The Prognosis Is Not Good
1/25/2009
The initial celebration over the inauguration of Barack Obama may be over, but there remains a pervasive feeling of euphoria in the air. People appear to have a great deal of optimism that Barack Obama will be able to “fix” what is wrong with this country. I sure wish I could be so optimistic, but folks, from my perspective, the prognosis doesn’t look good.
Our economy is teetering on the edge of a catastrophic collapse that will rival, or surpass, the Great Depression and people are only fooling themselves if they think Barack Obama can “fix” it. I am often called a sore loser and told, “Just accept that Barack Obama is our new President.” I don’t have to “accept” anything, and this isn’t a question of whether or not I am a sore loser. America voted for Barack Obama primarily because he made them “feel good”, and to a lesser extent because he was perceived as the only alternative to John McCain, who, they feared, would just continue the same policies as the Bush administration.
Unfortunately, those two veins of thought show just how little people examined the problems this country faces, and their root causes. So, let’s examine this economic crisis for a moment and see if you still think Obama can do what is needed to “fix” it.
According to John Adams, “All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
Harold
