I could hardly believe my eyes. Someone with widely accepted credibility published words that seem destined to bring howls of protest from the left, thereby confirming that the author has hit a very sensitive nerve.
Nationally syndicated columnist David Brooks is a political centrist who is considered a conservative only because his views are so far to the right of his colleagues at The New York Times. In his most recent column, after reviewing Obama’s breathtaking confiscations of private capital in the interests of healthcare, clean air and the United Auto Workers, Brooks makes this tongue-in-cheek analogy: “These events have heralded a new era of partnership between the White House and private companies, one that calls to mind the wonderful partnership Germany formed with France and the Low Countries at the start of World War II.”
Since it takes no leap to substitute Hitler for Germany in the above quote, Brooks has become the first journalist, to my knowledge, to publicly compare Obama to the twentieth century’s most reviled totalitarian.
Let me be clear that I do not think Brooks considers Obama another Hitler and neither do I. But let’s also remember that the greatest atrocities of the past 100 years were perpetrated by totalitarians who believed the righteousness of their causes justified whatever measures were necessary to impose them on a reluctant citizenry. Those causes mostly involved promoting class warfare, an hostility to capitalism and government redistribution of wealth and income. In other words, all were one strain or another of socialism.
Obama’s vision is clearly along the lines of the European-model welfare state. His means for achieving it are not armies and reeducation camps. Instead he is using his considerable oratory skills, a sycophantic media and, of course, the triple “crises” of economic “catastrophe,” “climate change” and “50 million uninsured.”
No one knows how far he will go, but one thing is already certain. The United States of America will never be the same. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has predicted trillion dollar annual deficits until at least 2019 and that’s based on rosy economic assumptions.
Obama says we are “out of money.” No, we’re deep in debt. Through a combination of increased regulation of all aspects of life, dramatic tax increases which will hit all “working families” and monetization of debt (inflation), we are on the threshold of an unprecedented transfer of wealth and power from individuals and the private sector to government. The results for the average American will be less opportunity and a lower standard of living.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Big Government is Back
Forget about a “tax cut for 95% of working families.” Now that the campaign rhetoric has faded and reality is setting in, it is becoming clear that almost all Americans will be paying more taxes, not less. That is because most Americans pay far more in consumption taxes, mostly hidden, than they do in income or payroll taxes.
On April 25th I blogged about the fact that a carbon tax (cap and trade) will be a huge new tax on the middle class, more than off-setting the small reduction some may see in their payroll tax (FICA). Manufacturers and utilities can stay in business only so long as they are able to pass their costs along to consumers.
Now the Obama Administration is floating a plan for a whole new raft of taxes on things like soda (pop for those west of the Miss.), beer and wine. This would be in addition to the substantial taxes imposed on those items by state and local governments. You also pay hidden taxes everytime you buy gas or pay a utility bill.
In fact, everytime you buy anything you are paying hidden corporate income and other taxes for the businesses that make, transport and sell everything you use and buy everyday. I always laugh when I hear some lefty advocating for higher corporate taxes. Who does he/she think is paying those taxes?
It’s not just the Federal Gov. that is going to be raising taxes. Many state and local governments are running deficits, too, and will inevitably choose to increase taxes rather than make spending cuts sufficient to balance their budgets.
It all adds up to a major transfer of income from the private sector to the public (government) sector. The Federal Gov. is actually increasing its ranks and not just because of the census. There have been some cuts at the state and local levels, but mostly by attrition.
Public employee unions are growing in numbers and political clout. Many politicians from Obama on down believe that the last election was a mandate for bigger government and are acting accordingly. Last week hundreds of teachers in the Boulder Valley School District conducted a “sickout,” essentially an undeclared strike, a week before final exams (“It’s for the children!”), to protest not salary cuts, but what they viewed as inadequate increases.
The era of big government is back. Bigtime!
On April 25th I blogged about the fact that a carbon tax (cap and trade) will be a huge new tax on the middle class, more than off-setting the small reduction some may see in their payroll tax (FICA). Manufacturers and utilities can stay in business only so long as they are able to pass their costs along to consumers.
Now the Obama Administration is floating a plan for a whole new raft of taxes on things like soda (pop for those west of the Miss.), beer and wine. This would be in addition to the substantial taxes imposed on those items by state and local governments. You also pay hidden taxes everytime you buy gas or pay a utility bill.
In fact, everytime you buy anything you are paying hidden corporate income and other taxes for the businesses that make, transport and sell everything you use and buy everyday. I always laugh when I hear some lefty advocating for higher corporate taxes. Who does he/she think is paying those taxes?
It’s not just the Federal Gov. that is going to be raising taxes. Many state and local governments are running deficits, too, and will inevitably choose to increase taxes rather than make spending cuts sufficient to balance their budgets.
It all adds up to a major transfer of income from the private sector to the public (government) sector. The Federal Gov. is actually increasing its ranks and not just because of the census. There have been some cuts at the state and local levels, but mostly by attrition.
Public employee unions are growing in numbers and political clout. Many politicians from Obama on down believe that the last election was a mandate for bigger government and are acting accordingly. Last week hundreds of teachers in the Boulder Valley School District conducted a “sickout,” essentially an undeclared strike, a week before final exams (“It’s for the children!”), to protest not salary cuts, but what they viewed as inadequate increases.
The era of big government is back. Bigtime!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Memorial Day
This weekend let's keep in mind, remind each other and especially teach our children what Memorial Day is all about. As we know, but sometimes forget, it is to remember those who have died in the service and defense of our Country. It is not a time to argue about the wisdom of or justification for any particular war. It is to honor those Americans who volunteered or answered the call to serve and died in the endeavor.
Everytime I hear that song, "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!", I think, "Nonsense." Think of The American Revolution. Was freedom and independence not worth fighting for? What about WWII? Was it not worth fighting to end the tyranny of Nazism and Fascism?
What ever you think about the Korean & Viet Nam wars, they were fought in pursuit of The Truman Doctrine of containing Communism, which was adopted by every President until the collapse of the USSR ended The Cold War.
But again, it's about those who served and died. We owe them a debt of gratitude. I hope that faced with similar threats today, we would still have the will to make the same sacrifices. I wonder.
Everytime I hear that song, "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!", I think, "Nonsense." Think of The American Revolution. Was freedom and independence not worth fighting for? What about WWII? Was it not worth fighting to end the tyranny of Nazism and Fascism?
What ever you think about the Korean & Viet Nam wars, they were fought in pursuit of The Truman Doctrine of containing Communism, which was adopted by every President until the collapse of the USSR ended The Cold War.
But again, it's about those who served and died. We owe them a debt of gratitude. I hope that faced with similar threats today, we would still have the will to make the same sacrifices. I wonder.
The Audacity of Power
Candidate Obama attacked Bush for Iraq, wiretapping, military tribunals and Gitmo. Well, we’re still in Iraq, still wiretapping, getting ready for more military tribunals and, notwithstanding his recent rhetoric, it looks likely Gitmo will be around for a while.
On all of these issues he was just playing to his base and had no problem doing 180s when his defense advisors explained the facts of life to him. For Obama, foreign policy is a distraction from his paramount goal, which is bringing the private economy under central government control to achieve socialist objectives.
First, he refuses to let the banks repay the TARP loans. To allow them to do that would mean giving up the power to put in his own managers and directors, set their compensation and tell them who they can loan to. Although he says he should be able to set compensation for financial institutions whether they accept TARP funds or not.
Next came a naked grab of 2/3rds of the US auto industry. Obama branded as “speculators” working Americans who put their retirement savings in auto company bonds and then he cut the value of their holdings by 75% while turning over control of these entities to his political allies, the United Auto Workers, who bear much of the responsibility for the corporate failures.
Then he uses this power to dictate, through arbitrary CAFÉ standards, what kind of cars these companies will be allowed to build in the future. This will require tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars for retooling. After that will undoubtedly be the redistribution of billions more to bribe consumers into buying these deathtraps. (See National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data showing small car-related deaths.)
These companies will eventually go bankrupt but not before wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and serving their purposes of paying back the union and forcing Americans into politically correct cars in the name of “climate change.”
As breathtaking as all this is, it is just a warm-up for the real Holy Grail, the government takeover of the United States healthcare system, fully 17% of the US economy.
Is there any limit to “The Audacity of Power?”
On all of these issues he was just playing to his base and had no problem doing 180s when his defense advisors explained the facts of life to him. For Obama, foreign policy is a distraction from his paramount goal, which is bringing the private economy under central government control to achieve socialist objectives.
First, he refuses to let the banks repay the TARP loans. To allow them to do that would mean giving up the power to put in his own managers and directors, set their compensation and tell them who they can loan to. Although he says he should be able to set compensation for financial institutions whether they accept TARP funds or not.
Next came a naked grab of 2/3rds of the US auto industry. Obama branded as “speculators” working Americans who put their retirement savings in auto company bonds and then he cut the value of their holdings by 75% while turning over control of these entities to his political allies, the United Auto Workers, who bear much of the responsibility for the corporate failures.
Then he uses this power to dictate, through arbitrary CAFÉ standards, what kind of cars these companies will be allowed to build in the future. This will require tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars for retooling. After that will undoubtedly be the redistribution of billions more to bribe consumers into buying these deathtraps. (See National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data showing small car-related deaths.)
These companies will eventually go bankrupt but not before wasting hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and serving their purposes of paying back the union and forcing Americans into politically correct cars in the name of “climate change.”
As breathtaking as all this is, it is just a warm-up for the real Holy Grail, the government takeover of the United States healthcare system, fully 17% of the US economy.
Is there any limit to “The Audacity of Power?”
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