As far as I can tell, Obama is dealing with the economy just like the Bush administration - new economic team, same economic strategy.
Where is all the change that Obama promised in his campaign? I know, Obama has not even been sworn in yet, so give the guy a break.
I do like how Obama is using YouTube to give weekly addresses to the nation. Last week, Obama turned up the optimism and asked the nation to come together in this time of great need.
Yesterday, Obama addressed congress and asked them to quickly pass his $775 billion dollar economic stimulus plan – warning dire consequences if they don’t – sound familiar? (Paulson, Bernanke)
But soon after, some senators from his own party publicly criticized his plan to include tax cuts. Several Democrats expressed deep skepticism that the kind of business and individual tax cuts Obama has been discussing wouldn’t do much to create jobs or increase consumer spending.
Yet, in his weekly YouTube address, Obama said;
“Economist from across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the America dream slipping further and further out of reach. That's why we need an America recovering and reinvesting plan”.
Metaphorically speaking, the economy is like a dying patient and the economists are the Doctors considering a survival plan. Obama and his team think we should give the patient another shot of drugs (money) with a higher dosage because the previous shot didn’t get the patient out of the comma. Other Doctors think the best course of action is to stop the drugs (money) and give the patient some time to slowly recover on his own – without risking an overdose of drugs (money) that could cause more damage or possibly kill the patient.
Well known economist, Peter Schiff recently said in his radio address, “we need another government bailout like we need a hole in the head”.
Despite Obama’s rhetoric that all economists are in agreement, not all economists believe more bailouts are the best solution to the problem. Peter Schiff, Jim Rogers, Fred Thompson, Ron Paul and several within both sides of the congressional leadership and me – disagree with any plan that includes spending more money.
As hard as it’s going to be to face the recession now, it’s only going to be harder to face later with larger deficts. Perhaps our best option is to turn and face the recession now.
We can do it. Instead of trying to increase consumer spending with printed money that our kids will have to pay back through higher taxed and massive inflation, why not cut back on spending and buckle down and ride it out. We need to start by cutting back on government spending.