The problems with the Obama presidency are mainly three.
First, he may well be well-meaning and innovative (I know little of his political career so forgive my ignorance) but he crammed his staff full of well-known and not-so-well-meaning political figures, starting from his own vice president. How can you promise peace around the world when you have Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates holding two of the highest offices? And this is just an example.
Second, the public has too high expectations from him and the government in general. Even if he shows himself a strong and capable leader he hasn't got a magic wand. He cannot solve present economic problems overnight, especially by using the same methods which caused them (see below). He cannot improve relationships with the Muslim world at large (governments are another matter completely) as long as his armed forces keep occupying Muslim countries, US weapons (largely paid for the US taxpayers) keep cutting Gaza people to pieces and unpopular dictators are kept in place by US money and diplomacy.
Third, he and his staff are showing complete disregard for "sound money" economy. The present problems didn't stem form an "unregulated" market, but from catastrophic US Treasury and Federal Reserve decisions which were imitated by other institutions around the world and are now sending ripples of destruction all over the globe. The Fed created an illusion of wealth by dramatically increasing the money supply and artificially lowering interest rates starting around 2000. Capital didn't need to be accumulated but was created out of thin air: this violated one of the most important tenets of real world economy and turned the world economy into an overbloated monstruosity. Just look at commodities prices. US banks allowed their customers to use their homes as ATMs with FULL government approval: this was part of Greenspan's master plan. At the same time US Treasury put out God only knows how much debt to pay for the welfare-warfare state which was supposed to help "kickstart" the economy: this debt was dubiously AAA rated and was largely acquired by Chinese and Japanese institutions. It was Keynes' finest hour but it was a magnificent castle built on very weak foundations.
Right now the Obama presidency is proposing to solve the problem by using more of the same: more debt to pay for new welfare projects, more money base expansion, even lower interest rates. I liken this method to rehabilitating an heroine addict by pumping more venom in his veins and promising him that he will behave properly he will have even more drugs available. This will perhaps put him in a permanent dazed condition and avoid withdrawal crisis but it will turn him into even worse addict, always trying to get a larger "fix". Just look at the car and banking "industry": they cannot get enough bailout money and will promise eveything to get what they desperately crave for.
Problem is we know drug addicts can only end in two ways: either they die in a gutter pennyless and s***faced or they somehow manage to survive but turn into decrepit wrecks constantly trying to beg or steal for their "fix". Not a pretty sight.
|