Jobs growth is now, for the first time in American history, zero. Not a single new job was created in the American economy in the last month.
Most people are understandably upset. But how upset is Obama? And how upset should people with his ideology really be?
Zero growth is a good thing for socialists. This means the actualization of two things they cherish: Equalization and dependence on government handouts.
The entire constituency of the socialist, liberal Democratic Party is based on these two things. The less the economy grows, the poorer everyone becomes. Once everyone is equally poor, then liberalism has finally achieved its elusive goal of economic equality for all.
Additionally, the more the economy fails to grow, the more people must rely on unemployment and other government benefits. While Nancy Pelosi was still Speaker of the House, she actually once claimed that unemployment benefits were a main driver of the economy. This was a plainly stupid thing to say, but she was actually quite close to the truth as liberals understand it.
The more the economy falters, the more people depend on the government for subsistence. For liberal Democrats, and even for many Republicans who love the welfare state, welfare state benefits are a growth industry.
Obama is going to give a “jobs speech.” In this speech, he will supposedly outline how he intends to make jobs come into existence. If he knows how to do this, then why didn’t he do so three years ago? In fact, he claimed that passing ObamaCare and spending $1 trillion dollars on additional programs would revive the economy, and bring the unemployment rate to below 8 percent long before now. That didn’t happen. But instead of being humiliated, Obama merely talks of being “frustrated” and blames Republicans for everything. Obama gets away with this because our media and academic cultural elites, Fox News and Sean Hannity notwithstanding, are still almost entirely liberal and socialist.
Most Americans have a pragmatic and non-ideological approach to the economy. They don’t care whether a liberal or conservative is in charge of the government. Most don’t care whether we have tax cuts or tax increases, Big Government or small government — just so it “works.”
This is an admission by most Americans that they are simply unwilling to think. They don’t want to take responsibility for asking (much less answering) the question, “Which economic system is superior, and why? Is capitalism or socialism superior? Is limited, smaller government the better way to go? Or is bigger government with high taxes and ever-expanding welfare programs for the middle class better?” Most Americans, especially the undecided Independents who determine nearly all elections, simply want “what works.” What worked in the 1980s isn’t what works in 2011 or 2012. That’s why in the 1980s we had Reagan, and now we have Obama. What works is … well, whatever works.
This attitude of “whatever works” is a dangerous half-truth. Of course it’s rational to want what works. But what works does not change with the times, the mood or the political climate. What works is only what’s rationally plausible and produces results.
It doesn’t take that much thought to figure out that businesses produce more than government and politicians ever have, or ever will. If it’s more jobs we need, then the private sector should be deregulated, left alone and have its taxes lowered immediately. Yes, “the rich” should have their taxes lowered most of all. It’s their money, and they’re the only ones capable of producing jobs.
“Ideological” is one of those words like “selfish.” The moment you’re accused of it, you’re automatically guilty of it and therefore bad. Just being accused makes it true, and it’s so unthinkable an offense that it of course makes you a bad person to be ideological.
But why? I want to be called ideological. To be called ideological means to be accused of HAVING IDEAS. It’s much better to have ideas than to have no ideas. Granted, your ideas have to be rational, plausible and defensible in practice. Bad ideas are worse than good ideas, and arguably worse than no ideas. But to have no ideas is still no virtue!
If Obama were anyone other than a half-black socialist who at one time was considered brilliant and cool by a media and academic establishment who will never admit they were wrong, he would probably have been impeached by now. Imagine George W. Bush trying to run for a third term, back in 2008 when the economy first started collapsing, had a third term been permitted. He would have been sliced to political pieces and probably lost all 50 states. He would have been so pulverized not because he deserved it (he certainly did), but because he was associated (falsely) with the ideology of capitalism and the free market. All you have to be is associated with these things, and you’re toast. And if you’re associated with their opposites, as Obama is, you’re excused and defended no matter how terrible you prove to be.
Jobs will never be created by the public sector of government. At most, government can create worthless, unproductive jobs in the public sector by stealing capital from the private sector, where jobs would otherwise have been created without government intervention. Obama, unlike liberals past, cannot even do that much. He makes previous socialist Presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt seem entrepreneurial by comparison.
Obama is the first President to usher in an era of zero growth. He’s not embarrassed by this, nor should he be. He’s accomplishing precisely what socialism sets out to do, every time it’s tried.