Thursday, February 12, 2009

Our Hustler in Cheif

I have been watching parts of PrezBo back out on the campaign trail waxing eloquent about selling the stimulus plan that he's already managed to put into that enima space we guard so carefully. So I sat and listened to him and tried to understand what exactly he was saying other than don't live in a cardboard box and if you do it's Bush's fault. Instead, I sensed that I`d just been sold something that even the seller couldn`t entirely comprehend.

See, while I can`t expect a vacuum salesman to tell me exactly how the vacuum picks up dirt, at the very least he should know where the power button is. I need to know our President has a fundamental understanding of economics, rather than say, the ins and outs of weatherizing homes. That`s for some other wonk to deal with – not the dude-in-chief.

No – his job is to tell us how this stimulus plan works. Meaning, he needs to answer one question: how do massive government programs jump start an economy? Because, I don`t know. And I don`t think he does either.

At first, even he said that only the private sector can fix an economy - and you can't rely on the government for solutions. But then he added: in this case....it's more government we need pronto. That makes perfect sense, if you've just ingested a bottle of cough syrup. Which, thankfully, I have.

Worse, he also spoke about the importance of bipartisanship – while blaming everything on Bush – as if Barney Frank never existed. Claiming you`re bipartisan doesn`t mean you can have it both ways.

Even more, at some point we all have to realize that going after rich folks does nothing to help the poor. It may feel good, but it doesn`t do any good. President Obama maintains that tax cuts for the wealthy are what have caused this crumbling economy. But he`s wrong. Fact is, while he elaborates on the difference between Wall Street and Main Street – we`ve just realized: THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. When Wall Street suffers, so do we. When the rich become poor, the rest of us become poorer.

In the end, what we`re seeing is an opportunity for people who never liked economics to run, and possibly ruin, economy. It`s like letting a ten year old take the controls of a plane.

In both cases, it probably pays to be highly medicated.