Susan E Fillippeli

Obama's Weekly Radio Address:  Time of Crisis Can be Great Opportunity

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090307/D96PG78G1.html

If you want further evidence that Obama has no desire for a timely solution to the nation’s economic crisis, you need only to note that Timothy Geithner has not had even one of his 17 top deputies named, much less confirmed.  He is trolling the choppy waters of this economic crisis alone and, much like the tragic drowning of two NFL players last week, his tiny boat is about to be swamped.

The fact is that the sour economy is viewed by the Obama administration as the best opportunity in our lifetime to enact European-style socialistic measures that will enslave future generations into a lifetime of dependency on big government. 

It is no accident that the stock market has fallen another 30% since Obama’s inauguration.  In the six weeks since he took office, Obama has done nothing to reassure investors or to enact policies to stop the hemorrhaging.  And why would he?  A population that is frightened and broke is a population that will accept almost any change sold to it in the name of progress.

If you haven’t watched the following video, you need to.

http://online.wsj.com/video/rahm-emanuel-on-the-opportunities-of-crisis/3F6B9880-D1FD-492B-9A3D-70DBE8EB9E97.html

This is Rahm Emmanuel discussing the fact that the Obama Administration does not want to “waste” the opportunities brought on by this crisis.  This is the exigence that “demands” bold changes, according to Emanuel and—make no mistake—a recovering economy would waste the opportunity before their changes could be enacted.

Pay very close attention to what Obama, Emanuel and Geithner say and do in the coming weeks and months.  They will give lip service to the economy (e.g., “going to Ohio to announce that 25 jobs have been “saved” on the same day that economic figures report that another 651,000 jobs have been lost http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19717.html ).  Let’s face it, even if the 25 jobs were a net gain, at that rate (25 jobs per day) it would take 438 years to “save” 4 million jobs.  They will talk about not saving the “greedy” Wall Street tycoons, but they know full well that millions of middle class Americans are invested in the markets through their 401ks and IRAs.  Because it is in their best interest, the Obama administration wants middle class Americans to be so fearful about the future that they will agree to measures that would be otherwise unthinkable.

What does Obama have to gain if the economy continues to crumble?  Plenty.  To begin with, millions of middle class Americans who were diligently saving in 401K accounts and IRAs are now panicking about their retirements and their futures thus making them more susceptible to government control of retirement accounts (e.g. instead of the widespread belief that Social Security wouldn’t be around 25 years in the future, the irony is that we will ALL be forced to live on government mandated retirement funds). 

Further, we will all be at the mercy of government health care.  Universal coverage is a myth that Obama doesn’t want you to examine too closely.  It is true that there are healthcare services that are now unavailable to folks who are uninsured or otherwise can’t afford them, but an examination of countries where state healthcare is available shows that healthcare services are denied to people who are deemed too old or too sick to benefit, or because procedures are deemed too expensive.  In Great Britain, NICE refused to sanction the use of Tarceva for lung cancer patients (despite the fact that the drug is approved for treatment of lung cancer and has been proven to be an effective line of treatment) until it was shamed into it by a public campaign from lung cancer patents and their families.  Think that won’t happen here?  It already has.  The Oregon Health Plan sent Barbara Wagner a letter telling her that they would not pay for Tarceva to treat her lung cancer, but they would cover drugs used in physician aided suicide. http://www.katu.com/news/26119539.html  The truth is universal healthcare is an oxymoron.  Most Americans understand this, but in a state of fear caused by a prolonged economic collapse, they may believe that government healthcare is better than nothing. 

That is what Obama is counting on.  Obama has no interest in taking steps to reassure investors or strengthen the economy.  Obama campaigned on a rhetoric of hope, but is governing through a rhetoric of fear.