01/19/09: Can Obama stand on principal in these hysterical times?
Posted by: John
I think Obama will be so overwhelmed with expectations that he solve problems created by prior administrations over decades, that he may be forced politically into repeatedly “stimulating” the economy by printing money and giving it to banks and other failing businesses, to no avail, and will end up making things worse.
People want action even if there's no good action to take, and Obama cannot risk the political backlash of not continuing with the prior administration's bailout policies, at least until his second term when people begin to realize that the solution is worse than the problem since printing money and giving it away devaluates the rest of our money and earnings. It's simple supply and demand: you increase the money supply (leaving productivity constant) and the price (value) of a dollar goes down - meaning the money we have and make has less buying power. This is how our wages will eventually come to parity with other industrialized nations such as China. Our real earnings after inflation will become worth less and countries such as China will see real earnings rise to reflect that the workers of each country are approximately as productive. We live in an international economy where capital flows freely and physical movement of workers to wealthier nations will be unnecessary for their wages to rise comparatively.
By his presumed second term, hopefully Obama can get to the important business that a president can do something about, which is to restore rule of law. This means that Bush, Cheney and their many cronies must be brought to justice. If they are allowed to get away with lying to the nation and putting our soldiers in harms way for private profit and committing atrocious war crimes in the process, our executive branch - the sole branch charged with enforcing the laws - will continue to be viewed as a corrupt joke akin to Italy's for much of its history.
Unfortunately, by Obama’s second term he will have little time left to prosecute Bush and company, as federal statutes of limitations will have expired for many if not most of the criminal acts of the Bush administration. That means they’ll get away with it -- which is why it is imperative that he restore rule of law as his first act, not as an impotent second term afterthought.
People are ecstatic in DC and NY and probably CA, but the rest of the nation isn't so sure about the new boss not being the same as the old bosses. Many pitfalls await Obama (and many more will be created for him), and he has already been swept up into bailout fever which scares me into thinking he may not stand on principal (meaning not giving away money for nothing just to be doing something) and focus on the imperative task of restoring rule of law.
Unfortunately for most of us, we live in the real world and Obama may not be able to stand on principal once in office. His almost certain failure to maintain his campaign integrity is bound to disappoint his supporters and delight his critics and haters.
People want action even if there's no good action to take, and Obama cannot risk the political backlash of not continuing with the prior administration's bailout policies, at least until his second term when people begin to realize that the solution is worse than the problem since printing money and giving it away devaluates the rest of our money and earnings. It's simple supply and demand: you increase the money supply (leaving productivity constant) and the price (value) of a dollar goes down - meaning the money we have and make has less buying power. This is how our wages will eventually come to parity with other industrialized nations such as China. Our real earnings after inflation will become worth less and countries such as China will see real earnings rise to reflect that the workers of each country are approximately as productive. We live in an international economy where capital flows freely and physical movement of workers to wealthier nations will be unnecessary for their wages to rise comparatively.
By his presumed second term, hopefully Obama can get to the important business that a president can do something about, which is to restore rule of law. This means that Bush, Cheney and their many cronies must be brought to justice. If they are allowed to get away with lying to the nation and putting our soldiers in harms way for private profit and committing atrocious war crimes in the process, our executive branch - the sole branch charged with enforcing the laws - will continue to be viewed as a corrupt joke akin to Italy's for much of its history.
Unfortunately, by Obama’s second term he will have little time left to prosecute Bush and company, as federal statutes of limitations will have expired for many if not most of the criminal acts of the Bush administration. That means they’ll get away with it -- which is why it is imperative that he restore rule of law as his first act, not as an impotent second term afterthought.
People are ecstatic in DC and NY and probably CA, but the rest of the nation isn't so sure about the new boss not being the same as the old bosses. Many pitfalls await Obama (and many more will be created for him), and he has already been swept up into bailout fever which scares me into thinking he may not stand on principal (meaning not giving away money for nothing just to be doing something) and focus on the imperative task of restoring rule of law.
Unfortunately for most of us, we live in the real world and Obama may not be able to stand on principal once in office. His almost certain failure to maintain his campaign integrity is bound to disappoint his supporters and delight his critics and haters.