The Economy is not Rocket Science

I haven't ever worked for a poor person or institution. Not ever.

Rich people and rich companies hire people. Failed (poor) companies don't. Is that too difficult to understand? What am I missing? Punishing people and companies for making money does not inspire them to add employees to their rosters - does it? I don't think that it's too tough for a fifth grader to comprehend, but the White House seems completely mystified.

The US Senate reports that there are 4,257 new regulations being written. Of those 219 are economically significant. Would you be eager to hire amid that uncertainty? 

We're in the Obama Administration's third "Summer of Recovery" and unemployment is going up - in many parts of America (I live in California) home prices continue to slide downward. It's good if you're buying. It's not good if you kept your wealth tied up in mortgage equity.

American growth is anemic - and the White House wants to saddle businesses and those people who hire others with higher taxes. Which is a not so subtle signal that they shouldn't hire. The solution is less government spending and no more blank checks for Obama, who spends money like a sailor on liberty in a whore house with somebody else's credit card.

Take car keys and whiskey away from the kids...

At least that's what P. J. O'Rourke once said.

The Tea Party is not a fringe element. The loosely knit organization represents how many mainstream Americans feel about government spending. The GOP had better listen to them because they are grass roots America. The Republicans can listen to Beltway noise or they can listen to America - because the they are not the same thing.

It was largely due to Tea Party pressure that House leaders came up with "cut, cap and balance" and passed it by a vote of 234 to 190 on July 19, although the Senate tabled it on July 22. 

The Tea Party position is that if the debt ceiling is not raised, the country does not have to go into default. With billions in current tax revenue, Obama can write checks for interest payments, Social Security, Medicare, veterans, and to pay our soldiers. After that, he can play the Washington Monument Game. That's when liberals shut down popular government services instead of the massive bureaucratic leviathan that stretches for miles across Washington and the nation.

What really needs to happen long-term is serious reform of the entitlement systems that are bankrupting the country. A key element is block granting funds to the states so Washington won't be able to skim so much and create perverse incentives. For a primer on why the 1996 welfare reform can be a model for restructuring entitlements, see the Carleson Center for Public Policy's website.

In the current debt drama, Obama is posturing outrageously, threatening old people, the disabled, and others that he would turn into victims. The whole thing reminds me of that tongue-in-cheek magazine cover years ago showing a dog with a gun to its head, and the words, "Buy this magazine, or we'll kill this dog." Replace the dog with a picture of grandma and you have Obama's subtle message.

As the debt ceiling deadline approaches, Republicans, and Democrats who want to save what's left of our country, had better throw away the bottle of Old Profligacy, sober up, and take up the Tea Party mandate to cut back government and restore our constitutional republic.