“It just goes to show you,” writes Lew Rockwell in today’s Mises Institute feature article, “that the presidency is something like a drug. It makes people lose all connection to reality. Part of the reality that Obama needs to recognize is that the New Deal was a calamity far worse than the initial market downturn that began it. He needs to stop basing his policies on dumbed-down civics texts versions of events and consider the economic logic.
“With his rhetoric and policies, he has decided to demonize private enterprise, just as FDR did, as a way to present government as the great savior…
“You cannot make a country rich by looting taxpayers and paying people to pound nails into siding at public schools. These activities amount to capital consumption. They are not sources of investment. You can say that they are stupid tasks or wonderful tasks, but it is not a matter of ideology as to whether such public projects will make us all wealthier. They will not. They drain the sources of wealth from society. They represent a cost, not a blessing.
“That was also true of Bush's dumb stimulus program. He was only bailing out his friends at our expense. The effect was to give a little longer life to institutions that were failing anyway. It's pathetic that the Republicans ever went along with it. You will notice that the scheme didn't actually work.
“Well, Obama is doing the same thing, though rewarding a different set of friends. This is not wealth production. This is wealth consumption. Do enough of this nonsense and you can destroy the livelihoods of an entire generation.”
Regardless, the Senate successfully voted to close debate on the stimulus bill yesterday, one of the last hurdles needed to bring this bill to fruition. In a tear-jerking display of bipartisan support, the vote passed 61-36. Three Republicans voted yes.
“Senators from both parties,” beamed Harry Reid, “met the seriousness of the economic crisis with an earnest approach to solving this emergency.”
Now, if they’d only crack a history book together, we might get somewhere.
The stimulus bill also magically gained $53 billion since you read The 5 yesterday. The tab now stands at $838 billion.
“Bad bets don’t get better,” Bill Bonner reminds us, “when you lend the bettor more money. They just become more expensive.”
“With his rhetoric and policies, he has decided to demonize private enterprise, just as FDR did, as a way to present government as the great savior…
“You cannot make a country rich by looting taxpayers and paying people to pound nails into siding at public schools. These activities amount to capital consumption. They are not sources of investment. You can say that they are stupid tasks or wonderful tasks, but it is not a matter of ideology as to whether such public projects will make us all wealthier. They will not. They drain the sources of wealth from society. They represent a cost, not a blessing.
“That was also true of Bush's dumb stimulus program. He was only bailing out his friends at our expense. The effect was to give a little longer life to institutions that were failing anyway. It's pathetic that the Republicans ever went along with it. You will notice that the scheme didn't actually work.
“Well, Obama is doing the same thing, though rewarding a different set of friends. This is not wealth production. This is wealth consumption. Do enough of this nonsense and you can destroy the livelihoods of an entire generation.”
Regardless, the Senate successfully voted to close debate on the stimulus bill yesterday, one of the last hurdles needed to bring this bill to fruition. In a tear-jerking display of bipartisan support, the vote passed 61-36. Three Republicans voted yes.
“Senators from both parties,” beamed Harry Reid, “met the seriousness of the economic crisis with an earnest approach to solving this emergency.”
Now, if they’d only crack a history book together, we might get somewhere.
The stimulus bill also magically gained $53 billion since you read The 5 yesterday. The tab now stands at $838 billion.
“Bad bets don’t get better,” Bill Bonner reminds us, “when you lend the bettor more money. They just become more expensive.”
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