Turner Catledge, a journalist during the Roosevelt era, described the pattern used by FDR’s administration to sell his legislative proposals to the public as follows: “First there is the early ‘idea’ period, when either the president or some group of his associates hatches the rather rough for of what is to be attempted. Then there is the selling stage, in which the person or the group who thinks up the idea has to ‘sell’ it to the other. There follows in third place the ‘method’ stage when the modus operandi is evolved. Then there comes the final ‘publicity’ stage when the program is announced and the argument is submitted both to Congress and the public in behalf of its adoption.”
Sound familiar? It should. It’s the tried and true formula being used by President Obama and his administration to panic the public into accepting the so-called stimulus package that has been wending its way through Congress.
Economist Walter Williams observed: “The stimulus package being discussed is politically smart but economically stupid. It’s that bedeviling, omnipresent Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy problem again. … A far more important measure that Congress can take toward a healthy economy is to ensure that the 2003 tax cuts don’t expire in 2010 as scheduled. If not, there are 15 separate taxes scheduled to rise in 2010, costing Americans $200 billion a year in increased taxes. In the face of a recession, we don’t need that.”
And, columnist Michelle Malkin noted: “Bashing Rush Limbaugh last week, Obama urged GOP lawmakers to ignore the voices of obstructionism and sign on to his behemoth stimulus package: ‘We shouldn’t let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done.’ … History has shown us that ‘Get Things Done’ is mindless liberal code for passing ineffective legislation and expanding government for government’s sake.”
In an open letter disseminated by the Cato Institute, 200 economists stated, “More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan’s ‘lost decade’ in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the United States today.”
In short, the stimulus package proposed by Congress is being hyped as the way to spend our way to prosperity. Obama has been telling us that if we don’t act immediately, the nation may never recover from its present condition, which he has characterized as the worst economy since the Great Depression. However, if it is really possible to spend our way out of a recession, why are there business cycles at all?
People instinctively know that panicking in an emergency does not solve anything. As a matter of fact, it makes it worse. Panic short-circuits clear thinking and induces action without sufficient facts, especially in complex situations that present a variety of alternatives. And, the worst situation of all is when leaders panic.
Obama’s image is that of a cool customer who keeps his head under pressure. Yet, he has repeatedly appeared in news conferences and public appearances, telling us that the situation with the economy is so urgent that if we do not act immediately, we will never recover. I don’t see that as leadership. True leaders try to keep everyone else from overreacting and losing control.
Unfortunately, the initial response of the Bush administration was to immediately push through the $700 billion bailout package and spend the first $350 billion without any accountability. It’s clear that it did not work, yet we are being told we need more of the same. The reality is that neither Bush nor Obama have provided any clear recommendations about how the causes of the financial crunch that brought the economy down can be fixed, because they don’t know. I would prefer to see our leaders try to keep the public calm while they go about the business of methodically working to solve the problem.
The public, which generally has more sense than its political leaders, appears to agree. Polls now report that the majority of Americans either want to see major changes to the current stimulus plan or they reject it outright.
Politicians can call it stimulus or they can call it change, but it’s just more of the same old tax-and-spend approach, and the American people know it.
Harris R. Sherline is a retired CPA and former chairman and CEO of Santa Ynez Valley Hospital who has lived in Santa Barbara County for more than 30 years. He stays active writing opinion columns and his own blog, Opinionfest.com.