In less than one hundred days in office, President Obama has managed to single-handedly destroy our economy and waste the opportunity to bring real change and hope for our country. by Abelardo Arias
(libertarian)
Friday, March 13, 2009
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"Yes we can!" roared the crowd. It was an emotional night for everyone. The 2008 presidential election was over. John McCain had lost to the first major party endorsed African-American presidential candidate in United States history. We finally closed troubling chapters in our history such as Mississippi burning and the civil rights marches of Selma.
Republicans, including the bewildered Religious Right, sat stunned in their seats wondering what would happen to their country. It was not because the Democratic Party was any different from the Bush Administration but because the GOP had pathetically lost its neo-conservative bully pulpit in the White House.
Democrats cheered with glee at the opportunity to take back the power that was theirs during the Clinton Glory Days. They salivated at the prospect of re-introducing neo-liberal interventionism on foreign soil and overseas markets They longed to once again crank the Dollar presses to inflate the money supply in the name of the "poor" this time instead of "business". They would gladly finish the work of the Fall of the American Empire started under the Bush Regime.
And now, the smoke and mirrors game goes on. The crooked politicians of 2009 are no different than the corrupt politicians of the Gilded Age or the Roaring Twenties. Crony capitalists like oil barons and railway tycoons then lined the pockets of our nation's representatives to further the goals of Big Business and destroy the wealth of American workers. Sound familiar?
President Obama had a unique opportunity in history -- and he blew it. He brought us "change" indeed. He slammed the Bush Doctrine in all its ugly forms of secrecy and judicial obstruction into executive hyper-drive. The rhetoric of compassionate conservative now became the drivel of compassionate liberalism.
If there is one thing Americans say about Obama it is this: he cares.
He cares for the mechanic in Detroit who lost his job. He cares for the middle-aged couple living in the Hooverville tent outside Sacramento. He cares for the middle class mother and her three kids in Toledo spending their nights in a homeless shelter with the addicted and the ignored.
But does Obama really care?
In fact, his compassionate liberalism runs so deep that it pulls a move from the old Ronald Reagan playbook we knew as trickle-down economics. These days the compassionate White House grants bail-out money to financial monsters like AIG and Bank of America. There could be no better help for the American veteran shivering under a bridge tonight because there just aren't any more jobs. (Unless of course, you can beat out the 200 other people applying for that one lonely job opening.) The idea is that bail-out money will sooner or later trickle-down to the great unwashed masses of Americans wondering what in Sam Hill happened to the real estate market and their retirement accounts.
It may only be a drop of financial bail-out -- but hey it trickled down. Next up, bread lines!
The truth is that the White House allowed corporate giant CEOs to loot and pilfer the public treasury. This Administration is following the same tortured logic of the previous one which assured us that falsely accused cab drivers from Baghdad were receiving comfortable attention at Guantanamo Bay.
The left-right political paradigm in this country is a sham. (Sorry to disappoint my fellow Evangelical Christians.) Both parties have proven to be Big Business, Big Government warmongers. For those who actually wished McCain had been elected just think about this: the GOP would have put up no opposition to the new President's Stimulus Package and would have rammed through trillions more in "help" for America.
So there you have it. President Obama is as bad as the worst conservative and as bad as the worst liberal -- and all with a smile.
How is the left-right scenario a sham? Consider the following.
The gay rights issue is a political distraction. Stem cell research? Just more Big Research pork-barrel spending. Abortion? It's the political Gordian Knot that requires even the most astute of political science majors to bust a gut if they dare try to untie it. The so-called immigration invasion? A typical act of sensational yellow journalism that says, "Look over there, Bubba! It ain't your own government stealin' your hard-earned dollars, it's them Mexicans lookin' for revenge and dishwasher jobs since the Alamo!" Sorry, Pat Buchanan, the "Death of the West" comes from the corruption in our government, not the immigrants heading back home in record numbers.
What are the real issues of post-election America? For starters, the destruction of individual wealth in this country, save for the high upper class. We are on the verge of an economic meltdown that will dwarf the Great Depression and will take decades to recover. There is no need for a conspiracy theory here -- only the urgency of understanding the mess that we allowed to happen and how we can financially protect ourselves.
We must not waste time. We must move our already-compromised and over-valued U.S. Dollars into assets of real value. This does not include real estate unless you're buying ten cents or less on the high-priced dollar. Forget your 401(k), pensions and your annuities. Unless you can take your money out, they are toast. The stock market is one toxic graveyard, particularly finance shares. Dump them. Invest in precious metals, food supply, cigarettes, alcohol and medicine for trade and help for your neighbors when the Dollar collapses.
Consider buying silver, palladium and gold from reputable sellers like apmex.com. I personally recommend silverbullion.com because I support the goals of the owner Jason Hommel to bring silver back as the most effective medium of exchange. Remember, that despite the U.S. Treasury's naked assertions, the U.S. Constitution expressly reserves the right of individual States to mint legal tender coins so long as they're gold or silver.
When the dollar collapses, I do not think that New York City will burn or that the United States will come to an immediate end. But if it did, the blame must rest entirely on Barack Obama and his Congressional Criminal Syndicate.
Some might here criticize me as being unfair. After all, George W. Bush The Evangelical nearly bankrupted this country with his illegal wars, his blatant lies to stir Americans to bloodshed, his deliberate obstruction to the 9/11 Commission, his last-minute corporate bailout to the tune of hundreds of billions, his economic tinkering with interest rates, his unconscionable acts of torturing innocent men and children, his doubling of the national debt, et cetera, et cetera.
But let me be clear about this. George W. Bush is a public menace. He and his cadre must be tried and convicted of their crimes. But that will never happen under an Obama Presidency, in spite of the President's left-leaning brand of crony capitalism. The Truth Commission currently at play in the Congress is merely a circus show to fool Americans into thinking that we actually take seriously the crimes of torture, invasion, occupation, mayhem, pillaging, looting, rape, pollution, perjury, bribery and killing of civilians with illegal weapons of war.
Every moment that the Obama Administration rolls on without prosecuting the crimes of the former Administration, it exists as a de facto confirmation that our new President has sold out to the rich and that he lied to his Democratic base and the American voter. The White House today has continued in the same deadly bait-and-switch tactics of the former Village Idiot-In-Chief. Additionally, Obama has moved to control more media and aggressively solidify relationships with members of the "War and Bankers Party" on both sides of the aisle.
For a President to vociferously take on Rush Limbaugh the GOP's talk radio attack dog is an alarming signal. Besides the fact that the Democrats want to point out the weakness of the GOP's leadership vacuum, Obama is inserting himself into the realm of media and entertainment instead of focusing on how his office can uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution in light of the economic crisis. Are we really so surprised to see the leftist authoritarian Hugo Chavez, who is a regular media personality, cheer Obama in his nationalization and socialization of the banking and insurance industries?
Evangelical Christian radio stations are scared stiff about the Democratic-led Congress reviving restrictions on Americans to share their religious opinions over the people's airwaves. And they should be concerned. (I particularly enjoy my local station.) After all, the same kind of government that monitors, censors, filters and controls any form of media is the same type of authoritarianism that steals, plunders and coerces its own people. One look at China's control of the internet and Google's sickening overture to that regime is enough to make any civil libertarian's skin crawl. Reports that Australia is considering Chinese-style filtering over what their people can access on the internet makes me want to boycott eucalyptus leaves.
So why is President Obama responsible for our economic debacle?
Because it's the first rule of leadership. Everything is your fault. If he didn't like the prospect of being stuck with the mess of his predecessor he should have remained in the Senate or considered an honest living like working for AIG or Lehmann Brothers. Obama has not only repeated the same unconstitutional trespasses of Bush II, but he actually increased the amount of corporate welfare to the Bank Barons. Obama turned a blind eye to the Federal Reserve's arbitrary usury practice through the printing of increasingly worthless U.S. Dollars.
Are we really going to see a Dow Jones 4000? The answer is regrettably yes -- and then some. There are economic forces at play that will no longer be ignored or manipulated. Human behavior will always gravitate towards self-preservation and the protection of our future generations through wealth-building, capital, production and labor. All the paper fiat money and government spending in the world can never stop that or help this economic disaster recover without drastic corrections to our own cursed speculative market. The times of fast and easy money are over.
President Obama has not even finished his first year in office and I must already call him out as one of the worst Executives ever in the history of our Republic. Bush II is close behind. Every GOP and Democratic elected leader that voted for any of these crooked bail-outs deserves a one-way ticket to an electoral defeat. Should state law allow it, a public tar-and-feathering might be in order.
When our country faced economic dangers, depressionary woes and international volatility let it be said that President Obama failed to protect us from the corruption of Congress, the indifference of the Judiciary and the foolishness of the People. Let it be said that he abandoned his post to uphold the Constitution. Let it be said that he whored his policies and his office for the rich and powerful, both foreign and domestic. Let it be said that we voted for change and all we got was the Raw Deal of the Obama Failure.
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Abelardo Arias is a private attorney and an independent-minded libertarian He and his wife unschool their children at home as an alternative to government schooling. Send him mail to be placed on his free newsletter list.
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Posted By: Joel S. Hirschhorn
Date: 2009-03-13 16:15:04
This kind of ludicrous thinking only shows a complete mental bias, and has no connection to reality. While I never have been an Obamaton, I find it stupid and perhaps more than a little nutty to blame Obama for the current economic disaster that was set in motion during the Clinton era and shoved to utter devastation by the Bush administration. Blame Congress definitely, but at this stage to blame Obama just reveals a total lack of critical and objective thinking.
If you read my article, there is plenty of blame to pass around including the Congress and the previous President. This is not a solitary scapegoating of Obama but an indictment of his immediate failure only a few short days into his presidency. The last time I checked the Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve have access and some measure of accountability to the White House.
"In less than one hundred days in office, President Obama has managed to single-handedly destroy our economy and waste the opportunity to bring real change and hope for our country."
All of your credibility and objectivity went out the window with this sub-head.
Posted By: James McMillin
Date: 2009-03-15 17:29:02
Exactly right. Plenty of blame to pass around and that is practically all you and most other critics are doing. Where are your simple solutions ? Where are your difficult solutions ?
Buy silver bullion ? That's clearly where everyone who has lost his/her job cannot hope to be. Get real and give some real solutions or expect to be ignored like all those rushing to the GOPs who are hoping for failure of our and their own government. You and they cannot expect the American citizens to take you seriously if you do not take them seriously. If you cannot offer solutions, then start thinking instead of just complaining and making accusations, then come back with something real.
Posted By: Steven A. Rosile
Date: 2009-03-17 21:01:40
Good article but for one error. The US Constitution, in Article I, Section 10, explicitly forbids the states to coin money. However, the same section grants to the states the power to declare the tender, or medium of exchange, and they are forbidden to "Make any Thing but Gold and Silver Coin a Tender in Paymrnt of Debt". Article I, section 10 is in the main a list of powers the states were being divested of. In the case of Money, the states retained the power to declare what was to be used as Money, but were restricted to only gold and silver coin.
Posted By: Arthur Wallace
Date: 2009-07-29 06:17:39
Obama has wasted so much political capital on pleasing the left. I disagree that this economy is equally the Bush administration's fault, however. Democrats in Congress ran the Fanny Mae Freddie Mac Fiasco into the ground, with lenders following their pied piper routine over the cliff of bankruptcy. Yes, Republicans were involved, but the leadership was from people like Barney Frank and others who have gotten off scott free. http://desertfreedom.blogspot.com/
Posted By: Andrew G Eggleston Sr.
Date: 2009-07-29 16:18:43
The article in and of itself is excellent, and the mercurial nature of Washington D. C. makes it outdated almost as soon as you've written it. And to other comments yes there is a lot that cannot be covered in one single article. This is war folks pure and simple, to keep what we have we are going to have to fight for it, with words with votes and with recalls across the board. Save your argument for the tavern and learn by reading not by parroting what you've heard on the radio or TV!
Posted By: No Name Supplied
Date: 2009-09-04 11:28:36
People like you are ridiculous. You want to find anything Obama's doing to complain about. HE IS PRESIDENT. For the next four years possibly eight. Get over yourself. People like you are so quick to antagonize the way Obama handles his presidency but obviously he must be doing something right because he was elected. I don't know if you noticed that. Bush completely screwed the economy in the US in the eight years he was in office. He was only elected twice by the people too afraid of change. And had a black man not been running in the election I'll bet a lot less votes would have been cast and McCain might have been voted into office by the same Bush supporters. But as it is we have a black president. Conservatives need to accept that and move on.
My friends Robert and Elizabeth bought a condo in Coto de Caza for $171,000.
Robert was a furniture maker at $12.00 per hour.
A year later, the same floorplan across the hall was going for $82,000.
Of course Obama is a total fool for giving away all of our money to the creeps in New York, but when does a $12.00 per hour worker buy a condo like that?
It is true that in less than one hundred days in office Obama has given a big leap in finishing a process that began in Wilson's (actually House's) time: destroying this country as we know it.
But it is a big mistake to claim that he has done it singlehandedly. Actually there are many hands helping him, and all of them belong to members of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Here it is month's later,in fact Mr. Obama has been in office over 8 months and like old Ernie Ford said, "deeper in debt!" but fear not those shovel ready jobs that were promised immediately, may some day show up, doubtful though possible. This BS artist is as smooth as they come and like most such artists is stuck on himself. I think 4 years will be too long, unless a freeze in federal splurging isn't put under control soon, good article, thanks
The article is correct, very little to argue with. It doesn't mention that this path of seeming destuction we're being led down might be intentional. He did promise to "fundamentally transform the United States of America". He did not say from what, to what.
From my view it appears Obama is one of those "ists". Socialist, Communist, Collectivist, an egalitarian of some sort. He spoke of redistribution of wealth, some may have thought that meant "taking from the rich to give to the poor". Probably not. It might mean everyone below "rich" whatever that is, will have the same amount of wealth. That always ends up as shared misery.
Love this artical...wish I could link it to facebook! We as Americans better wake up and sit up straight before we are controlled by this government..Obama and his band of merry men/woman. I am scared! I have always thought of my self as neither L or R vote for the person. I didnot vote for Obama. I am now trying to fight very hard against Obama and the Dems.
Ah yes, freedom of speech does have benefit, all of which is wrapped up in the comments on this post. You have managed to piss off as many as you have pleased, not bad for an attorney. The one thing you fail to point out George W. was at least a patriot, with very little else to go with it, but our friend Berry is not by any standard a patriot, far from it. How he got elected was nothing less than brilliant, he managed to fool most of the people most of the time. If he even makes it through the first term, it will take years of responsible legislation to undo what has been done by him in just one short year. Thanks for the exercise, Roland
I do believe your right on the subject. That america will fall and your right that we should start saving our food and goods. But I don't believe americans will. What it will come down to is that the farmers will be bought out by the govenment and the farmers that don't sell out will not be able to sell their goods at market or else where. The govenment will start to control every little move you do because a uneducated society will know no better. So I believe your right to educate you children at home I think people with a dregee should. But on the other hand I don't think any joe blow should home school because if you can't make it though college your not fit to teach your children. I'm from Texas and I see this all the time where the poor lady down the street takes her chidren, out of school to, home school them and she gets paid by texas to do this and some how now she has all sorts of money and I don't ever see these children getting a education. This destroys me to know that this is what america has become. That this woman is cheating her children out of a education so she can be lazy, unemployed, and sadly a drug addict. This is what america is today I have traveled from califronia to washington D.C. and I see this every where and its disgusting. If america whats to save itself it could start with the low, middle, and high class people by stopping the use of drugs and start standing up for ourselves. And stand united not as black amercans not as mexicans amercans but as amercans that wont stop till we get the job done. As amercans united we will be more powerful than any other politician and that is liberty. It is our right as americans to over though a corrupted govenment and I'm getting tired of these money grabbing politicians. So i one hundred percent follow what you are saying about obama and the corruped govenment. Thank you for posting this for everyone to read
Interesting post, Mr. Arias. Nine months later and Obama has managed to only sink America, and his ratings, further into the abyss. Although, I certainly was skeptical that either side would be able to accomplish anything considering how bought and paid-for these criminals are. Hopefully by now people will start realizing that this two-party duopoly is a "sham" and that having such oratory prowess, while showering everybody with sweet platitudes, doesn't fix problems.
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Obama
You cannot compare Bush with Obama. Bottom line is Obama is a 1st class loser. Another 3 years of this smoothe talking game show host hype... He did give 15k to the people Haiti. Thats about it...... He gives the best BS I've ever heard..... And millions of people fell for this s*&t... What makes me sick is how he salutes the military when leaves Air force one... Might as well be Chavez....... HE SUCKS!!!!!
Your article demonstrates the need for better public education particularly journalism. Lots of baseless accusations and false propaganda out there and in your article.
