Is everybody hopeful and changed?
EVERYBODY'S DOING THE LOCOMOTION...
From the speech:
And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.
Hmm. Should we (a) drive away; (b) bicycle away; (c) fly away in flying cars...
A DANGEROUS LEVEL OF TEETH-GRINDING: The One reviews the current causes of our crisis:
A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future.
Transfer wealth back to the wealthy would be more like it.
ISN'T IT GREAT WHEN RHETORIC MATCHES REALITY:
Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million
jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs
rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar
panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.
Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their jobs
and educate our kids. Health care professionals can continue caring
for our sick. There are 57 police officers who are still on the
streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs
their department was about to make.
Obama offered three examples, two of which - teachers and police officers - are not private sector, in order to buttress the assertion that 90% of saved or created jobs will be in the private sector.
THE SUN WILL COME OUT TOMORROW, OR SOMEDAY:
Still, this plan will require significant resources from the federal
government –- and yes, probably more than we’ve already set aside. But
while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost
of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that
sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade. That
would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and
worse for the next generation. And I refuse to let that happen.
We are already making progress! Just three weeks ago Obama advised us that darkness might be eternal:
Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy
around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And
if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy
will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double
digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point,
we may not be able to reverse.
"Not be able to reverse" is now cut back to a mere decade - who else is feeling the hope?
And speaking of hope, how about the Fed H.3 from Feb 12? Note the precipitous decline in excess reserves, finally -from $843 billion on Jan 14 to $793 billion on Jan 31 to $611 billion on Feb 11. Yes, that is still high compared to the historic level of roughly $2 billion, but the direction seems finally to have changed.
MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR STRAWMEN:
But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term
challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take
care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the
foundation for our common prosperity.
Reagan believed that the US government had an obligation to face down the Soviet empire; Bush 43 believed it had an obligation to oppose terror. Who are the folks who think government has "no role" in laying the foundation for our prosperity? Laws, courts, national defense - c'mon. The ongoing tussle has not been between "no role" and a modest role for the government; the tussle has been between limited government and a wildly expansive government that is involved in every nook and cranny of the economy.
INTERESTING EMPHASIS:
...the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely
critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education.
"Energy", not "the environment". Later, the environment comes in third out of three motivations for change:
But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our
planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make
clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this
Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on
carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in
America.
I'm down with the national security argument for alternative energy, but does his plan mention nukes?
PHONY STATISTICS IT IS TOO LATE FOR ME TO CHECK:
For that same reason, we must also address the crushing cost of health care.
This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty
seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans
to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four
times faster than wages.
"Causes a bankruptcy"? That is surely an echo of a dubious Warren study.
And since six days a week I hear libs moaning that real wages have been stagnant, what am I to make of the news that health care premiums "have grown four
times faster than wages"? Four times zero is zero, and four times tiny growth is still tiny, yes? [Maybe not - I seem to be out of game on this point:
Since 1999, employment-based health insurance premiums have increased 120
percent, compared to cumulative inflation of 44 percent and cumulative wage
growth of 29 percent during the same period.2
Ok, then - he didn't actually say "real wages"...]
INTERESTING GOAL, AWKWARD SOLUTION: Obama on education:
...by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
Fewer non-degreed immigrants (legal and otherwise) would help pad that stat, but I assume he is looking in other directions.
FROM THE BIG FINISH:
...if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that
enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years
from now our children can tell their children that this was the time
when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber,
“something worthy to be remembered.”
America does not quit.
[END OF THREAD]
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