A new article from Fox News says that President-Elect Barack Obama has declared the country is facing a huge economic crisis of historical proportions. Perhaps it is, or perhaps it is not.
Obama has outlined a plan to create nearly 2.5 million new jobs to rebuild the infrastructure of this country along with developing new energy sources and producing better, more efficient cars.
That is all well and good, but how about actually treating the disease, not the symptom? Maybe, as opposed to creating those jobs to prevent others from becoming unemployed as the economy crashes even further, Obama should actually fix the economy.
Some pundits compare this crisis to the Great Depression but others call it a recession, so who knows? It may actually get to be that bad. If it does, we as a nation are in big trouble. Those of us that are college undergrads may find ourselves with no job prospects when we graduate. In
If our nation gets that bad it won’t just be college grads that are out of a job. It will also affect a lot of other people, such as Joe the CEO, Joe the Plumber, and Joe Six-Pack just to name a few.
I think that Obama’s idea to create new jobs will help the economic crisis, but will not cure it. For that to happen, the nation, both the citizenry and the government, needs to spend less and save more, which hopefully, will fix the economy and its many problems. Good luck getting the nation to do that, Mr. President.
A link to the original article is below: (The article actually has several typos and/or grammar errors.)
I am commenting on Deborah’s most recent post on iGov: ‘I Think we Should Vote’.
I agree 100% with what she is saying and believe it is absolutely necessary to vote in any election. If everybody says “my vote doesn’t really count, so I’m not going to vote” then nobody goes to vote, and nobody is elected. That can’t be good for our democracy.
Another point she brings up is that, sometimes, a person doesn’t like either candidate and therefore doesn’t vote. If you are in that position, go for the lesser of two evils and vote for the one you hate the least.
Here is an interesting side note: Keith Olbermann, the psycho host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, has never voted, even though he makes a living smashing and destroying the candidate that he doesn’t like.
Yet another good point is that the American populace needs to become more active in the election process than they are by reading articles or watching the news. You need to be informed about the candidates so you can make a well thought out decision come Election Day.
Joe Wurzelbacher, more commonly known as Joe the Plumber, has become a sort of representative of the average American. How did he get the almost celebrity status? It all started when he spoke with Senator Barack Obama at a campaign event in Ohio. When asked “I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year. Your new tax plan is going to tax me more isn’t it?” Obama replied, “...I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s better for everybody.” If that’s not a socialistic ideology, I don’t know what is.
The definition of socialism is basically “shared wealth and shared productivity.” Unfortunately, history has shown otherwise, the hardest working people are punished while the ones who don't work at all are rewarded. An analogy of that is; say you have two cows, the state takes one cow and gives it to someone who needs the milk more than you, but doesn’t know how to milk it and doesn't want to learn how.
Obama’s tax plan includes taxing the small businesses along with the larger corporations. If he taxes them they, in turn, will jack the prices up for the rest of the nation and fuel his socialistic government.
Anyway, back to Joe the Plumber, who only wanted to buy the business that he is employed by. Under Obama’s plan, he would have higher taxes and not be able to buy his company, thus not fulfilling the American dream. Under McCain’s plan, Joe would be able to buy that business and his taxes would be lower than they would be under Obama.
Obama says that, “Not only do 98% of small businesses make less than $250,000 a year, but I want to give them additional tax breaks. They fuel the economy, generating the most jobs and income.” According to Wurzelbacher, Obama’s statement made him feel uneasy and worried, adding that he still thinks that Obama’s plan would keep him from buying his company and inhibit growth of the business. Businesses are run based on profit vs. loss, so under Obama, those businesses would start firing people to keep up their profits.
If Obama is elected president, our nation will most likely become a socialist republic like Russia, China, and the former Soviet Union. I don’t think we want that to happen to the longest standing constitutional republic since the time of the Romans. The nation deserves a strong leader for president. That leader is Sen. John McCain.
The author of this editorial is Jeff Sandefer, a special contributor to the Austin American Statesman. He seems quite credible as evidenced by some of his credentials; he founded or co-founded five successful companies, currently he manages Sandefer Capital, an energy investment firm. He was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in the
He starts his editorial with a statement that is scary, but true, “Throughout our nation's history, the size and scope of government has grown by leaps and bounds during times of crisis, financial or otherwise.“ He later goes on to quote Margaret Thatcher as saying; “You cannot justify your freedom based on today’s Dow Jones Industrial Average”. Those words ring true today.
The author also states that the political class likes to let the government “bail them out” if there is even a tiny crisis, especially when an election is near. One of his other statements is that people think free markets are “better” because “they work”, and not because they are free.
The author later says letting the politicians and the Federal Reserve “fix” this problem is like telling an arsonist to put out a fire. He also says that, “if the government backs off, the markets will clean themselves up.” Many of the economists agree with him. That statement is supported by Washington Mutual and Wachovia being absorbed by larger banks as opposed to waiting for the government to bail them out.
He closes his editorial with a quote from the great political mind, Benjamin Franklin, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Jeff Sandefer’s logic and evidence is good, his claims are sound and are backed up by the current state of this monetary crisis. In all, this editorial is direct and to the point. I agree with everything he says. A link to the full editorial is below.
Bailout Sacrificing Freedom
