The headline on the Drudge Report at the moment is, "Crisis is a Great Opportunity." Some right-wing blogs (for example) have been pushing a conspiracy theory that Obama is deliberately destroying the economy in order to enact a sweeping left-wing agenda. I find that ridiculous. The way I see it, Obama has no idea what to do about the economy, is listening primarily to left-of-center economists, and really believes that his measures are the best solutions.
But when Obama says things like,
"Yes, this is a moment of challenge for our country," Obama said. "But we've experienced great trials before. And with every test, each generation has found the capacity to not only endure, but to prosper - to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis."You have to ask: what great opportunity is he talking about? An opportunity for what? There's obviously no evidence that he's deliberately trying to worsen the crisis -- the opposite is far more likely -- but these kind of statements fuel conspiracy-theory thinking, and leave the administration open to charges that it's manipulating a national crisis situation for political gain. Along with Obama himself, you have Secretary of State Clinton making the comment that we should "never waste a good crisis." A good crisis? What's good about it? They might as well be asking for people to question their motives, if they are going to throw out these kinds of ill-advised statements.
what great opportunity is he talking about?
ReplyDeletePresumably modernizing infrastructure, overhauling health care, promoting a more ecological agenda, etc, all things characterized by excessive foot-dragging in normal times, but which may now get pushed through.
Yeah, that's a positive reading of it. Another view would be that it's an opportunity to ram through a big left-wing agenda that we'll never be able to reverse.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of big left wing agenda are you envisioning?
ReplyDeleteI haven't really been making that argument, but plenty of people are. But I think we are already seeing some of it, in the form of a massive increase in government interference with the economy, to be followed by higher taxes. Obama pretty clearly believes that government is the answer to almost any problem. Expansions in government power, particularly in the form of bureaucratic control, tend to be almost impossible to reverse.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of the argument some on the right are making: incompetence or purpose?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I feel like a lot of conservatives are cutting both of Obama's hands off and then complaining that he doesn't deliver. He's trying to provide jobs and stimulate spending with this enormous package and budget, and obviously he needs to raise taxes in order to avoid bankrupting the country. He can't do the former without the latter, but many seem to complain about each arm of the policy individually rather than taking it as a whole. Plus the raise in taxes isn't even that much; it's only returning to what it was before Bush took power.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you don't take the intentional incompetence argument seriously. It's one Fox Mulder away from a conspiracy theory.
I agree that government is not the answer to every problem and that bureaucracies are difficult to dismantle once they become entrenched, but I do think government may be the answer to this problem. One danger I anticipate is that some on the right obviously want Obama to fail, but the country is so heavily invested in him (or rather the other way round) that the consequences of his policies' failure would be catastrophic. It's something of a fait accompli, but Bush himself was no stranger to that tactic.
Well, even the increase in the size of government won't be very big. Greg Mankiw is hyperventilating about the fact that after the crisis is over, federal spending will settle at 22.6%, up from 20% in 2007, which was a boom year. It's an increase, but not a particularly large one. To put things in perspective, federal spending went from 19% in 2000 to about 21% in 2005-6. In other words, Obama is going to increase the size of government by about the same amount Bush did. Color me unimpressed.
ReplyDelete"Plus the raise in taxes isn't even that much; it's only returning to what it was before Bush took power."
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I think that's only a first step. The orgy of spending has to be paid for somehow.
" but I do think government may be the answer to this problem."
I don't. I think the government is making the problem worse, not better.
"Well, even the increase in the size of government won't be very big. "
I doubt that. Obama is just getting started. Unless the Republicans retake Congress in 2010 -- unlikely at this point -- I think we'll see a continued expansion of government.
"In other words, Obama is going to increase the size of government by about the same amount Bush did"
Even that would be really bad. But it's probably going to be a lot worse.