Hope, change, corporate ownership, appeasement abroad, more budget deficits and increased taxes—I don’t think that was part of the original campaign pitch but it’s just about right on for where we are right now as a nation under this anointed administration. I’ve yet to see change—and for that matter I haven’t really even seen a lack of the foot in mouth moments that critics loved George W. Bush for (did you know that Austrians speak Austrian?). I’m giving President Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt still—but I’ve also got a patriotic duty to criticize a grossly powerful centralized government that is sending our nation toward bankruptcy.
Banks received loan money from the Federal Government to provide liquidity during a systemic financial collapse. I don’t want to hash out the details any more because it’s impossibly complex but let’s go with the simple and basic premise that loans were given to help get things back on track. Somewhere in the period where our government was busy making villains out of the banks they began to turn a profit again. Some banks even began to turn the loan money back in—a good sign since I was taught somewhere along the line that the point of a loan is to pay it back in the future. Obama missed that memo I guess, and he’s making the prominent banks keep the loan even though it carries a nasty stigma that has mercilessly pummeled their stocks regardless of the actual financial stability of the bank. By making the banks keep this money, he’s also making sure that he can keep his political thumb right on top of the bank’s management while adding to his record deficit. If you want to regulate banks—fine, but do it in a neutral manner using experts in the field that understand the complexities rather than in a political power grab done to satisfy some pathetic political agenda. Our nation’s economic success is worth so much more than the Democratic Party’s re-election chances four years down the road.
Obama and team have also picked up this new policy of diplomatic appeasement abroad by overlooking North Korea’s recent satellite launch that I’m sure will result in nothing more than a slap on the wrist, lifting travel restrictions to communist Cuba, and finally becoming a part of the UN Human Right’s Council. Don’t get me wrong, I think fundamental human rights are a foundation of government and civilization—but I can’t take an organization that refuses to condemn Sudan but condemns Israel 15 times over a two year period for their human rights violations. Instead they voiced their “deep concern” over the whole Darfur genocide matter only once.
The only hope I have right now is that the public will lash out against this agenda in the 2010 elections and send a clear message that this path isn’t acceptable. Obama was elected on promise for reform but all we’ve seen is an exponential increase in government spending, failed promises, and diplomatic appeasement as if Obama’s more worried about what our traditional enemies think of him rather than the current situation at home. The only hope I have is that it will all be over in four years and someone will become President that supports capitalism and America’s interests abroad.
