Regarding the decision to send Air Force One on a publicity photo-shoot which ended up terrorizing New Yorkers and cost taxpayers more than $320,000, let me borrow from Milton Friedman to state the obvious: government bureaucrats that have the power to spend other people's money will, more often than not, make decisions that a person spending his own money would not. With Washington suddenly spending trillions of dollars more than ever before, we are quite likely to see many more such fiascos, and of far greater magnitude. Fasten your seatbelts, the Wild Obama Ride has just begun.
Being ever the optimist, I can only hope that a steady drumbeat of monumental fiascos will result in a decided shift in the political winds in favor of more limited government come November 2010.
Photo source
"Being ever the optimist..."
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't change, Scott. Your perspective helps keeps me sane in this age of Obama insanity.
I'm sure it will be totally different when it comes to health care, where an increased role for government will result in new found cost savings and efficiencies.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was absolutely ridiculous, however I am not surprised. I can't believe they thought that would be a good idea considering everything...?
ReplyDeleteWith the Specter switch and the likely seat in Minnesota going to a Dem I doubt that that is somehow good for our democracy. Regardless of which side of the line you stand on.
ReplyDeleteThe stars are aligning for something...
This after chastizing auto maker executives for flying in their own jets to testify before Congress.
ReplyDeleteAgain though, what bothers me the most is not Obama's infractions, but the lack of outcry from the citizenry.
Imagine this happening under the Bush administration.
NY Times front page banner headline with pics: Bush terrorizes NY City for own publicity.
Of course that type of incident would have NEVER happened with Bush.
Bob
Scott,
ReplyDeletePhotshop by Adobe is available on their website for $699 , that and a half hour can produce the same results as the government did for substantially less than the $320,000 they just spent panicking most of lower Manhattan, Jersey City and Hoboken.
All that taxpayer money to produce a give away for the ground crews who great Dear Leader as he exits Airforce One.
The cost of it is one thing but the idea that not just one person but apparently a number of people thought this was a good use of tax payers money is terrifying.
And as P.J. O'Rourke says, "if you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until it's free." Government is going to be managing much more of our lives going forward, and the potential for thousands of mistakes such as this is frightening.
ReplyDeleteI didn't vote for Obama, but I was hopeful he would be a prudent Democrat. Almost all of that hope had already withered away, but this Airforce One fiasco marks the final death of that hope. I wonder how many "bulk office supply" purchases the government will have to make to recover this photo-op joke, which should really be called Statue of Liberty abuse. P.S. Can you believe he even mentioned bulk office supplies as an element of his response to the most massive increase in government indebtedness in history highlighted by the tea party protests?
ReplyDeleteThe hypocracy and cost of this plane stunt have been already pointed out. But I think there is something bigger here!
ReplyDeleteThe Obama Administration has forget completely 9/11. In fact, it never shaped their agenda in the first place.
An administration that closes Gitmo, guts military spending, calls terrorism "man-caused disasters", accusses the US of torture, etc. doesn't see 9/11 as a turning point for this country.
In that light, it's no big deal for this administration to fly a 747 a few thousand feet from ground zero.
When have we ever had a government that shrunk? I don't know what you were smoking down in Argentina last month, but do you really think a future Republican administration and/or congress would reduce revenues and spending in real or nominal terms? The best we've ever seen is a second derivative observation.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your blog.
Deacon: my experience with Argentina has helped teach me to never trust a politician. If Republicans took over Congress today I have little faith that they would be able to significantly reduce the federal budget. I can only hope that the national mood turns solidly against big government over the next year, and that a new crop of politicians shows up that is more inclined to just say "no" to more spending and more programs.
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