The Glen Meakem Show

Member Group : Glen Meakem

On The Economy

President Obama called on Congress to pass ANOTHER Keynesian stimulus package, which he called a "jobs bill." 20th century history shows over and over (in the U.S., Japan, Britain, etc. etc.) that this type of government spending does not stimulate economic growth and does not lead to lower unemployment. Liberal politicians love Keynes because he offers them justification to tax, borrow and spend more. The problem is that this just does not work. Remember the swimming pool analogy. You cannot raise the water level of a pool by taking a bucket of water from one end of the pool (in the form of increased borrowing or taxation) and then dumping the same or less water back into the other end of the pool (in the form of inefficient new government spending on public works projects – i.e. absurd tunnels to casinos in Pittsburgh and unneeded rural bridge overpasses in Nebraska — and social spending – i.e. free cell phone service for welfare recipients). Government must perform core functions like external defense, internal policing, necessary public infrastructure, and yes even a limited social safety net; however, government – with all of its political decision making and inefficiency — cannot create more wealth and economic activity by taking money away from people who have earned it and giving it away to
people who have not. Let’s get real. If taxing and spending worked to grow an
economy and create wealth for everyone, then everyone would have achieved wealth in America a long time ago.

In his speech, President Obama claimed that his $787 billion stimulus "saved or
created" 2 million jobs. But the same Congressional Budget Office that Obama
characterized as a neutral arbiter stated that "it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus bill."

Just three days before Obama’s State of the Union address, Valeri Jarrett (an Obama advisor) claimed that "thousands and thousands" of jobs were created or saved, Robert Gibbs (Obama’s Press Secretary) claimed that 1.5 million jobs were created or saved, and David Axelrod (another key Obama advisor) claimed that 2 million jobs were created or saved. In December, President Obama himself claimed that only 600,000 jobs were created or saved. No matter what President Obama and members of his Administration say, the reality is that all of these figures are fictitious guesses and a leader owes us truthful information, not made up numbers! The U.S. economy has LOST 3.4 million jobs since President Obama took office, and the unemployment rate increased from 7% in December 2008 to 10% in January 2010. In February 2009,President Obama promised America that if his $787 billion dollar stimulus package was passed into law, the unemployment rate would not go above 8%. Well, it has gone above 10%. Either President Obama did not understand the depth of the crisis or his
stimulus plan did not work. Either way, why should we trust him and the Democratic Party with our economy?

Amity Shlaes, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, joined me on the program and also offered her commentary on President Obama’s State of the Union speech. Amity fears that our current administration is repeating many of the same political mistakes that made the Great Depression larger, longer, and more devastating than it needed to be. Some of these parallels include massive new government spending and debt, increasing taxes, political hostility towards business, arrogant politicians who thought they had all the answers, unpredictable government economic policy, and animosity towards the Supreme Court. Echoing the famous economist Milton Friedman, Amity reminds us that it is dangerous to think that business people are somehow more corrupt or greedier than politicians. The opposite is probably true. Who are these angels in government who are going to solve all of our social and economic problems?

If, in the words of Barack Obama, "Washington" is so "dysfunctional," then how is "Washington" going to solve all of our problems? Give me a break!

On Health Care

Amazingly, even after Republican Scott Brown won the special election for Senator in Massachusetts, and even after the American people articulated their opposition to nationalized health care (at tea party & town hall events, and in public policy & job approval polls), in his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his commitment to passing ObamaCare. And he did so by repeating the exact same myths that he has presented so many times this past year. No Mr. President, ObamaCare will not allow everyone to keep their current healthcare plan and Doctor. Independent analyses show that ObamaCare would force as many as 100 million Americans onto government plans. No Mr. President, ObamaCare will not reduce costs. Independent analyses forecast that if enacted into law, ObamaCare would increase healthcare premiums by at least $1,500 per year per family of four over the status quo. And ObamaCare will not create competition in the healthcare market. One thousand three hundred (that’s right one thousand three hundred) different health insurance providers already exist in the United States, and these providers are currently restrained by 50 different sets of state government regulations. Mr. President, if
you want more competition, do not increase government control over the market,
decrease government control by enabling one national market. And of course, the
President and the Democrat Party absolutely refuse to even consider the first tenet of any real reform which is the elimination of medical malpractice lawsuit abuse.

They cannot even consider this real reform because trial lawyers are one of the
largest contributors to Democrat Party candidates and left-wing political groups.

And the President complains about the power of special interest groups in
Washington? Has he heard the word hypocrisy?

Who are these angels in the government who are going to take care of us and make
medical care just great? Give me another break!

Then after repeating the same year old case for ObamaCare, the President had the
audacity to challenge Republicans to bring alternative approaches to the table,
saying that if anyone had any better ideas, he certainly would listen. The problem
is that President Obama has already refused to listen. Republicans offered more than
40 different health care plans in 2009 alone, and none of them were even considered
by the President and his Democrat Party super majorities. Republicans were literally
locked out of the negotiations that took place in the middle of the night and behind
closed doors in the Capital building and in the White House. And this "lock out,"
was in spite of the President’s repeated promises to have all negotiations on health
care televised live on C-SPAN.

When President Obama speaks does he mean for us to believe anything he says?

On Education and Cap and Trade

Although the American people support constructive changes to the public education
system in the United States, they do not share President Obama’s support for
legislation that further empowers teachers’ unions and limits choice and
competition. Remember, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress killed the
popular and successful Washington D.C. School Voucher program that allowed 1,700
minority students to attend the private school of their choice. How can you say you
care about poor people when you destroyed this one ray of hope for people living in
inner city Washington, D.C? Whoops, I forgot, teacher’s unions are the largest
contributors to the Democrat Party and Democrat candidates. Did President Obama say
something about the influence of special interests in Washington?

Similar to President Obama’s proposed Nationalization of Healthcare, the American
people have clearly articulated their opposition to Cap and Trade legislation.
Despite this, President Obama used his State of the Union speech to affirm that he
will forge ahead on this issue. And although the American people support a clean
environment (who doesn’t?), they do not support "Cap and Trade" legislation that
kills jobs and raises energy costs. The National Association of Manufacturers
forecasts that the Cap and Trade legislation passed by the House of Representatives
last summer will destroy 3 to 4 MILLION more American jobs, while an MIT study
forecasted that the legislation would cause energy costs for the average American
family to rise by $2-3 thousand per year. Yes, liberals can dismiss these studies,
but all you have to do is look at the real experience of Spain over the past decade
to be concerned. Spain passed Cap and Trade legislation early last decade. Spain’s
unemployment rate has now reached 18.8% and climbing — and according to a study
performed at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, for every one new "green" job
created (building wind powered electric projects, etc.), 2.2 other jobs have been
destroyed. Can anyone who really cares about the United States and the American
people just disregard these facts? Can we just trust Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi,
Harry Reid and the other Democrat Party leaders who say they have all the answers?

Final Thoughts

President Obama has had a very rough first year in office, but everyone makes
mistakes and talented leaders can learn to manage and lead better if they listen to
feedback and look at real facts. However, what is disturbing about this President
(and very different from Bill Clinton) is that instead of learning from his mistakes
and moving towards the political center, President Obama has chosen to ignore
constructive criticism and reaffirm his commitment to his destructive,
non-fact-based, liberal agenda. On their current course, President Obama and his
Democrat Party are failing miserably for America and they will pay the price for
their arrogance in Congressional elections this November.

As conservatives, we must reaffirm our commitment to defend liberty, freedom, and
limited government — the principles that have made our nation great. Please continue
to stand strong against President Obama’s and the Democrat Party’s liberal,
"progressive" policies. Together, we will continue to make a difference.

Sincerely,

Glen Meakem

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