Marking the First Hundred Days of a Presidency is a benchmark, a reflective moment of sorts, and more importantly it is a point at which a nation assesses the job done by its new leader. In an environment where the vast majority of the national media has demonstrated no objectivity in its reporting on the Obama White House, America is being aggressively rushed into potentially destructive economic adventures.
Two social objectives of the new Presidency that should be commended are Obama's goal to extend the availability of education and the provision of universal health care. That he plans to achieve both in a time of economic crisis is difficult to comprehend, nevertheless, these should be long term objectives worthy of a modern nation since superior education of a country's youth ensures its stability for the foreseeable future. Even the much maligned George Bush initially set out to bolster educational spending when he stepped into the Oval office.
Obama came to the White House an ideologue, with experience very distant from the world of economics, business and entrepreneurship. He has been energized by a voting public seeking renewal, promises of a better tomorrow, end to the war in Iraq, and deliverance from the weight of the recession.
The President's principal focus and attention through the First Hundred Days should have been the economy, and should have remained the economy. His shotgun approach to administration has exposed his weakness on the economic front which allowed Bernanke, Geithner and Summers to wreak havoc over the taxpayers' futures with commitments of trillions of dollars to the banking community. Obama's lack of knowledge, experience and interest in all things economic, have left individuals who were responsible for the mess, in charge of directing the grand Wall Street bailout program, the stimulus package, and the restructure of corporate America.
Seemingly stuck in silent stupor, the MSM uncritically observes an administration already heading to almost $2 trillion dollars of deficit, and planning the spending of $4 trillion in the 2010 fiscal year. It almost appears as if the numbers have numbed taxpayers. "The size of such spending is incomprehensible, so why worry about it?" "The Administration and Congress aren't worried, so why should we be?" "Wall Street seems to be in agreement, so that must be good? No?" Bankers on Wall Street are in fact ecstatic with the Administration's largesse with taxpayer dollars.
Somewhere floating through the ether is the assumption that all this bailout and stimulus spending of trillions by the government will magically create a vibrant surging economy that will enable repayment of the trillions borrowed. Preventing failures of major financial institutions has been sold to taxpayers as "a must do or we all starve," concept with absolutely no valid presentation of the facts underlying either the size or nature of the bailouts or the assets being bailed or even where the cash really went. All the while Obama promised transparency, ... well, actually he pretended he wanted transparency. There is no transparency, but this is a minor footnote on the real agenda.
The escalation of government presence, government interference and government corporate welfare is an ideologically launched imperative that has very effectively used fear to restrain objection. The public has acquiesced. This government expansion will not only never be reversed, as is the tendency with most government expansions, but it will create a fundamental shift in the core of the American psyche, the American business landscape and in the American social system.
We can expect that the commitment of such unprecedented government intervention, expansion and spending will lead the nation into double digit inflation since the economy will not generate the surge in tax payments necessary to cover the debt, the interest on that debt, and the total government committed funds over the coming twenty years.
As noted here previously, this President's First Hundred Days should have been spent understanding the complexities permeating the economy of the great nation he was taking charge of, and most of all he should have established for himself a thorough grasp on the nature of this peculiar economic ingredient we call inflation. Inflation is a destructive force that destroys the wealth of a nation, of companies and of individuals.
With all the brain power available to the largest media outlets, it would be enlightening to occasionally hear a perceptive question, or a contrarian article of substance objectively assessing the measures being implemented by Washington. All Presidents obfuscate when selling themselves, after One Hundred Days, it is about time the media presented taxpayers with some analysis that might bring about some restraint on the abuse being escalated on them and the next generation by the Obama White House and its suppliant Congress.
James Raider writes The Pacific Gate Post
