| Death, Taxes and the Failure of Obamanomics Benjamin Franklin famously said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." With America's stagnant-as-a-swamp economy still stuck at 9.5% unemployment, an unexpected 484,000 new jobless claims, and reports of a slowed recovery, it might be time for old Ben to pull out his quill and add another certainty to his list: the continuing failure of Obamanomics. Judging by the words of one of President Barack Obama's economic advisors, it doesn't look like the Administration is going to change course anytime soon.
On ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour," Laura Tyson, a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, called for even more of the same tried-and-failed Obamanomics stimulus policies, when asked how to get the economy moving faster:
We have to continue to do everything we can to stimulate demand in the economy… Invest in people. Invest in infrastructure. Invest in knowledge," she said. "Invest, invest, invest is really what we must do.
"Invest, invest, invest" is Obamaspeak for "spend, spend, spend," which the White House and the Pelosi-Reid Congress have done plenty of already, to no great effect. Never mind all that; Tyson made clear that she believes we should stay on that one-way road to perdition, paved with taxpayer dollars. As The Washington Examiner editorialized on Sunday:
They've spent nearly $8 trillion since 2007, including nearly $2 trillion on economic stimulus programs and an equal amount for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and similar bailouts. They've effectively nationalized Fortune 500 corporations, taken over the health care sector, and set the regulatory stage for more bailouts and takeovers, but the needle is still stuck. Worse, recovery isn't likely for many months ahead because those same politicians are planning more of the same failing policies.
There is hope for the U.S. economy, but it doesn't lie in more Obama stimulus spending. The answer is in the private sector, where billions of dollars in pent-up cash could be unleashed to fuel new investment and more jobs, if only Washington would get out of the way. The Heritage Foundation's James Sherk writes:
Congress must recognize that a strong recovery and new hiring depends on the confidence businesses have in the future. Uncertainty is a fact of life for all businesses, but when Washington adds materially to that uncertainty, businesses invest less and hire less. The most powerful, no-cost strategy Congress can adopt is to stop threatening those in a position to hire—no more taxes, no cap-and-trade legislation, no government takeover of private health care, and no massive increase in the public debt.
Unfortunately, the White House doesn't quite see it that way. Last week, the President blamed Europe's economic struggles for the cool U.S. economy, all in an effort to shift the blame from his policies. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "The trajectory of where we were in April is different than where we are right now, and certainly Europe was one of the first signs of that."
Instead of spending time tailoring his rhetoric to explain away the soft economy, President Obama ought to bite the bullet and see Obamanomics for what it is – a Titanic of a failure that is sinking the U.S. economy. Death and taxes might be inevitable, but staying the course on failed economic policies doesn't have to be.
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