Obama Promises to Save the Middle Class by Enslaving It Nothing says middle-class triumph like more regulation, unionism, cronyism and endless spending. David Harsanyi | December 7, 2011 In Teddy Roosevelt's era, President Barack Obama explained to the nation this week, "some people thought massive inequality and exploitation was just the price of progress....But Roosevelt also knew that the free market has never been a free license to take whatever you want from whoever you can." And he's right. Even today there are people who believe they should have free license to take whatever they want from whomever they can. They're called Democrats. Yet the president, uniter of a fractured nation, the mighty slayer of infinite straw men, claims that some Americans "rightly" suppose that the economy is rigged against their best interests in a nation awash in breathtaking greed, massive inequality and exploitation. Or I should say, he's trying to convince us that it's the case. The middle-class struggle to find a decent life is the "defining issue of our time," the president went on. And nothing says middle-class triumph like more regulation, unionism, cronyism and endless spending. Hey, Dwight Eisenhower (a Republican!) built the interstate highway system, for goodness' sake. Ergo, we must support a bailout package for public-sector unions—you know, for the middle class. In what other ways will Obama secure the dream in this "defining" moment? Is the middle class going to be salvaged by raising the top marginal tax rates a few points on 1-percenters and adding $1 trillion to the federal budget in 10 years (equal to one year of federal deficit spending)? Or is the middle class going to rise again on the strength of a temporary tax holiday from programs it actually uses? Surely, that won't do. If not, what are you talking about exactly, Mr. President? Give us the big plan. What program have you devised that offers middle-class Americans more opportunity, not just more dependency? How have you expanded the fortunes of the bitter, occasionally clingy bourgeois in the past three years—by adding $4 trillion to their offspring's tab? Smart people can grouse all they want about the supposed zealotry of the tea party or the conservative presidential field (and sometimes, they might be right), but Obama's mimicking Teddy Roosevelt's end-of-career hard left turn tells us a lot about the president's worldview. In his speech in Osawatomie, Kan., Obama dropped almost all pretenses and made the progressive case against an American free market system, which he called "a simple theory...one that speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government....And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. But here's the problem: It doesn't work." Obama, after all, is such a towering economic mind that in Osawatomie, he once again blamed ATMs (and the Internets) for job losses. This is a man we can trust. "Less productivity! More jobs!" That's not to say capital isn't useful occasionally, of course. A few days ago, Obama hosted a $38,000-a-plate fundraiser for wealthy Manhattanites. The president—with the Democratic National Committee—has hauled in more cash from rent-seeking financial-sector companies than all Republican candidates combined. This president has supported every big-business bailout with taxpayers' money, even though he claims they shouldn't be on the "hook for Wall Street's mistakes." But it is refreshing to hear Obama come out and give us a clear picture of this country in all its ugly class-conscious, unjust, menacing glory rather than veil his arguments with any of that soothing rhetoric that got him elected last time. It's time, my friends, for a new square deal.
Thank goodness the nation's wealthiest CEO's and people who caused the financial crisis have people like hightop to protect them and their many millions of dollars. Without folks like that they wouldn't be free to screw over the rest of us. I trust people who look out for the welfare of the multi-million dollar earners far more than someone who'd look after the welfare of the hardworking middle class. Seriously, look who these people are allying themselves with.
At some point, insuring American middle class jobs is in the self interest of the American 1%. Why does Foxconn need Apple to sell products outside the US?
Good thing the President addressed this exact issue: The truth is, we’ll never be able to compete with other countries when it comes to who’s best at letting their businesses pay the lowest wages or pollute as much as they want. That’s a race to the bottom that we can’t win – and shouldn’t want to win. Those countries don’t have a strong middle-class. They don’t have our standard of living. The race we want to win – the race we can win – is a race to the top; the race for good jobs that pay well and offer middle-class security. Businesses will create those jobs in countries with the highest-skilled, highest-educated workers; the most advanced transportation and communication; the strongest commitment to research and technology.
Certainly true - the only question is how long can they delay the disaster. They can't fix it, but it's impressive how long people can delay major problems, and they very well could delay the inevitable for another year with enough bailouts and quick fixes. Romney's much more pragmatic & moderate than the platform he's running on. He's stuck in a far right GOP, and he's running a primary campaign for that. But I'm pretty comfortable that Romney wouldn't do anything crazy as President, at least as compared to much of the rest of the GOP field.
I guess you have a point there, it seems like every week Europe is reaching a big deadline where they have to work it out or suffer debt-megeddon. Yet, that never seems to come. The Euro can't last with the current structure of the Union, but in tough times nationalism becomes very popular, so I think we sooner see a breakup of the Euro and the collapse of most of Europe while Germany and France jump ship for a more isolated dingy. I still don't trust him, the guy has zero foreign policy experience, I'm afraid we'll see another Dubya where the guy with no foreign experience relies on crazy neo-cons to shape his foreign policies. That's one of the reasons I hope (even though I doubt it will happen) that Romney picks Huntsman as his VP.
so do you think big oil, wall street investment banks, and all the other Venn Diagrams you have there support more govt. regulation? Or do you think the overlaps you posted are exactly what the OWS is complaining about?
Two Mormons on the Republican Ticket? I'm already trying to wrap my head around how the Catholic and other Christian churches will twist themselves into knots justifying their endorsements for Romney alone.
He was on the United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs for three years as a Senator for the state of IL. Romney?
<div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:91998" width="512" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="." flashVars=""></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-august-22-2007/billions-and-billions">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a></b><br/>Get More: <a href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/'>Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/'>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href='http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow'>The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p></div></div>
A good speech, .but does Obama have the actual conviciton to do anything but cut some middle of the road deals accomplishing not much? I am skeptical. Sorry, Obama, it is about the 1% vs the 99% and you just don't get it. He is still trying his namby pamby bi-partisanship thing, renaming it "there is not the 1% vs 99%" while doing thousand a plate fun raisers nearly daily on Wall Street and similar locales. Obama has associated with the elite, the 1%, essentially exclusively since he went to one of the most elite prep secondary schools in the US in Hawaii. I know a few months of community organizing, which I think just convinced him that only the elite can save us. Maybe the speech will help reelect this place holder till we can get someone to really lead us.
