons for Democratic Presidents that their own party is often a bigger liability than the opposition [I am not a member of any organized party—I am a Democrat (Bill Clinton)]
2. Allowed Nancy Pelosi to oversee the drafting of the stimulus bill that would ultimately have his name (and brand) on it
3. Failed to pressure her early enough to remove politically suicidal items like condoms and financial help for Hollywood producers
4. Allowed Pelosi to put a stimulus bill before the House of Representatives that was so toxic, not only did it fail to garner a single Republican vote (not important in and of itself), but couldn’t even secure the votes of all Democrats—surely the most under-reported of the major blunders so far!
5. Handed the Republicans an easy victory in the air war on spending vs. stimulus
6. Was incredibly sloppy in vetting his nominees—the American people are losing count of the number of Friends of Obama (FOOs) falling on the road to the Cabinet
7. Hasn’t dealt with the ticking time bomb of Geithner—when the American people realize that he knowingly committed fraud (asked to be compensated by his employer for tax he had no intention of paying) rather than simply screwed-up, he will have to resign (Why Geithner Was Worse Than Daschle)
8. Was seemingly caught completely unawares that there’s a big difference between the FOO anchors on network TV, CNN and MSNBC and the White House press corps whose job is to ask tough questions day in, day out
9. Has lost the huge momentum he had following his election and inauguration (is it too early to invoke deja vu, GWB and the lost consensus after 9/11?)
10. Worst of all, he is squandering the bipartisan goodwill of the American people and in great danger of crushing the hopes and dreams he so eloquently raised only weeks ago. (Remember, this is going on against a political background where Democrats are starting to look every bit as sleazy as Republicans: Edwards, Kilpatrick, Dixon, Rangel and, of course, Blagojevich).
So what does Obama need to do? In the short term, he must:
1. Take aggressive control (in the Chicago-way sense) of the stimulus package (behind the scenes as Pelosi and Reid are nominally in control) and shape a bill that focuses like a laser (great sound bite, Republicans) on job creation and getting the economy back on track
2. Clean out the cabinet now—Geithner (and others?) must go—these scandals can’t be allowed to distract from the real work that we all know needs to get done, and revelations will continue to leak out
3. Move the conversation on from this self-inflicted chaotic mess to announce a dramatic bank rescue package, with a focus on equity investment (and future payback) for the American people, and a new bank to hold the toxic assets of the existing banks
In the longer term, the greatest threat to Obama is not the Republicans. It is Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. These clowns will throw away the Democrat majorities in Congress and they could severely damage Obama’s chances of reelection. However unpalatable (for them), Democrats must face up to the fact that America is a center right nation, not a center left nation.
Obama was elected because he promised the opposite of Bush—coherence, competence and hope. He was not elected because the American people suddenly decided that European style big government is the answer to all their problems. Pelosi and Reid will never get this and they will continue to provide manna from heaven for Republicans. Obama must play hardball. Will no one rid him of these turbulent bleeps!
The Stimulus Bill is a Bomb - Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal
Obama Losing Stimulus Fight To Defeated GOP - E. J. Dionne, Wash Post
Can Obama Reboot After Daschle? - Joe Klein, Time
Obama's 'Screw-Up' Puts Geithner on Thin Ice - Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
Obama Losing The Stimulus War, Jeanne Cummings, Politico
Here are 10 crucial errors he has made already. Obama:
1. Hasn’t learnt the key lessons for Democratic Presidents that their own party is often a bigger liability than the opposition [I am not a member of any organized party—I am a Democrat (Bill Clinton)]
2. Allowed Nancy Pelosi to oversee the drafting of the stimulus bill that would ultimately have his name (and brand) on it
3. Failed to pressure her early enough to remove politically suicidal items like condoms and financial help for Hollywood producers
4. Allowed Pelosi to put a stimulus bill before the House of Representatives that was so toxic, not only did it fail to garner a single Republican vote (not important in and of itself), but couldn’t even secure the votes of all Democrats—surely the most under-reported of the major blunders so far!
5. Handed the Republicans an easy victory in the air war on spending vs. stimulus
6. Was incredibly sloppy in vetting his nominees—the American people are losing count of the number of Friends of Obama (FOOs) falling on the road to the Cabinet
7. Hasn’t dealt with the ticking time bomb of Geithner—when the American people realize that he knowingly committed fraud (asked to be compensated by his employer for tax he had no intention of paying) rather than simply screwed-up, he will have to resign (Why Geithner Was Worse Than Daschle)
8. Was seemingly caught completely unawares that there’s a big difference between the FOO anchors on network TV, CNN and MSNBC and the White House press corps whose job is to ask tough questions day in, day out
9. Has lost the huge momentum he had following his election and inauguration (is it too early to invoke deja vu, GWB and the lost consensus after 9/11?)
10. Worst of all, he is squandering the bipartisan goodwill of the American people and in great danger of crushing the hopes and dreams he so eloquently raised only weeks ago. (Remember, this is going on against a political background where Democrats are starting to look every bit as sleazy as Republicans: Edwards, Kilpatrick, Dixon, Rangel and, of course, Blagojevich).
So what does Obama need to do? In the short term, he must:
1. Take aggressive control (in the Chicago-way sense) of the stimulus package (behind the scenes as Pelosi and Reid are nominally in control) and shape a bill that focuses like a laser (great sound bite, Republicans) on job creation and getting the economy back on track
2. Clean out the cabinet now—Geithner (and others?) must go—these scandals can’t be allowed to distract from the real work that we all know needs to get done, and revelations will continue to leak out
3. Move the conversation on from this self-inflicted chaotic mess to announce a dramatic bank rescue package, with a focus on equity investment (and future payback) for the American people, and a new bank to hold the toxic assets of the existing banks
In the longer term, the greatest threat to Obama is not the Republicans. It is Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. These clowns will throw away the Democrat majorities in Congress and they could severely damage Obama’s chances of reelection. However unpalatable (for them), Democrats must face up to the fact that America is a center right nation, not a center left nation.
Obama was elected because he promised the opposite of Bush—coherence, competence and hope. He was not elected because the American people suddenly decided that European style big government is the answer to all their problems. Pelosi and Reid will never get this and they will continue to provide manna from heaven for Republicans. Obama must play hardball. Will no one rid him of these turbulent bleeps!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
