Obama Debates in Platitudes

Obama limped his way though the debate railing about greed and his proclaiming appreciation for the middle class. Bush is bad, really bad, McCain agrees with Bush. I hate to inform Sen. Obama that President Bush is barred by Constitutional Amendment from seeking a third term. His portrayal of Sen. McCain as a, “Yes man,” to the administration couldn’t be farther from the truth.

One thing that I thought was telling was his insistence that higher taxes will help the economic recovery. Taxes never stimulate an economy. He said he will tax the “Rich,” and corporations. Unfortunately he mistakenly believes that Corporations pay taxes at all. Any business entity that is regulated or taxed adds these expenses to the cost of the service that they provide. Consumers pay for government regulation and taxation. It always has been this way and it always will be. “Corporate greed. Wall St. Vs. Main St.” These are sentiments that are easy to demagogue. Tax a business long enough and you can cause it to go bankrupt. How so? You inflate their operating cost to the point where they can no longer compete in the global economy. They will either go somewhere else or they will cease to be.

Interfere in the Housing Market as the Government has and you can create a crisis that necessitates more government interference in the free market. Obama is on the wrong side of the Credit Crunch. He is a man who believes in the absolute purity of Government intentions regardless of the consequences. Wall St. is evil and Government is the solution. Government is the problem, not the solution. It’s easy to say that all of our woes are the result of “Greed.” It’s not nearly so easy to say that the current crisis was created by, “Well-intentioned but thoroughly misguided mandates which required lenders to extend credit to people who had not earned it.”

These mandates injected huge amounts of capital into the housing market which created the housing bubble. When the housing bubble burst, blame the people who were forced to make bad loans, rather than the people who did the Forcing. Politics as usual, certainly not “Change,” as Barak Obama has promised.

I do not think that McCain out debated Obama, but his foreign policy credentials tower over Obama’s. When Obama was confronted with specifics he deferred to McCain. Obama looked silly. Not in a Gotcha sort of sense. It was in a very real sense that anytime he was confronted with real world events his way out was to agree with McCain.

I can easily see how that people who do not dig into issues for themselves could say that Obama won the debate. It’s easy to spout platitudes, it is difficult to tackle the tough issues. When Obama attempted to respond to McCain’s bracelet comment he looked petty and hollow, the sad thing is that during the entire election he has come across as just that. It got him a primary win so why change now. The media is complicit in this success. They play gotcha with McCain and mouth anything that Democrats say. The scrutiny applied to Palin would devastate Obama and they well know it. That’s why it is so conspicuously absent.

Where are the Adults at the NY Times?

NY Times Article

Paul Krugman asks, “Where are all the grown-ups?” I know that answer to that one. Not at the NY Times.
He rails against the need to fix this housing bust but he never mentions how we got here in the first place. He is either misinformed or he’s being intellectually dishonest.

The Carter Administration passed the Community Reinvestment Act. The Clinton Administration expanded it and the Housing bubble was created. Now the chickens have come home to roost. The Government created the problem and the Government must fix the problem. Adults can acknowledge that. Can Paul Krugman?

Democrats want 20% of the money to go to ACORN. Who spent two years as a community organizer at the behest of ACORN? Wasn’t that Sarah Palin? Republicans object to this and so do I. 700 billion should only be used purchase the sub prime loans that Government mandated the lenders to make. It’s only fair.

No wonder Obama wants to be as far away from this stinking mess as possible. Especially since he got a lot of money from Fannie Mae. Just thought I’d through that in there.

Why?

Anybody who has cared for or been even acquainted with a young child knows this three letter conundrum very well. It pops up at the most inconvenient times. Often it is easier to quash it than it is to answer. “Because I said so.” Then you realize you have become the ogre you have always despised.

I’ve got three children, the oldest just embarked on her teenage years, and I’ve become much more adept at fielding the “Why?” I still only manage to satisfactorily answer about twenty percent of them. Truly heroic I think because if I tried to field all of them, I would do nothing else. One thing I’ve discovered to be truly empowering is the simple admission, “I don’t know, find out for yourself.” Now my kids can look with in themselves and see if their burning curiosity warrants any action beyond the one word interrogative.

I know this is the political season and every one plays the blame game, “I did this,” “They did that,” “What I meant to say was…”

We are dealing with a volatile crisis in the financial world. I’m becoming more juvenile in my maturity. Why? Something must be done because something was already done to bring about the mess we are in. So how are we to be assured that any solution to the current crisis is not going to be the cause of another one some years down the road. We most certainly must intervene in the intervention and regulate the regulations but “Why?” Perhaps if I ask enough times some one will provide the answer to this and many other deep probes for satisfactory answers.

Social security needs fixing. Why?

Fuel Prices are out of control. Why?

Abortions must be provided regardless of a woman’s ability to pay for them. Why?

Public Schools need more money. Why?

A thousand government boondoggles beg the question, and yet it seems to me that no one is asking why the government is involved in these issues at all. I have to agree with my children that, “Because,” is not a very satisfying answer.

Perhaps we could all look deep with in our selves and see if our burning curiosity warrants finding out “Why?” to our own satisfaction.