Poor Man, Poor Man

Is that really Obama’s goal? Stripping the rich of their money and handing it to the poor? He’s accused of it all the time. Even that Baucus guy, the Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said the other day that Obamacare is really about correcting income “maldistribution”. Less for the rich. More for the poor. Too bad for Baucus, income redistribution is a huge negative for most people. As they say, you can’t multiply wealth by dividing it.

But, let’s get back to Obama. Is he trying to make the poor rich? To be sure, his election produced a lot of joy among folks who thought they’d just landed on easy street. But, I don’t think he’s about that. I mean, if he doesn’t like the rich, which seems a sure bet, he’s not going to make more of them.

So, what’s his real deal? Here’s what I think. He’s trying to put the Government at the top of the power heap by building it up while tearing everything, and everyone, else down. And it will take a ton of money that we don’t have. Forget the rich versus poor thing because by the time the Government holds all the cards, everyone will be poor. In fact, by the time the Government reaches the top, there won’t be a top anymore. Just a bottom without a bottom. And we’ll be free falling together down this bottomless pit of – you guessed it – total Government control and endless debt.

We’re hurtling that way right now. Just the other day, when Obama was grinning like the Cheshire Cat over the passage of Obamacare, something scary was happening in our treasury market. We need to sell treasury bonds to raise the $1.6 trillion in deficit spending for this year.

But, what happens if we throw a bond sale and no one shows up? That almost happened the other day because our debt situation is on the verge of being too risky for investors. To put that in perspective, if we couldn’t borrow the $1.6 trillion, we’d lose 40% of this year’s budget. We couldn’t afford both the current defense and social security payouts, let alone healthcare and the rest of the items on the Government’s long list.

And, that’s only one of the killer problems with the Government grabbing control. The other is the Government can’t run a little kid’s lemonade stand successfully let alone a big business undertaking. Just look at what happened to Amtrak, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Or the Stimulus spending or even dispensing those swine flu shots last fall. A complete bust. And who really wants a Government bureaucrat as their new best friend, anyway?

So, how about you and the Country ending up head over heels in permanent debt? Or having that bureaucrat standing between you and your M.D., your car dealer, your banker, your light bulbs, etc? Not to your liking? Then you can’t think much of an administration that refuses to understand the urgent need for small, responsible Government. Whatever shall you do about it?

See you in the mirror.