How awful. The pandering! The dumbing down of such serious issues! If McCain (Senator "My Friends" McCain) wins I hope he can get himself some good advisors so he doesn't go after the wrong people (e.g. greedy Wall Street types). If Obama (Senator "Make Sure" Obama) wins I hope he is not able to do any of the things he really wants to do (e.g., plundering the rich, making healthcare a right, and spending money on anything anyone would really like to do for himself but doesn't have enough money to do).
McCain promised to be a tough guy who doesn't fully understand markets and capitalism, and Obama promised to go for the triumph of hope over experience, by "making sure" that government gets things right under his administration, after failing abysmally under every other administration.
Where is the candidate who is willing to tell us that he doesn't know the answer to every question, and that he has little confidence in government's ability to right all the wrongs in the world? Who is willing to say that the President cannot fix all of our problems? That sometimes people buy houses and lose money, just as they do in the stock market, and entrepreneurs sometimes fail when they try to start a new business, and anyway that's not something that the President can be concerned about? Heaven help us all.
Scott,
ReplyDeleteYou excellent understanding of markets, economics, taxation, government inability to do most anything right, etc., and with your keen ability to explain things simply, perhaps you should run for office (I'd vote for you as President from what I know of you – and maybe Mr. Laffer could be you Treasury Secretary or Fed Chairman). Well, on second thought, I would not wish such a monumental task placed upon you as attempting to present free-market solutions to those unknowingly—or maybe knowingly--supporting the underlying goals presented in The Communist Manifesto.
Keep up the excellent posts. The World needs more astute thinkers as you.
CDLIC
Scott,
ReplyDeleteI must admit that after watching them both answer the first question, I was so bored and uninspired that I went to bed. But I live in the Eastern Time Zone. It was late. That's my excuse.
But I want to ask you a more "forward looking" question.
It seems that we are going into a recession if we aren't already in one. It seems like Obama is going to win this election. In January 2009 we will have a Democrat Congress and a Democrat president.
Let's assume that Obama, Pelosi and Reid do not convert to Laffer-style, supply-side economics. Instead, they stick with their anti-businness, anti-free market, pro-union ideas.
Has there ever been a time when a Left-Wing economic policy has been implemented/enacted during a time of economic recession and suceeded in bringing that nation (any nation) out of recession?
I ask the question because if, as I suspect, the answer is No, Obama is destined to be a one-term president.
You can point to Bill Clinton's reelection. But Clinton didn't inherit a recession. He inherited an economy in a recovery from recession and, more importantly, the American people protect Clinton from his own destructive ideas in the 1994 elections when they elected the first GOP Congress in 40 years.
Perhaps Obama could pull an FDR. The economy doesn't recover from recession. But he convinces the people that things are still better than they would be if the GOP policies were in effect. This is essentially how FDR got reelected in 1936. But there's a problem. The stock market and credit markets are struggling right now. But unemployment is barely above 6 percent (it was under 5 percent when the GOP handed Congress to the Democrats).
What say you on the "success" of an Obama admin?
Sorry for being long-winded and off topic.
I'm not aware of any recession that was ended by applying left-wing policies. The Great Depression was the result of applying left-wing policies to a recession.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama wins:
1) he could get lucky and the Fed will have pulled us out of recession by the time he takes office; this is not your typical recession, mind you
2) he could realize (he's supposed to be real smart, isn't he?) that higher taxes are not going to work, and instead advocate better, more right-wing policies. He's been very quick to change his positions on a lot of issues, after all.
Scott: I believe that the candidate you're wishing for was--yes, don't laugh--Mike Huckabee. For some reason I still don't understand, his candidacy was opposed from the start from almost every quarter on the right and in a way that showed extreme ignorance of his tenure as governor in Arkansas. Most of the disappointed Romney supporters moved to support McCain, when he has proven time and again to hold no particular political or economic philosophy. The left-dominated media is what is driving this election season, and, truly, who more than McCain deserves to suffer the impact of so-called campaign finance "reform"?
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm still holding my nose and voting for him.