Saturday, July 17, 2010

Out of the Frying Pan



In a televised interview, Barack Obama said that the mid-term elections may turn into a choice between "the policies that got us into this mess, and my policies that got us out of this mess."

At this point, a real journalist would have done a magnificent spit-take, spraying the alleged president with coffee, before asking "got us OUT of this mess?! What are you talking about?!"

But sadly, no one at NBC thought to question the statement (nor did the Associated Press, who also carried the story). But we will.

Unemployment is at 9.5%, and Obama's most successful method for keeping it even that low is the utter hopelessness that has caused millions of people to give up even trying to find work.

Foreclosures are at record highs, Retail sales are dropping, consumer confidence is in the toilet, entitlement programs are in the red, and the fastest-spending congress in history has just granted itself an imaginary budget that they "deemed" passed so they could blow another $1.2 trillion before the president's "debt reduction commission" gives its final report on fiscal responsibility.

There is no sane rationale with which Obama can argue that his policies have gotten us "out of this mess." They have, however, gotten us out of the frying pan...and into the fire.

14 comments:

Philip said...

The Obamacare Abortion Lie Is Up

Obama keeps his priorities straight

The Agony of the Revolution

Peggy Noonan : David Cameron, don't follow Barack Obama

The End of the Post-racial Presidency

Philip said...

The good link :

The Obamacare Abortion Lie Is Up

drjim said...

I've been out of work since last November. A good friend of mine has been out of work over a year. We both keep looking, and NADA....

Philip said...

The Washington Times : Obama administration efforts in Africa may violate federal law

Philip said...

Keynesian Ideology and the Coming Crash of 2011

I think that the writing is already on the wall for the November 2010 elections. It will almost certainly be a disaster for the Democrats.

If Laffer’s dismal economic forecast is accurate, the 2012 elections could be an epic landslide reflecting an outright rejection of the American left’s love affair with Big Government Keynesianism.


Why Obama Looks Like a One Termer

Anonymous said...

What do you expect? NBC/MSNBC are simply echo chambers.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Philip- You've been busy! Some very interesting links (if not altogether surprising).

And we don't really need to even wait for the mid-terms to see where things are headed for Obama: consumers "voted" no confidence in the economy, and Wall Street "voted" with a 216 point drop yesterday.

Sue said...

I lost my job of 12 years 1 month ago. Obama's people stated last week, (as you covered here) that, "well, maybe not as many jobs have been created as we thought...but SO MANY MORE have been saved." Uh, mine wasn't. Neither were about 13 others in the small rural hosptial where we worked. God help us!!!!

Suzy said...

Watch out, all you who lost your jobs and will have to depend on government health care...latest headlines show you'll have to be reporting your BMI to Uncle Sam next, in order to qualify for benefits....

Can't have all our unemployed be fat, ya know....(You can be black, or gay, or illegal...but NOT FAT!!!)

Who voted this creep in, anyway?

alan markus said...

He's got the worst case of narcissistic personality disorder evah! Why isn't the media covering that story?

"my policies that got us out of this mess" - what a load that is.

Anonymous said...

It's funny because it's true. The racist retort, not the part about the economy. Don't worry though, the biased media in Obama's hip pocket will repeat it often enough to make it true.

Anonymous said...

Naked Liberty. I fear you're right. And the most reliable conservative voting group is going to have to vote for cuts in Social Security and Medicare just as they are entering retirement or already on a fixed income.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Readers- For those of you who are out of work, and know others who are out of work, hold your heads high and know that you're not alone!

Like it or not, we're all entrepreneurs now (even people who think they've got a job with security). It's a time to reinvent ourselves, create our own businesses, and seek success and profits based on our own talents and motivations.

Easier said than done? Absolutely. But it's an undeniable reality; the "old days" of holding a job for a lifetime, getting a gold watch, and a nice retirement is history.

The "independent businessperson" route may not be what we want to do...but it's what we have to do. So make the mental adjustment, then full speed ahead!


Anonymous (one post above) - This is a killer point, and one that will be getting much more attention soon. The conservatives (many of them older) who want to save this country's finances will first have to cut their own benefits; benefits they've already paid for in full.

It sucks, but the only way to enforce cuts is if they're across the board. But we're guessing that it will be structured to take away from the old, while still promising goodies for the young (who are more naive, and easier to sway at election time).

Personally, I'm ready to vote to gut social security, medicare, and medicaid...but not just for myself and my family. If I make the sacrifice, after having worked and paid into the system for 40 years, then the people who haven't done that can damn well lose the benefits too.

And the anger (and there will be plenty of it), needs to be directed NOT at the voters who finally make the responsible choices, but should land entirely on the decades of politicians - from BOTH parties - who made promises that could never be kept.

Oops...I appear to be up on a soapbox. Pardon me.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Sigh...)

I just wrote a nice long response to your various comments, and the Internet gremlins ate it all up. Or maybe it was Janet Napolitano...it's hard to know the difference. So here's the thumbnail version of what I so eloquently wrote before:

1) Be not ashamed to be out of work, or in the company of other jobless folks. It's nothing to be ashamed of these days.

2) Don't wait for the "job market" to come back; it won't. We're all entrepreneurs now. Recreate yourself, invent a business, and throw yourself into it. You may not like the idea, but it's the reality of business and employment these days.

3) Older conservatives will have to throw themselves on the swords and vote down their own benefits - which they've fully paid for - to help save America from bankruptcy. That being said, everyone younger needs to get the SAME cuts, or there will be hell to pay. The issue will create enormous anger, but it must ALL be directed at the politicians from BOTH parties who for decades promised what could never be delivered.