Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on February 19, 2012

Thought-provoking article on short-circuiting Barack Obama’s potential reelection, written by James Pethoukoukis, h/t to reader Bob — posted at the Enterprise Blog — How Republicans can win even if the economy keeps improving:

…Now, let’s assume the economy continues to grow—not gangbusters, but something along the lines predicted by economists in the recent Wall Street Journal survey. We’re talking slow-but-steady 2.5 percent GDP growth and a slowly falling unemployment rate of 8.0 percent by year’s end. That level of unemployment, by the way, is about what White House economists are predicting, along with average monthly job growth of about 167,000. Subpar numbers, but a lot better than what we saw in 2011: 1.7 percent GDP growth, average unemployment of 9 percent, and average monthly job growth of about 150,000.

With the recovery ever-so gently accelerating, what would be the Republican argument—fair or not—that Obama doesn’t deserve reelection? Maybe something along these lines:

1. Better but not nearly good enough. The pace of the Obama Recovery has been only about half that of other post-WWII recoveries. Sure, the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest levels since Obama took office. But that’s in good part due to a massive collapse in the size of the labor force, not rapid job growth. Income growth is still tepid at best. And just look at the housing market! You call this a recovery!? It’s still mourning in America, at least the part outside of Washington and Wall Street. Obama’s stagnant, declinist New Normal is unacceptable for the Last, Best Hope on Earth.

And many voters might agree. A recent survey of consumer sentiment found expectations about the job market at the highest levels in the history of the survey. There’s lots of room for disappointment here.

2. The Big Spend was a Big Bust. Obama’s policies don’t deserve much, if any, credit for the weakest economic recovery since the Great Depression. Obama’s signature economic achievement is the trillion dollar stimulus. In Money Well Spent? — The Truth Behind the Trillion-Dollar Stimulus, the Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History, journalist Michael Grabbel notes that Vice President Joe Biden said the stimulus would “literally drop kick us out of the recession.” But Grabell concludes that the “poorly designed” stimulus “ultimately failed to do what America expected it to do — bring about a strong, sustainable recovery. The drop kick was shanked.” Indeed, it was only after stimulus money dried up that the economy began to perk up. And economies eventually will recover on their own, and recover more quickly, if government empowers the private sector rather than trying to usurp it. See: Reagan Recovery.

3. The recovery isn’t “built to last,” not with all that debt. Obama added $5.3 trillion to the federal debt to juice the economy—and this is the best his old-fashioned Keynesian policies could do? You could call it a “sugar high,” but it doesn’t even qualify as a sugar buzz, really. And now Obama wants to add another $7 trillion in a second term, according to his new budget, just to keep the wheels grinding along. The “built to last” economy is a “built on debt” economy and thus unsustainable. Just ask the Europeans.

4. Obama is President (Didn’t) Fix It. When Obama came into office, healthcare and other social insurance spending were on a trajectory to bankrupt America, banks were too big to fail, and the tax code was stifling American competitiveness. And which of these problems has been solved or substantially dealt with? None. The healthcare cost curve wasn’t bent, banks are bigger than ever, and Obama’s investment and corporate tax hikes are about manufacturing fairness rather than growth or jobs.

5. Obama wants to “win the future”—with crony capitalism. It was government meddling in the private sector that created the housing bubble and financial crisis. But rather than learn that lesson, Team Obama wants to double down on “state capitalism,” whether through new policies to try and reinflate the housing market or venture socialism/industrial policy in the “clean energy” sector.

The primary purpose of state capitalism, whether in Beijing or Washington, is to cement political power, not produce economic growth. What did Obama do after passing the stimulus in 2009? Next up was massive regulation of healthcare and Wall Street. State capitalists fear Schumpeterian creative destruction because they cannot control it or squeeze campaign contributions from it.

Economic freedom, on the hand, creates prosperity by unleashing the imagination of the individual and rewarding his or her effort.

Another excellent post at The Camp of the Saints — here’s the opening of Leftism 101: Change The Topic:

The smarter American Leftists realize that their ideas and policies are not popular with the majority of the people of The United States. They believe this is because most Americans are unenlightened, that they, for varied reasons – all wrong in the Progressive’s eyes – refuse to see and comprehend THE TRUTH.

What is a Leftist to do in such a situation? I mean, the world would be so much better [kind of like Heaven On Earth] is the ignorant majority would just open their eyes and see the Leftist CFL Light.

What the Progressives do do [allusion intended] is to resort to deception. The idea is to trick the masses into going along with their schemes under false pretenses. They believe that, once their Enlightened system is imposed, the ignorant rabble will see the light and thank the Left for bringing about Paradise.

One way the Left deceives is to take an issue and try to change what it is, to alter the narrative, as it were. And, since they believe all morality is relative and, therefore, one can seek one’s ends by any means necessary, any and all tactics are permissible.

Keep this in mind as we get closer to the November elections. The George Soro/Media Matters Leftist Thug Machine hasn’t yet reached full throttle.

Its 24/7 mission is to keep Messiah Obama in the Oval Office for another term by reshaping the news to present a deceptive, glowing picture of Obama’s power-grabbing, anti-capitalism, debt-heavy big government entitlements and welfare programs, and ongoing failed polices, while crucifying any opponent deemed a threat to the progressives’ mission.

Categories: Business & Economy, Government, Social and Political Climate
Tags: 2012, 2012 election, Barack Obama, bias, budget, capitalism, cronyism, debt, deficit, Democrats, economic crisis, election, freedom, George Soros, joblessness, jobs, liberal, liberal media, liberalism, media bias, Media Matters, November election, Obama reelection, Obama's reelection, Obamanomics, Pres. Obama, president, presidential election, progressive, recession, reelection, Republicans, unemployment, vote, voters, White House