Forget about the stock market crash. This is the stock market crush.
That sinking feeling on Wall Street is no longer about corporate earnings, big banks or economic growth, it is about Barack Obama and company.
By now, it is should be clear that virtually every measure put forward is about a social agenda, not an economic one.
The man did not run like a liberal Democrat in seeking the presidency but now that he is the President he is a liberal Democrat run amok. And he is running through a hole of opportunity as big as there has ever been. This is not crisis management; this is crisis manipulation.
We are led to believe that all of the nation's economic problems lie at the feet of George W. Bush and not anyone else. Not the Democrats in Congress or the regulators or even the President's men, an experienced group of Washington insiders
This is more than tax and spend; it is tax spend and conquer. If you add up the stimulus, omnibus, budget, foreclosures, it is astounding. This is central planning, community organizing, not policy.
Those who are not taxed today will be taxed tomorrow; the President would like to make budget assumptions on a free-market economy, but that will be less the case in a year or two. Business will retreat. Entrepreneurs won't bother. Incomes will fall and jobs won't be there. There is nothing sustainable--pardon the pun--about retrofitting public buildings into green buildings. It's a Birkenstock, new age version of the Public Works Program. Spending billions of highways is more of the same; it is just running down the clock on the petroleum age. These things will not change us; they will simply spell us.
It's noteworthy how little the President talks about science or research, as much as he talks about health care and education--that would be an investment in our future. He doesn't talk much about entrepreneurs, either, although he has the ringing endorsement of old captains of industry and economics.
Not enough of us saw this coming, and frankly, if we'd had a better choice, we might not have voted for Obama in the first place, although I wouldn't begrudge John McCain an "I told you so" or two.
But there were warning signs. Gov. Bill Richardson may have had another reason for dropping out of the Commerce spot. Sen. Judd Gregg, too.
Some voices of moderation and sanity may be emerging. Sen. Russ Feingold and Sen. Evan Bayh have spoken up against the largess in the form of earmarks.
The President has asked Americans to sacrifice, has asked business and investors to take a haircut. In some cases, he isn't asking. But his government spends and spends, because it knows better. We saw how overleveraged businesses and consumers wound up. The government will too.
The President does not care about your 401(k), 529 or IRA, he cares about your W2. To him it is an IOU. It's all one big cram down into bankruptcy court.