The American Spectator : Brain-Dead Economy

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Brain-Dead Economy

With nothing to offer but the harvesting of a few remaining vital organs.

A few thoughts prompted by “Stocks Swoon, Worry Rises” — the banner headline in the weekend Wall Street Journal:

• Even as stocks swoon and worries mount, our president continues to hold his head high — a little too high, in fact — every time he strides to the podium. This makes him the anti-Princess Di. He is always triumphantly chin up, just as she, poor thing, was always tremulously chin down. Given the lousy state of the economy, he might try to be a little self-effacing himself. He should stop acting as if he expects his every word to be greeted with rapturous applause.

• Why would anybody pay $2.6 million to have a “power lunch” with Warren (“Please, may I have a tax hike, Mr. President?”) Buffett? But someone who wishes to remain anonymous did just that on Friday night — bidding on eBay. The proceeds will go to a charity in San Francisco that feeds those who have “given up on themselves.” It seems appropriate. Perhaps Mr. Buffett could start a billionaires-for-diminished-self-reliance club.

• How can we measure Mr. Buffett’s net contribution to P, our nation’s prosperity? I would suggest the formula A minus B = P, where A is the money that he has earned for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders through his prowess in picking stocks, and B is the negative impact he has had in lending superficial credence and support for wrong-headed policies (favoring higher taxes, increased government intervention into the economy, and disregard for constitutional limits) that are responsible for the weakness of the recovery, if it can even be called a recovery. Under my formula, it is probable that Buffett, a frequent visitor to the Obama White House and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is already in negative territory in the calculation of P. We have a massively under-performing economy, thanks at least in part to business leaders who have been happy to truck with bad policies either because they have benefited directly from them (as Buffett has in being heavily invested in Goldman Sachs and other financial firms that were bailed out by TARP money), or because it has endeared them to the mainstream media (Buffett qualifies here too).

• One mistake that Mr. Obama does not intend to repeat is the one that he made at the outset of his presidency in selling the $787 billion stimulus bill on the basis that it would keep unemployment from rising above 8%. Of course, that is not what happened. Unemployment shot upward — passing 8% and then 9%. Now the president refuses to be specific on anything he would do to slash spending and deficits. He makes no attempt to explain how the government should go about matching spending and revenues. Let the Republicans hang themselves in trying to explain to the American people what should be done to keep Medicare and other entitlement programs from bankrupting the government.

• But that leaves a small problem for the president. He still has to explain how he and his administration will try to move things forward over the next 12 to 18 months, as unemployment is rising once again and most people (according to polls) have the sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach that things are getting worse, not better.

• What we get from the White House on this score is mostly a bunch of bromides about the need for more “partnering” between business and government. Sounding very much like the community organizer he used to be, the president breathlessly proclaims: “If we could match up schools and businesses, we could create pipelines right from the classroom to the office or factory floor. This would help workers find better jobs, and it would help companies find the highly educated and highly trained people they need to prosper and remain competitive.”

Are we really going to send people by “pipeline” — and, I suppose, pneumatic tube — straight from the classroom to the factory floor? What a laugh! But the more serious point here is that if there is one thing that we don’t need any more of, it is “partnering” between government and business. We already have far too much of that — with much more of it on the way if the Obama administration gets its way with cap and trade, dramatically increased public spending on high-speed rail, solar energy and other forms of alternative energy, and other plans for nanny-state masterminding the nation’s affairs from Washington, D.C.

What Obama & Co. are really talking about is creating a brain-dead economy — one that no longer effectively collects or sends signals to and from any of the many regions in the body. In a free market system, no one “orders” growth to occur. It is the spontaneous, almost accidental result of voluntary exchange. It comes about as a result of countless individuals who seek to meet their own needs by meeting the needs of others.

This is why centrally planned economies always fail. Planning subverts the dynamic interaction that comes from unrestricted competition and free choice. The planners think they know everything. In fact, they know nothing.

About the Author

Andrew B. Wilson, a frequent contributor to The American Spectator, writes from St. Louis.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (163) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

John Daniel| 6.13.11 @ 6:56AM

Obama is a cradle communist. Problem is - when he slipped in talking about the "redistribution of wealth" - that most voters believe the phrase is in the Declaration of Independence rather than Das Capital. We are doomed.

David| 6.13.11 @ 4:00PM

Then save yourself! Get out while the getting's good! Sheesh. I'd really like documentation for "most voters believe the prhase is in the Declaration of Independence rather than Das Capital. Right wing diarrhea of the mouth is no better than Left wing diarrhea of the mouth.

Stormzeye| 6.13.11 @ 5:32PM

Don't be so harsh David. John simply used a clever turn of phrase to jokingly imply that the use of the word "equality" in the Declaration actually means "equality of opportunity" (capitalism) as opposed to simple "equality" which is of course, socialism. Progressives believe in the latter and to them redistribution of wealth makes sense because it renders people "equal".

David| 6.13.11 @ 5:37PM

Okay - so "We are doomed" is a clever turn of phrase?
And I guess it must be late in the day - I don't see "equality" used in Mr. Daniel's post. In fact, the word "equality" shows up only in your post on this entire page.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 6.13.11 @ 5:23PM

One part of the formula left out of the formula above was T=Tarp recipient who made 2 billion off the taxpayers and it was 2 billion they will never see again thanks to billionaire scum like Warren Buffet, He's a high priced scam artist and billionaire welfare queen.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/.....rough-tarp
Warren Buffet has a thank you note in the NYT. He certainly owes a big thanks to the taxpayers, after all he put a $10 billion bet on Goldman Sachs at the peak of the crisis. Without our help, he would have lost his whole bet.

Of course the issue is not as he presents it here. The question was not whether or not the government did something to keep the financial system functioning. The question was whether the rescue would save investors like Buffet, who were knowingly taken big risks with their money, the highly paid executives of the major banks, and preserve the speculative culture of Wall Street.

That's what TARP was about. Mr. Buffet has very good grounds to be thankful that the rescue was structured to make preserving the wealth of the wealthy the top priority. The 25 million unemployed and underemployed people may feel differently.

Andy Texan | 6.13.11 @ 7:00PM

Most likely the crony-capitalist Buffet had a quid pro quo with the gov'mint that his "gamble" on Goldman Sachs during the "financial crisis" would be backed by the treasury. Buffet has entered the celebrity world and it has ruined his moral judgment albeit improved his net worth.

Michael Tomlinson| 6.13.11 @ 7:08AM

I would suggest Democrat vulture capitalists and politicians who want a tax increase (Buffett, Gates, Soros, Kerry, Pelosi, Boxer and Obama) quit itemizing their taxes and file a simple standard 1040 tax return. Their taxes would immediately go up. Then everyone would be happy.

Handy| 6.13.11 @ 12:23PM

Great term: Vulture Capitalists. I am going to steal it.

TrueBlue| 6.13.11 @ 3:19PM

Flat tax, no more write-offs. Sure my return would be less, but I can live with that.

Oh, and while we're at it, stop paying the House, Senate, and President until a budget is passed for the year AFTER the one we're currently in. They like to plan so much, make them plan a year or more ahead so businesses already know what the fed will be doing. That's why nobody is hiring and the economy is stagnating/declining again. Nobody wants to do anything when the government can change what it's doing at the drop of a hat.

figusja| 6.13.11 @ 7:19AM

I think the sad thing is. The super rich who made there money in the free market is trying to curtail the freedom of the FREE market in hopes of making more money. Does that make sense to anyone. Bueller....Bueller....

Stan Redmond| 6.13.11 @ 9:24AM

They got theres and are completely isolated from market forces with government insurance against loss. That's a small boat and you're just not welcome.

David| 6.13.11 @ 4:01PM

I believe it was the distinguished historian John Kenneth Galbraith who observed that the rich want socialism for themselves and free enterprise for everyone else.
Truer words were rarely spoken.

Stormzeye| 6.13.11 @ 5:39PM

As with a lot of what Galbraith said, your paraphrase is also nonsensical. State ownership of the means of production does not guarantee the rich their property any more than the risks inherent with free enterprise cause greater hazards to the rest.

PetePatriot| 6.15.11 @ 7:54PM

First off, John Kenneth Galbraith was an economist not an historian.

Secondly, a search of the web cannot connect that quote to anybody but Michael Moore and as we all know, everything he says is gospel. (snicker)

0 for 2.

(My first thought was to indicate sarcasm with the word "snigger" instead of snicker-the two words are interchangeable-but even here I fear the PC police)

Brian Mc| 6.13.11 @ 7:27AM

Why do we all accept the ingrained socialism inherent with the income tax? Until it is repealed I have little hope for any serious reversals; already, the iceberg is scratching the hull as we lope merrily along.

Wayne | 6.13.11 @ 11:21AM

Same with any sales tax.

David| 6.13.11 @ 4:02PM

Umm. Why do we accept it? A. It was a Constitutional Amendment. B. It's backed up by federal laws. Sheesh. Is this a History 101 remedial here or what?

George S| 6.13.11 @ 6:34PM

Wasn't slavery backed by federal laws... ruled constitutional in 1857? Why didn't we accept it?

Pecos Pete| 6.13.11 @ 7:40AM

Even in Soviet Russia, and Imperial Russia, the rich got richer, the poor couldn't get poorer. Communism works very well for the ruling class.

martin j smith| 6.13.11 @ 8:15AM

Once again Mr WILSON This Obama person is doing this ON PURPOSE. This is his plan!!!!!!!!!!!
Go over EVERY MOVE from the start of Obama's Presidency--no from what was known about Obama even before he was elected till this very day. Do you see --except for going along temporarily with the Bush tax cut--and that is nothing he would have done on his own BTW--ANYTHING that shows that he gives a crap ? I cannot wait to hear a response.

Gary| 6.13.11 @ 8:21AM

Martin J. Smith is 100% correct! Obama overall policy for Ameria is scorched earth - period. What perplexes me is now anyone can come to any other conclusion.

David| 6.13.11 @ 4:04PM

Oh, be still my quivering fingers at the invitation to come to any other conclusion. Why don't you people on the Right just be honest about it and state that you not only can't believe a black man can be an American, he certainly can't be President

Bob Grant| 6.13.11 @ 4:49PM

Very funny. I can feel your anger at the fact that the people here despise Obama because he's a friggin' socialist. And ONLY because he's a socialist.

We despise him because of his issues and you hate this.

Get lost you race hustling hack!!

David| 6.13.11 @ 5:17PM

Again. A perfect example of the Right Wing in all of its glory - self-entitling, belittling, and self-righteous.

Gary| 6.13.11 @ 5:50PM

Thanks for the emotion, David. Now, how about creating a list of things Obama has done to foster life here in America - I mean non-union members of American society? Small business owners and such.

And, while you're at it, please review for all us terrible right wingers all the great things Obama is doing for the coal industry, unless, of course, you feel coal is evil.

One final question, exactly what is it about your neighbors' freedom that you hate so much? Don't you like your fellow Americans and wish the best for them? Shouldn't they be free to keep the fruits fo their labor, or is that against your manifesto?

Just askin'...

David| 6.13.11 @ 6:13PM

And, no, you're not "just askin' ..." I recognize a taunt when I read one.

Coal is not evil any more than wind is evil or solar is evil or natural gas is evil or even nuclear energy is evil. What's your point?

But it is your last set of questions is the one that interest me most. How do you leap to the viewpoint that somehow I hate my neighbors' freedom? How does my exasperation at the belittling, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing attitudes on this site translate into not liking my fellow Americans and wishing the best for them? Quite the contrary. It's exactly because I do care for my fellow Americans and wish the best for them that I challenge the nonsense that fills so many of these posts.
Your last question is a neat little trap - kind of in the same groove as "When did you stop beating your wife?" So, nice try, Gary, but I'm not falling for that one.

Bob Grant| 6.13.11 @ 6:39PM

David, you remind me of our dear president. Lots and lots of wordy sweet nothings but of little substance.

Typing for the sake of typing?

Your posts are like cotton candy for the mind.

David| 6.13.11 @ 6:44PM

And yet - you keep responding.

Stormzeye| 6.13.11 @ 5:49PM

David, you're the gift that keeps on giving. What nonsense you racialists spew. The social engineering and enslavement of the poor that you've been foisting on an unsuspecting public has been exposed for what it is...tyranny. Besides, Cong. Alan West and Herman Cain are only two of many independent minded conservative Americans that many of us are proud of...and both of them are 100% black.

David| 6.13.11 @ 6:19PM

They are? Black, I mean. Are you sure? Have you seen their long form birth certificates? Have you interviewed their parents? Have you inspected their family photo albums or checked out their report cards (all demands made at one point or another by the "Birthers")? Have you verified they have no possibility of being a "bushman pig" or a "Kenyan prince" which are actual phrases I've seen used on this site? I dunno. Sounds pretty dodgy to me.

Bob Grant| 6.13.11 @ 6:42PM

We have no idea but I can guarantee you they will gladly provide all necessary information if asked, and in a timely manner. BEFORE they are elected!!

David| 6.13.11 @ 6:45PM

"We?" Bob, you're now a "we"? And how can "we" guarantee that?

Bob Grant| 6.13.11 @ 7:01PM

Because Mr. Cain, nor Mr. West have no history of displaying their hatred for this country and it's system.

I guess what I'm saying is Mr.'s Cain and West have earned my benefit of the doubt. I can safely assume they will comply without the Clintonesque game playing only an Alynsky underling could appreciate.

David| 6.13.11 @ 7:07PM

That would be "Alinsky" as in Saul Alinsky? Sorry, just trying to keep your epithets straight.

Okay. I'm with you on that one that they've earned the benefit of your doubt.

skip| 6.13.11 @ 8:41PM

David.

You idiot.

The dithering idiot liar in chief is mulatto. The dithering idiot liar in chief is no more black than he is white. The dithering idiot liar in chief is every bit as white as he is black. And if the paternal side of the dithering idiot liar in chief has some white interbreeding from previous generations he would in fact be more white than black.

Why can't you liberal stupid liars just be honest about it and state that conservatives can't believe the dithering idiot liar in chief is president because he is such a lying idiotic ditherer.

Gary| 6.13.11 @ 8:16AM

I think it was Milton Friedman who said the two groups of people who hate free and open competition the most are college professors and CEOs.

TrueBlue| 6.13.11 @ 3:21PM

Small business gets in the way of corporate profits, so of course CEOs want to make sure laws are passed that make it harder for other companies to make money. It interferes with them getting their bonuses for meeting the quotas they promised shareholders when they got hired to the position.

martin j smith| 6.13.11 @ 8:21AM

Le me add one more point: Look at what Obama is doing on ENERGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reports seem to say prices will sky rocket for electricity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Look at the price of fuel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DONE ON PURPOSE TO DESTROY OUR NATION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NikFromNYC| 6.13.11 @ 3:27PM

Cold fusion featured in the LA Times in '89 before it was debunked. Environmentalists were aghast at the possibility of cheap clean energy:

“It’s like giving a machine gun to an idiot child.” – Paul Ehrlich (mentor of John Cook of SkepticalScience.com, author of "Climate Change Denial")

“Clean-burning, non-polluting, hydrogen-using bulldozers still could knock down trees or build housing developments on farmland.” – Paul Ciotti (LA Times)

“It gives some people the false hope that there are no limits to growth and no environmental price to be paid by having unlimited sources of energy.” – Jeremy Rifkin (NY Times)

“Many people assume that cheaper, more abundant energy will mean that mankind is better off, but there is no evidence for that.” – Laura Nader (sister of Ralph)

The most popular AGW supporting blogs are owned by PR firms financed by green energy speculators:
DeSmogBlog = green PR firm paid for by a $125 million online gambling site convicted money launderer who sells solar cells.
RealClimate = left wing PR firm behind the junk science link of vaccines to autism and the silicone breast implant scare which bankrupted Dow Corning.
ClimateProgress = left wing think tank.

CLIMATEGATE 101: "Don't leave stuff lying around on ftp sites - you never know who is trawling them. The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone....Tom Wigley has sent me a worried email when he heard about it - thought people could ask him for his model code. He has retired officially from UEA so he can hide behind that." - Phil Jones

Here I present The Quick Glance Guide to Global Warming:
Denial: http://bit.ly/m6xySt
Oceans: http://oi53.tinypic.com/2i6os4y.jpg

-=NikFromNYC=- Ph.D. in Carbon Chemistry (Columbia/Harvard)

NikFromNYC| 6.13.11 @ 3:27PM

Thermometers: http://oi52.tinypic.com/2agnous.jpg
Earth: http://oi56.tinypic.com/2reh021.jpg

NikFromNYC| 6.13.11 @ 3:27PM

Thermometers: http://oi52.tinypic.com/2agnous.jpg
Earth: http://oi56.tinypic.com/2reh021.jpg

David| 6.13.11 @ 4:05PM

I suggest "tiny" does not have anything to do with the URLs posted here.

BackToBasics| 6.14.11 @ 12:40AM

from NikFromNYC's post - "Environmentalists were aghast at the possibility of cheap clean energy"

Going from memory, scienctists Stanley and Pons admitted fudging the data, but they still seemed to think that something unusual was going on. There have been ongoing, small-scale experiments ever since. From what I've read, there are times when the enclosed system heats up and times when it does not. It seems to heat up when the palladium rods are in an active state of chemical or fusion reaction when the system is started.

There's not enough palladium in the world to satisfy our energy needs but perhaps there is a substitute for it. However, at the very least, some limited grants should have been given to study this further.

I think that the energy companies and many politicians themselves thwarted government funding for research in order to keep the status quo going. The people can be controlled much more easily if energy is expensive rather than cheap.

Petronius| 6.13.11 @ 8:25AM

The free market is an arena. This bunch believes in sandbox. Value and voluntary exchange are out. It's have, get, and benefit. And now for a few words they will never mention; confiscation, coercion, and rationing. Buffett and co. don't have to put up with any of it. They wear the P C shade of brown lipstick.

Louis Jenkins| 6.13.11 @ 8:38AM

"If we could match up schools and businesses, we could create pipelines right from the classroom to the office or factory floor. "

First, you have to have schools that teach business, and that includes the hard core skills of measurements, tool and dye, reciepts and flow, marketing, and all the other items that make for for sound practices. Next you have to have a market for these skills. They're not there. Energy? As Martin Smith points out Obama is at war with energy. It isn't cheap, and it's going to get more expensive. Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Obama needs to quit blowing smoke rings and telling us how great things are going to be.

George S| 6.13.11 @ 2:06PM

We also need factories but with EPA, OSHA, EEOC, NLRB, factories are like baby bunnies in an open field under a hawk's nest.

David| 6.13.11 @ 4:06PM

Oh please. How can you possibly excuse the actions of a Massey Energy, for example?

Stormzeye| 6.13.11 @ 5:53PM

All the alphabet soup agencies in Washington can't stop an industrial accident from happening they can only create litigation opportunities for trial lawyers after the fact.

David| 6.13.11 @ 6:24PM

And here I thought you were one of the more rational posters here, Stormzeye. Great handle by the way.
I wasn't referring to Massey's biggest disaster. If you followed the sale of the company recently, you'd realize that. Of course, no set of regulators or rules can stop a given industrial accident. I'm referring to the years of deliberate, sanctioned skirting if not outright ignoring basic safety regulations.

David| 6.13.11 @ 6:24PM

Nunya| 6.13.11 @ 4:02PM

LJ, Obozo doesn't know how to DO anything BUT blow smoke rings. He's an empty suit--or a "sock puppet" as someone wrote, and it's George Soros with his hand in the puppet making it move. Obozo couldn't tell you the difference between a debit or a credit, and people are looking to him to fix the economy? Please.

All he knows about is communism and government controlling EVERYTHING. That's how he was raised, that's what he believes in. He believes that capitalism is evil, which is why he continually denigrates "big business"--although he's in bed with Wall Street. He's a lying hypocrite, and a moron to boot. He's the Teleprompter in Chief.