Those familiar with my posts know that I’m quite suspicious of anyone allowed to win the nomination in either party. Those who might really rock the status quo are ignored, marginalized or depicted as crazy by our military/industrial complex run media. One only has to look at the way Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean were portrayed to see examples of this form of media control in action.
This is why despite his charm and articulation I had my doubts of Obama as a man of change. During his campaign his foreign policies definitely belied a man of change. His pro war rhetoric regarding terrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan were tried and true Orwellian propaganda. The old ironic I’m a uniter and a fighter routine, mixed with patriotic global humanitarianism were fed to us daily. Yes, that should sound confusing.
Since winning the election Obama has continued to talk like a man of change and act like an old school conservative. His cabinet, advisors and retinue are as old school as one can get. He is surrounding himself with political and economic experts whose career of policies and actions have greatly been responsible for the political and economic messes and crisis we now find ourselves in.
First Obama is advocating for the same tired old bail outs and stimulus plans which have been part of the problem. The economy doesn’t need stimulating it needs restructuring. During the initial years of the Bush administration many were bemoaning the foolishness of having a 300 billion dollar a year national debt. Economic experts around the world complained that this was unsustainable and would result in the US economy ultimately drowning in a sea of debt. Well after a few bubbles these predictions have come to pass.
The solution offered by these forward thinking economists was in a reduction of debt and borrowing habits and an increase in an expansion of the real economy by encouraging the type of investment born from savings as opposed to loaning. This suggestion was not heeded as policy makers and the Fed continued to try to borrow and loan its way out of the problem.
Now the problem is plain for all to see and not just forward thinking economists, yet Obama and all the kings men continue to try to stimulate humpty together again. Obama’s solutions are to put together another money printing loan dominated stimulus package, and to print and borrow our way out of a defaltionary recession. Obama made his intentions clear of how he plans improving the economy when he announced that his projections are for a 1.2 trillion dollar debt this year along with a 1.6 trillion dollar debt next year. This was accompanied by comments leading one to conclude that we will be seeing plus 1 trillion a year increases in the national debt for years to come.
If 300 billion was unsustainable a few years back how is 1.2 trillion to 2 trillion a year sustainable now. What makes this even more absurd is the fact that we are entering a deflationary period where wages, prices and values of things are going down. In recent months the world economy has lost over 50 trillion dollars. So in a time when the world is losing money, wages and prices are dropping how hard is it to have our national debt ascend, and what could be the long term benefit of such a debt. Isn’t it just more of short term relief adding to more long term woe. But this is all Obama’s policy makers know, and this is the path the self proclaimed man of change has chosen. Now, with the new emphasis he will be able to point out how bad things could have been if it weren’t for the jobs he has saved (created).
Part of the reason for Obama’s bleak rhetoric is probably handler influenced. The old Wall Street pros that surround him know the benefit of talking down a company’s (the nations) expectations so that you can have a positive report later. It is stamdard procedure for many companies to talk down expectations at the beginning of a quarter so that they can beat estimates and talk their stock go up at the end of the reporting period. Obama’s articulating how bad it is and how bad its going to be while Bush is still in office is safe and can only make him look good in comparision. Even if things get worse he can state that he warned everyone and that it is better than he originally thought it be and this is just evidence of how well his programs, policies and agendas are working. Thereby keeping the faith and support of the faithful while contuing to try to solve a problem with the wrong tools.
Jim Guido