Saturday, July 04, 2009

A Crisis Wasted

"It's the economy, stupid." ~ Bill Clinton campaign slogan

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before, " Rahm Emanuel said in a 2008 interview To me, the Obama administration has taken this statement to heart in a highly partisan way, from the $787 billion so-called stimulus package to the disregard of bondholders in the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler. It continues with the health care initiative and the continual deficit spending. However, they forgot to account for really dealing with the economic crisis before us. They must have expected the economy to turn around, in the course of a normal cycle, as experienced by the Clinton administration. Unfortunately, this hasn't been a normal recession, and I believe the actions taken so far by government will extend versus shorten the recession.

I had hoped that President Obama would have used the opportunity to to build strong bipartisan solutions, which is how he promised to work when campaigning. However, just like his promises of not raising taxes on 95% of workers, and not taxing employer health benefits, hope for a bipartisan governing has been quickly dismissed. Instead, it seems we have partisan politics as special interest groups receive pay back and pork for supporting the winning candidates.

While the rhetoric continues to deftly deflect responsibility, I expect that people will soon start judging the Obama Presidency on results, specifically how the economy is doing. A year from now, it will be difficult to continue using cleverly worded statements to cover up policy failures of the past few months. Hopefully, the administration also realizes this and will start taking meaningful bipartisan steps to solve the current economic crisis.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial, economic or policy advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2009 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Until the media wipes the obama dodo out of their eyes, I'm afraid we are in for a 3 and a 1/2 more years of bullsh!t.

Personally, I don't give a hoot what happens in America anymore. I'm just so disgusted with everything. I'm just gonna wait it out and hope for a better day. I think what Obama is doing to this country is disgusting and the liberals get me sick.

But, we got what we deserved. 100% of the people must suffer for what only 52% voted for. You can't say we weren't forewarned. Obama said he was going to tax the rich )Joe the Plumber) and give to the poor. He actually thought the rich would stand still and be raped. Now, everybody is going to be taxed and taxed and taxed and taxed.

I'm glad Sarah Palin opted out of this mess. America doesn't deserve her. What the media did to her and her family was disgusting. No one, and I mean NO ONE is going to want to withstand the despicable political crap the liberals hurl.

Just 3 and 1/2 years man........and this one termer will be out. But what Obama has done to this country may not ever be reversed.

Peace, man.