Barack Obama will soon be releasing the numbers for his 2009 budget proposal. It’s considered to be the budget buster to end all budget busters.And That May Not Necesarily Be The Best Thing To Do.
Austan Goolsbee was one of President-Elect Obama’s closest economic advisors during his 08 campaign. He described Obama’s plan on CBS’s Face The Nation in this way:
“It’s going to be a number big enough that when they spell it out it looks like ‘OOOH!!’ with so many zeros in it.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said that the proposal will cost between $500 and $700 billion dollars. During Obama’s campaign, he was proposing 125 to $150 billion but his team now believes that the economy has gotten drastically worse. I hope Obama doesn’t fall in the same trap door that former Gov. Gray Davis fell into when he attempted to help California’s power companies when we were having blackouts.
Even though Gray Davis was helping Californians through a crisis, the Republicans saw a political opportunity and convinced voters to recall him.
On Oct 7, 2003, Davis was recalled with 55.4% of the votes in favor of the recall, and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected to replace him as governor.
Most Americans aren’t like the majority of voters in the Golden State, and the Republican Party is not on the verge of being extinct like the dinosaurs who call themselves Californian Republicans. Just think, California Democrats have spent more money than a drunken sailor, yet they still managed to keep their jobs and a majority in Sacramento. Most conservatives see the citizens of the Golden State as politically correct, free loaders, who are like bloodsuckers in the wallets of the producers i.e. the conservatives.
The conservative rhetoric seems to have some weight, because every time Gov. Schwarzenegger propose cuts in social programs, the administrators and recipients of those programs make big noise in the news.
Here are a few examples:
On Nov. 24, 2008, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi led a protest against the Governors’ proposed cut in funds for public schools and health services to help meet an $11.2 billion budget deficit.
In February, hundreds of senior citizens and disabled people protested the proposed budget cuts to life sustaining services and income.
In May, many of Pasadena’s parents, students, teachers, office staff, administrators, school board members, and concerned residents protested in front of every one of their schools.
In June, a coalition of California health care groups protested Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts, arguing they “would swell the number of uninsured people by 1 million by the end of his term,” according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.
Protests like those would be met with glee in most red states and districts. While I neither support or disagree with the protest, I understand California is teetering on bankruptcy because we tend to blindly support most of the good sounding initiatives and legislation that our politicos promote.
I also know that a future big government spending Obama administration will assure the Democrats minority status in 2010 if his projected budget is passed.
Many are marketing Obama’s plan as something similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) New Deal, but I don’t see it that way. Here is a list of a few programs FDR created when he was President:
Federal Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. Unemployment benefits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Health Insurance for Aged and Disabled (Medicare). Grants to States for Medical Assistance Programs (Medicaid). State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
I expect the Republican Machine to sit on the sideline like vultures as Democrats throw federal dollars at every liberal idea they can imagine. And by the end of 2009, Obama’s big government ideals will dwarf President Bush’s out of sight, out of mind, and out-of- cash spending. At that point, they will give Obama the same treatment they gave Gov. Davis.
They will become a silent but deadly blade slicing away at Obama with more vigor than those used to reject the Bush administration.
But if Obama uses his first term to advocate American made products to the world by not selling us out to the highest foreign bidder, like many, if most, of Washington politicians.
He is a real advocate for the middle class by using his bully pulpit to influence business owners that what is good for middle income earners is good for the country.
Right now, it seems that your typical conservative thinkers are in the pockets of multination foreign owned businesses that are located in America. All Obama has to do is steal a page out of former President Bill Clinton’s play book and stand firmly in the middle of the road, while conservative go out of their way to tarnish their pro-American image.
Once he does what he has to do to bail out the valuable industries that created this strong middleclass he will be set to be on the road to success. But what about the stock market losses?
Just think of the logic surrounding the buying and selling stock: Buy low and sell high.
The market is just correcting itself because it has been over-inflated by CEO’s and stock market. Analysts are trying to manipulate consumers into purchasing their goods and services at an high price.
The bad news is many employees may lose their jobs, but the good news is the price of goods should be dropping soon. Once the market has settled and business owners have restructured their businesses the bargain shopping will begin.
I really hope the Obama insiders take a close look at California legislature’s big spending habits and do the opposite.
If Obama is successful in his first two years, he will be allowed to reach into his liberal bag of hopes and dreams and make them a part of America’s future.
