The Democrats Must be Crazy
In his campaign for the White House, Barack Obama did talk at great length about the need to fix our economy, but he did not make a multi-hundred billion dollar “stimulus” the centerpiece of his economic plan. With the federal government having just shelled out $700 billion in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), the bailout, one would think that responsible stewards of the federal Treasury would not seek an even greater amount in additional government spending.
But, they are, even as the federal deficit reaches record levels, both in dollar terms and a a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP). The stimulus bill the president says “is still on track.”
Megan McArdle wonders why some on the left opposed to TARP are indifferent the size of the “stimulus:”
How come progressives opposed to TARP II are very, very worried about the cost to the taxpayer, but not worried at all by the cost to the taxpayer of a massive fiscal stimulus, a lot of which is nearly guaranteed to be wasted by virtue of the speed with which the money must fly out the Treasury’s door?
Meanwhile, Stpehen Chapman thinks additional spending is not the solution to the problem, but the problem itself:
We all know how we got into this economic mess. We spent too much, borrowed with abandon, and acted like the bills would never come due. So what’s the prescription for getting out? Spending more, borrowing more, and acting like the bills will never come due.
When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. This alleged cure deserves special scrutiny because it invites our policymakers to redouble the very policies that caused the crisis. Congress and the new administration are all too eager to abandon restraint so that we can overcome the consequences of excess.
As Glenn said in linking that post, “Yeah, that’ll work.“
The Democrats must be crazy, or blind to fiscal reality. I agree we need to do something to improve our economy. Real deregulation and budget cuts might help. While a vast increase in spending may provide a short-term boost to the economy, in the long run, it will only exacerbate our economic problems.
So, I suggest the majority party try a different tack, based on policies which work in the real world and not just on the “drawing boards” of liberal think tanks and universities campuses.
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Agreed. Let me go farther. Peter Schiff says, and I agree with him, that recession is the cure and not the problem. When your economy is unreal and unbalanced with decades of excessive debt growth and spending at all levels: you need to take it apart, turn off the debt machines, slash spending, restore market interest rates (thus rewarding saving and capital formation), and let markets create a new and sounder economy from there, that you could not have envisioned. A process otherwise known as “recession”.
Our hyper-debt economy has become so unreal that recession is an improvement. Bernanke and the Democrats are doing all they can to stop it. If I weren’t a participant, going to be injured for the long haul like everyone, I’d be amused and fascinated to see how their insane efforts are going to turn out.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — January 23, 2009 @ 2:03 pm - January 23, 2009
Well, someone doesn’t sound very hopey-changey.
Comment by V the K — January 23, 2009 @ 2:13 pm - January 23, 2009
[...] The Democrats Must be Crazy [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » On the Hatred of the (Gay) Left — January 23, 2009 @ 4:42 pm - January 23, 2009
I’ve always agreed with at least one conservative pundit that liberalism is indeed a mental disorder. Now it’s been proven without a shadow of doubt.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — January 23, 2009 @ 4:46 pm - January 23, 2009
Obama to Republicans: “I won.” (Translation: F-You.)
Comment by V the K — January 23, 2009 @ 4:48 pm - January 23, 2009
#5 – V, the only thing I wish was GWB saying that in 2001 after HIS inauguration. And then again in 2003 when the GOP took over the Senate.
Alas, it was not meant to be.
So much for “bipartisanship.”
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — January 23, 2009 @ 5:03 pm - January 23, 2009
Senate and House Republicans have Stockholm Syndrome. They’ve been held hostage and beaten by the Democrats and the media until they’ve finally fallen in love with their captors.
The next time we see Lindsey Graham, he’ll be in a Gimp costume.
Comment by V the K — January 23, 2009 @ 5:05 pm - January 23, 2009
The democrats are not crazy or stupid. They are doing what they see is to their benefit, and from their point of view, to the country’s benefit. For this reason, in a discussion with them, instead of arguing about their solutions, it is best to take one step back and ask them what they are trying to accomplish, and then ask if what they are doing is going to in fact accomplish that.
None of this is to deny that for those of us who wish to a prosperous USA with opportunity for all, the democrats’ initiatives are both stupid and crazy. (The “Buy USA” part of the stimulus bill scares me far more than the overspending does, though that is bad enough.) However, if that is not their goal, then arguing about the means is futile.
I don’t mean to sound condescending; I’m speaking from hard personal experience. The truth is that I’ve more or less given up on logical argument. People want to believe what they wish to be true far more than they want learn which of their beliefs is true. Instead, argue emotionally: “Your daughter should graduate from college in 5 years. What do you want the job market to look like?” Or, in discussing socialized medicine, “Last year, when your father got sick, you took him to a special clinic in Philadelphia. Do you still want to be able to do that?”
Anyway it’s all pretty sickening.
Comment by Joe Y — January 23, 2009 @ 5:20 pm - January 23, 2009
The thing is, leftists – which in today’s world, means Democrats – don’t say what the program really is or does. They don’t call it “Government monitoring and censorship of AM radio political content”; they call it “the Fairness Doctrine”. They don’t call it “Socialized medicine that will bankrupt all else and ultimately reduce American health care”; they call it “universal health care”. It’s Orwell meets The Smurfs.
And what lets them get away with that? (1) The media’s laziness, (2) People’s own laziness and forgetfulness. It’s human nature to vote for the flowers and unicorns and not want to have to think about politics.
So, every generation or two, the leftists finally make it into power, and Americans learn once more how awful it can be. And the rest of us just have to hope that the United States isn’t totally corrupted (or destroyed) in the process. When it’s over, we’re OK, sort of, for another 15-30 years.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — January 23, 2009 @ 5:41 pm - January 23, 2009
It is Orwellian. The “Employee Free Choice Act” takes away worker’s rights to secret ballots in union elections. The “Freedom of Choice Act” forces doctors and hospitals to perform abortions, even against their consciences. And “Energy Independence” means shutting down domestic energy production.
Comment by V the K — January 23, 2009 @ 6:03 pm - January 23, 2009
There is nothing to indicate Obama has said F-U to Republicans since the day he won the election and certainly not in the few days since he became president. I remember a big F-U that came from Republicans when they took control of congress in 1995 and increased when Bush took office in 2001. (well, actually, it started in ‘93 when they started hounding Clinton from the day he took office til he left office).
They said screw you to their colleagues in Congress as well as the American people. Now that they’re no longer the majority in congress nor hold the white house, they quake in their boots and say “ooh….ooh, please, we really have to work together…”
I for one always have hope that they will work together, but I won’t be surprised in the strange world of politics if they go kicked in the pants a few times along the way…
Comment by Kevin — January 23, 2009 @ 6:38 pm - January 23, 2009
The first time I read that sentence, I thought it said “crack”.
It makes a lot more sense that way.
Comment by American Elephant — January 23, 2009 @ 6:58 pm - January 23, 2009
Go check your facts, Kevin. Please don’t rely on the spin you got from the left-wing blogs et al.
The House rules the GOP enacted in 1995 (recently undone by Mrs. Pelosi and her gang) made it easier fo the minority to introduce legislation and propose amendments.
Bush reached out to Democrats in 2001, renominating some of Clinton’s judicial nominees who had not yet received Senate confirmation. Bush negotiated with Democrats on No Child Left Behind, removing provisions for vouchers as they were anathema to Democrats.
You may well be right that the president didn’t seek to exclude the Republicans; it appears the Democrats in Congress have done that.
So, no, the Republicans, as you presume, did not shut out the Democrats, but rather it was the Democrats who, more often than not, shut out the GOP.
Comment by GayPatriotWest — January 23, 2009 @ 7:18 pm - January 23, 2009
I heard today that this stimulus will be anything but swift. The larger portion of the pay out isn’t even suppose to hit until 2010 and by the time the entire package is paid out the recession will more than likely be over. But the debt…well that will go on for generations. Isn’t that swell?
Comment by dsgawrsh — January 23, 2009 @ 7:46 pm - January 23, 2009
No. Everyone is looking at the “economic stimulus” plan under the assumption that Democrats first priority is to stimulate the economy.
It isn’t.
Their first priority is to craft a permanent Democrat majority. Everything on their agenda makes perfect sense when looked at with this in mind. Everything they are doing is designed to empower current Democrat constituencies and make new people dependent on Democrat majorities. The economic stimulus would be much more accurately titled the “Democrat donor payoff and permanent majority act”.
You’ll remember Obama’s plan calls for something like 600,000 new government jobs. But what few are pointing out is the vast majority of “private sector” jobs created will be union jobs, or as Democrats refer to it, “infrastructure”. This is also why card check is so high on their agenda and Harry Reid is already working on amnesty. Democrats want open borders because new unskilled immigrants overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Their immigration bill will undoubtedly include expedited citizenship, and I wouldnt be surprised if they make registering them to vote part of the process.
Its why Obamas tax cuts will effectively make tax payers a permanent minority. Less than 50% of American workers will pay income tax when all is said and done. Then throw in “free” healthcare, “free” college, “free” preschool and all the other handouts Dems and Obama have at the top of their agenda, and it is clear their real purpose is to make as many Americans dependent on or beholden to them as possible.
But lets quit trying to see the logic from a stimulus point of view. Thats not where they are coming from.
Comment by American Elephant — January 23, 2009 @ 7:53 pm - January 23, 2009
What was it Rahm Emmanuel said? A financial crisis is a terrible thing to waste?
Comment by American Elephant — January 23, 2009 @ 8:07 pm - January 23, 2009
[...] The Democrats Must be Crazy [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » McCain shows Republicans how to take on Obama — January 23, 2009 @ 8:18 pm - January 23, 2009
GayPatriotWest beat me to it. Kevin, you need to go look some stuff up man. 6 years of Republican control and what happened? Democrats filibustered without filibustering. Do you not remember the stink from conservative opinion editors asking why the Repubs let the Dems get away with it? The Repubs said so that when the Dems are in control they will play nice with us. Fat chance. Nancy Pelosi is the worst Speaker ever in history and she is nasty to boot. She has shut down the Repubs.
Comment by BCnSanDeeahgo — January 23, 2009 @ 10:12 pm - January 23, 2009
Dan, I noticed that Rahm Emanuel has a middle finger missing. Maybe we should all give him the finger he deserves?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — January 23, 2009 @ 10:37 pm - January 23, 2009
I don’t think the Dems are crazy. They know what they want and know how to go after it.
Big, progressive government is an obvious failure to anyone willing to look. They’ve been working at it for years all over Europe (and in Canada).
They keep the masses entertained (more or less) while the bureaucracy grows and grows – feathering its nest at the expense of future (shrinking) generations. But if you’re one of, say, California’s part-time [you-name-it] board members who gets $300K a year – why would you care?
“Public service” has become THE way to wealth, power, and security. I don’t think it was supposed to work that way.
If I had kids, I’d tell them to shoot for a career in gubmint.
Comment by SoCalRobert — January 24, 2009 @ 1:03 am - January 24, 2009
Obama to Republicans: “I won.†(Translation: F-You.)
And in French: L’État c’est Moi.
Comment by gone gulchin' — January 24, 2009 @ 9:50 am - January 24, 2009
#22 – In The Snob’s case, it is more like “Le Roi c’est Moi.” Alors?
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — January 24, 2009 @ 12:16 pm - January 24, 2009