Words Of Wisdom From Washington - An Oxymoron

     Of all the wise politicians (another oxymoron) in Washington, who do you think made the following remark: “Government has to start living within its means, just like families do. We have to cut the spending we can’t afford so we can put the economy on sounder footing, and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.”? Rep. John Boehner R-OH), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) or Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
     Although it could have been any of these, the quote is actually from President Obama's last weekend address to the nation. Apparently he was either joking, taken leave of his senses, or joined the Republican party. This is the same old gibberish the GOP has been mouthing since the days of Herbert Hoover. Let's look at these suggestions one at a time.

1.      “Government has to start living within its means, just like families do.” The government is not a family – one excellent way to put the brakes on any recovery is to cut spending. There is a fear that the debt will rise to a level equal to the Gross Domestic Product. If a family were to limit debt in that way, it would have to hold its mortgage, car payments, etc. to not more than its income. Only millionaires would own real estate.
2.      “We have to cut the spending we can’t afford...” Of course we have to cut spending...eventually. But at this point we need to build roads, repair bridges, upgrade outmoded equipment, etc. Government policy should be to level the peaks and valleys of the economic cycle, and the time to cut back is during peak activity, not during a recession. If the President wants to behave like a family, he needs to save for the bad times during periods of prosperity. If Dubya had done this with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton instead of returning it to his upper-income friends while simultaneously fighting two wars, perhaps the recession might not have been quite so bad.
3.      “...and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.” Presently businesses are not lacking confidence, they are lacking customers. They are sitting on $1.8T domestically, with trillions more stashed overseas because they would have to pay tax on it if they brought it home.

     Jobs could be created, and paid for, by eliminating (1) tax breaks for machinery and software which replaces human workers, (2) subsidies for mega-farms and energy companies, and (3) the capital gains rate (15%) for hedge fund managers' income. (The top manager received almost $5B last year.)
     Where is the dynamic Barack Obama we elected? It's time for him to step up and become a leader rather than an appeaser.

******

     Although their I.Q. range is pretty much the same as that of the population as a whole, certain sets of people, e.g., blondes, Irish, Jews and other ethnic groups have been singled out for special ridicule. Supposedly the gullibility of these folks makes them easy targets for the lie, therefore many of the jokes at the expense of these groups fall into this category.
     Distortion of Truth – There Are Only Seven Jokes

“There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Through It” and are available in paperback, or at the Kindle Store.