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“What worries me about President Obama is really one general issue: his very concrete enjoyment of the good life as evidenced by his golf outings, Martha’s Vineyard vacations, and imperial entourages that accompany him abroad, and yet his obvious distrust of the private sector and the success of the wealthy. Yet my discomfort here is not even one that arises from an obvious hypocrisy of, say, a Michelle on the 2008 campaign trail lecturing the nation about its meanness or her own previous lack of pride in her country, juxtaposed with her taste for the publicly provided rarefied enjoyments of a Costa del Sol hideaway at a time of recession. No, my worries run deeper. Apparently, the president is unaware that after some 2,500 years of both experience with and abstract thought about Western national economies, we know that a free, private sector increases the general wealth of a nation, while a statist redistributive state results in a general impoverishment of the population. At the root of that truth is simple human nature — that people wish to further their own interest more fervently than the more abstract public good […] and can be encouraged to invent, create, and discover, which in turn helps the less fortunate, lucky, healthy, or talented. […] [F]or most of his life Barack Obama has done quite well without understanding how and why American capital is created, and has enjoyed the lifestyle of the elite (in the concrete) as much as he has questioned its foundations (in the abstract). Does he finally see that the threat of borrowing huge amounts to grow government, [so as] to redistribute income through higher taxes, risks greater impoverishment for all of us, despite [his] perceived “fairness” [of the redistribution]? That suspicion alone explains why those with trillions of dollars are sitting on the sidelines despite low interest, low inflation, and a rebounding global economy. In short, millions of profit-makers believe not only will it be harder to make a profit, but far less of it will remain their own — and all the while the president will deprecate the efforts of those who simply wish to do well for themselves. With proverbial friends like those, who needs enemies?”
— Victor Davis Hanson, November 6, 2010 (pajamasmedia.com)
I agree with Prof. Hanson's concerns, yet my own worries run deeper still. Apparently, the president, whose talents are said to be boundless and whose insights border on (some say equate to) omniscience, requires spoon-feeding of Econ-101 fundamentals.
In all his splendiferous exploits in the ivy-enshrined halls of academic excellence, did he never once encounter Margaret Thatcher's definitive verdict on socialism's core failing?
For The Obama's sake, somebody please clue Him a fecking give:
“The trouble with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.” — Maragret Thatcher
Post 1,474 Clue him a fecking give!
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