I am old enough to remember the malaise our 39th President brought to the country. From the start of President Carter’s term, when the country was in need of strong encouragement and stability from its national political leadership, Carter continued to deflate the confidence and pride of the country with his pessimistic attitude and constant chastising of the American citizenry.
With his Washington Post opinion editorial piece, President Obama has brought back memories of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency. President Obama needs to be careful with his pessimism. Our nation looks to its President to bring stability and confidence. President Obama’s constant bantering that times will get much worse before they get better will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Let’s review and discuss President Obama’s Washington Post opinion editorial section by section. :By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.
What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.
Yes, people are upset that they have lost their jobs and/or have lost a large chunk of their investment portfolio. However, people are also angry that the legislators (Congressman Frank, Senator Dodd, et al.) who are responsible for the housing, mortgage and credit problems that we are currently encountering now have even more power. These legislators appear to be above the law and do not have to answer to anyone about these issues. In fact, these people have the audacity to say that they did not even see this coming. And these are the same folks that said during the “Bailout” bills and are now saying about the “Stimulus” bill that we must pass something and we must pass it yesterday. What I expect as an American is that we hold the people that are responsible for these problems accountable. These legislators should be removed from their leadership positions.Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress. With it, we will create or save more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, provide immediate tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, ignite spending by businesses and consumers alike, and take steps to strengthen our country for years to come.
This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education. And it's a strategy that will be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability, so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent.
Now there is some encouragement for you! If the federal government fails to act we will be in such a deep crisis that it will be irreversible. Apparently, if we don’t act quickly we will be in recession or depression for eternity. President Obama, my sentiments are the exact opposite. If we act in haste and it is the “wrong” thing to do, we could prolong the recession. One thing that always raises a red flag is when someone says, “We must act now or else”. Perhaps we should give the market a chance to correct itself, and the market (which is the fairest way) will determine the winners and losers, not the government.
I have some questions for President Obama. Why aren’t we giving 100% of the tax-payers tax relief? Is everyone to whom we are giving “tax relief” a tax-payer, because if they are not paying taxes, they are receiving welfare. And who are the 5% who are not getting tax relief? Are these the wealthiest tax-payers? If these are the wealthiest, these are the people that deserve the biggest tax relief because these are the people who create real permanent jobs and hire employees.
President Obama, there you go again. The government will determine where tax-payer money should go, not the market. That scares me, because the government never knows best where the money should go. You plan to invest in renewable energy, health care and education, once again the government decides for us? What a new concept! Didn’t FDR try this? And how long did it take America to recover from the Great Depression? This long-term plan you are talking about is simply more government programs. In essence, your long-term plan is bigger government. Bigger government results in more government dependence. Now I see.In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.
I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.
Every day, our economy gets sicker -- and the time for a remedy that puts Americans back to work, jump-starts our economy and invests in lasting growth is now.
Now is the time to protect health insurance for the more than 8 million Americans at risk of losing their coverage and to computerize the health-care records of every American within five years, saving billions of dollars and countless lives in the process.
President Obama, tax cuts do work to stimulate the economy. The tax cuts of Presidents John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush all resulted in major economic growth. But you are correct in saying that additional work must be done as well. We should also cut business taxes to encourage businesses to expand. And by cutting the capital gains tax rate and suspending the Mark-to-Market accounting rule, more liquidity would immediately be injected into the market. I know Mr. President this is a scary proposition for you since none of these stimulus items involve government programs.
Energy independence is a wonderful idea. However, we will need to continue to explore, develop and produce all types of energy including oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar and geothermal. Increasing restrictions on the exploration, development or production on any of these types of energy resources, proves that you are really not serious about energy independence.
President Obama you are correct. In November of 2008, the Democrats won the election. What change did the electorate vote for? Over the past eight years, President Bush, along with the Congress increased spending and the size of government. Are saying that the voters expect a change there? That is change I can believe in. If our representatives and you President Obama were seriously committed to reducing government spending and the size of government, you would see restored confidence in the market that you have not seen in quite some time. Or are you talking about fundamentally changing the constitutionally-based republic and free-market capitalist system upon which this great country is founded? If you are talking about changing that, I think that you are very mistaken in believing that the majority of the American people want that change.
President Obama, if you are serious about lowering health care costs then cut unnecessary health care regulation, support tort reform to reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits and enforce our borders in order to control illegal immigration. These three measures would bring about significant change that the majority of the American people believe in.
President Obama, educational problems will not be reduced and schools improved by simply increasing federal spending on K-12 schools. In order to improve the overall education system, help create an environment that facilitates school choice to parents, rewards good schools that are successful at teaching children and embraces the creation of competition in K-12 education, especially in impoverished areas. Look at what the KIPP schools have done: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/19/AR2008091900978.html.
The economy has gotten sicker and sicker over the past four to five months but not because of lack of government intervention. It is precisely this large injection of government intervention that has unsettled a large share of businesses and people. It has stalled the market correction that is truly needed so the market can determine the winners and the losers, not the government. Once the market corrects itself, market confidence will begin to be restored which will again provide an environment for economic expansion and job creation. Confidence and stability in markets will not be restored through an increase in long-term government spending.Now is the time to save billions by making 2 million homes and 75 percent of federal buildings more energy-efficient, and to double our capacity to generate alternative sources of energy within three years.
Now is the time to give our children every advantage they need to compete by upgrading 10,000 schools with state-of-the-art classrooms, libraries and labs; by training our teachers in math and science; and by bringing the dream of a college education within reach for millions of Americans.
And now is the time to create the jobs that remake America for the 21st century by rebuilding aging roads, bridges and levees; designing a smart electrical grid; and connecting every corner of the country to the information superhighway.
These are the actions Americans expect us to take without delay. They're patient enough to know that our economic recovery will be measured in years, not months. But they have no patience for the same old partisan gridlock that stands in the way of action while our economy continues to slide.
So we have a choice to make. We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time.
President Obama, these programs are exciting to one constituency group or another but a larger share of the American people see these programs for what they truly are. These programs are simply a way for the federal government to increase its power and control on the American people. Basically instead of increasing liquidity into the markets, these programs will siphon money away from the marketplace in the form of future taxes and fees. Someone has to pay for these programs and it is not the people who do not pay taxes.
The “Stimulus” bill was slammed through the House without a single Republican vote and the Democrats have enough votes to easily pass this bill in the Senate. Why do you want or need Republicans to vote for this bill? If you need this bill passed as soon as possible to turn this crisis around and help the American people, President Obama you have the votes in the Senate to make it happen. My opinion is that you want Republican support so when the economy does not turn around after this bill is passed you will have “cover” to say, well we tried but our bi-partisan “Stimulus” bill was not enough. This will then give you the opportunity to request even more government spending and programs to “jump-start” the economy. Basically you will say the initial bill did some good but it was not enough so let’s spend more tax-payer money.
Finally, President Obama, you and your administration have significantly contributed to the “bad habits” of Washington. Upon some of your cabinet and administration nominations or appointments, it has been revealed that your appointees have violated the tax laws. This corruptness creates cynicism and undermines the respect that people should have for those important offices. These instances help to promote the notion that there really are two sets of rules, one set for us normal Joes and another for those who wield and control the power.
After reading President Obama’s opinion editorial piece, I am also reminded of the President who truly helped bring change to Washington, President Ronald Reagan. President Obama would do well to read the following two quotes, and take them to heart:
1) “Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem.”
2) “The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.”
