You know that saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”? It’s particularly convenient if your enemy’s enemy has been your friend all along.
The enemy of Barack Obama and the Democrats this fall is our anemic economy. And so, since the Republicans want Democrats to fail at the ballot box this November, their best friend is the weak economy. The worse the economy gets, the better the GOP’s prospects for taking over Congress. But the sick and twisted yet incontrovertible fact is that Republicans are not only praying for our economy to get worse — they’ve been doing their best all along to hasten its demise.
Earlier this summer, Senator Debbie Stabenow — whose home state of Michigan has the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation — claimed that Republicans were not just blocking the extension of unemployment benefits but intentionally stalling and gumming up the legislative works on basic economic recovery legislation because, “In cynical political terms, it doesn’t serve them if things turn around (in the economy).” Sen. Stabenow said, “They want our country to fail to win an election, and they’re willing to take the people of this country with them.” That Stabenow is right is only more apparent now that Democrats and Obama are going to (increasingly obscene) lengths to pass economic policies that align with conservative doctrine while Republicans still block and attack any positive change.
You would think this is stupid. After all, if the Republican ploy works — if the economy crumbles and they gain control of the House and possibly the Senate, too — then the they will have an even-worse economic crisis on their hands that Republicans will be responsible for fixing. Ah, but that would be a problem only if they intended to fix it…
You see, the Republicans will eventually put more people to work, but only by eviscerating labor unions, minimum wage laws and worker protections so that employment levels technically go up but real income and quality of life for workers drastically declines. Meanwhile, conservative economic policies will concentrate more and more wealth in the hands of the richest of the rich. So in absolute terms GDP will rise, but the prosperity of average Americans will stagnate or drop. The GOP will not regret the continued rise of income inequality and the inability for regular folks to reach the American Dream. To the contrary: This was their elitist economic agenda all along.
Conservatives have designed and pursued an imbalanced, unjust, failed economy for the last 40 years. In fact, the good ol’ days of a “strong economy” to which Republicans want us to return is an economy where most Americans were working harder and harder for less and less while big business wrote the rules and the elite hoarded all the wealth. As the structural problems in our economy have compounded, the now “worse” economy is even better than elite Republicans could have dreamed — worsening levels of economic inequality with all spoils going to the already-spoiled AND political opportunism. To borrow President Obama’s metaphor, the Republicans didn’t just drive us into the ditch — they wanted us there all along.
Take the absurd Republican response to tax breaks for small businesses that Obama proposed this week. Republicans — while promoting themselves as the defenders of small business — have said that giving tax breaks to small business is bad policy and, instead, we should extend tax breaks for the richest of the rich. See, e.g., John McCain:
“Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” suggested that the new proposals from the White House to spur small businesses wouldn’t do the job. “It isn’t going to resolve this incredible uncertainty out there that large and small businesses have about their financial future,” he said. “’The American people want us to stop spending, so let’s just give them some certainty. Let’s extend the existing tax cuts, and then let’s give some more tax breaks to small businesses and large, and then maybe the American people will have some confidence.””
But the fact is, tax cuts are a variation of spending. If the government has less money, it has to borrow money from somewhere else to cover existing commitments. So Republicans aren’t really talking about spending versus not spending, they’re arguing about who money should be spent on. Obama and the Democrats want government to help working people and small businesses. Republicans want government to help the richest of the rich.
An economy that only works for the richest of the rich is by definition a failure. Except if you’re the Republican Party. For the Republicans, our failing and unfair economy — like your enemy’s enemy — is the friend they’ve been seeking for a long, long time.
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3 Responses to Republicans Want Our Economy to Fail
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You are out of our mind pure and simple and no doubt a Progressive. The truth of the matter is your days I am convinced are thank God numbered. Please take you mindset and leave the United States I’m sure Cuba, China or any number of other socialist countries would be more than happy to receive you and your progressive ideas. Please leave, the sooner the better for all concerned.
OBAMA – - The President America needs now
This little piece is interesting but I am confused. You are a Chief Education Officer, yet you educated no one here. You simply made statements with no regard of any facts for people who are unwilling or just too stupid to understand anything else. Lets look and see just how well your assertions stand up to the reality of the situations, shall we.
3.2 million jobs created. 800,000 by the president himself and 2.4 million with the economic stimulus. The CBO has a dubious record to say the least. And will most always tell the present administration just what they want to hear. Their method of calculating
“job creation” is one of the worst examples of “book cooking” in the civilized world. Government jobs were saved which by and far were the greatest beneficiaries of this stimulus bill. That in itself will never motivate an economy. What are these jobs? Where are they? How long did they last? Why is unemployment still at 9.5%. YOU EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“32 million more Americans now have health insurance….” The full scope of this health insurance sham will not take effect until 2014, if it makes it that far. Until then people WILL be without health insurance. Insurance companies are not required to provide insurance and as for any Government option coming into play, doctors can not be required to accept it. Just like many doctors no longer accept Medicare or Medicaid. YOU EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“Big banks can no longer pocket exorbitant profit’s while passing off the costs of risks to taxpayers”, and “toxic financial products wont trick consumers and poison our economy”. Business has always found ways around Government interference and they always will. There would be no risks to the tax payers if the government did not back the risk takers in the first place. Consumers would not be tricked if the government did not guarantee the tricksters, and the consumer paid more attention in the schools we spend so much money on. YOU EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“President Obama persuaded BP….” President Obama strong-armed BP into wasting money on an accident which turned out to be far less than what the world was lead to believe.
“And rescued General Motors to the point GM is now selling public stock and repaying the Government“. The president rescued the UAW. Why should he have done it at all? Of course people are buying GM stock, the government is guaranteeing its survival. They need to buy GM cars, which they are not doing in great numbers. So in time GM stock will become artificially overpriced and it will come tumbling down again, this time for good. YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“The president ended the war in Iraq….” Last I heard there are still over 50,000 American troops in Iraq and they are still getting killed. The dates for withdrawal were set before Obama was elected. YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“The only way to get the economy going is with Government spending that creates jobs and puts money in the hands of working people”. If just getting money into the hands of
“working people” (whatever that is) was the answer, then why not just skip the jobs part altogether. Why not just print more money and give it out. That would work right?
YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“President Obama’s spending has wisely focused not only on short term stimulus, but also long term economic growth which will generate budget surplus in the future and pay down the gap”. This statement is so ambiguous it defies any explanation. With about 100 trillion dollars in unfunded mandates coming in the near future, and a GDP which at present is only $14 trillion just how will that be achieved any time soon or if at all? YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“What we need is a strong leader who understands the role of government….” What we need is a population which understands its government’s role. The other way around is how dictators are put in office. “Who can unite us across our differences and inspire us….” A population who falls in love with their leader have done one of two things, they have either elected a dictator, or anointed a king. There is no middle ground here. YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
“If your family was doing fine until recently, you have presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Johnson to thank”. You could really do with some education on FDR and LBJ, but that’s for another time. Social Security= broke and littered with fraud. Medicare= broke and littered with fraud. Collective bargaining laws= outdated and destroyers of jobs. Home ownership incentives= the cause of the housing bubble in the first place. Improvements in public education= based on studies too numerous to count, a failure you must be a proud product of. YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN THIS.
So with all this said, just what kind of education does a Chief Education Officer supply? For that matter, exactly what is a Chief Education Officer? I gave you numbers and logic for my rational. You only gave statements with absolutely nothing to make a rational decision about them at all. That’s not education, its called indoctrination, or years ago it was known by another name, propaganda.
Therefore one must conclude, YOU HAVE EDUCATED NO ONE IN ANYTHING.
Regards,
Erick Brisson
neither of these posts have educated anyone. If you are going to comment, please provide facts instead of just spouting off. When people are poor, they of course will steal (or other more disreputable things). I think that MANY progressive Americans (including myself) would LOVE to move to a “more progressive” country (ie. any European country) . Problem is that they don’t want us. Most of the modern world now see us as obsolete. Most people in the western world now see Americans as leeches. We can’t even manage our own country. why would they want us?