Obama plans to shield us from ourselves in 2008, and ultimately destroy the “Shining City on a Hill”
In the “Wealth of Nations”, Adam Smith believed that a successful nation’s free market will be guided by “an invisible hand”. In studying Adam Smith’s economic philosophies, the Founding Fathers of the United States kept the government out of the free market by writing no laws and regulations restricting any aspect of the market within the country. They knew that if they let this “invisible hand” run its course, the newly formed American economy would flourish. With nothing to hold them back, the Patriots of the country could specialize in anything of their choosing, develop a niche market and become a staple in their communities for their trade. The “specialists” would prosper, as would the others in their respective trades, thus developing a strong, sustainable, wealthy community that would later become a shining example for capitalism and free markets around the world.
Thus was the economic principle of a majority of the Founding Fathers. Alex Hamilton, who was also present at the Constitutional Convention, disagreed. Speaking just blocks from Wall Street on Thursday, in an attempt to finally lay out his economic plan in comparison to the other candidates, Barack Obama attempted to channel Alex Hamilton and describe why Adam Smith’s market guided by the “invisible hand” can no longer work in America, and why our economy is failing. The economy that made America a “shining City on a Hill”, envisioned by John Winthrop, and finally cultivated by Ronald Reagan, is not good enough for Barack Obama. The “invisible hand” is not good enough.
Again channeling Hamilton, Obama pointed out that the government should play in important role in the economy by encouraging manufacturing and infrastructure. “Free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you want, whenever you can get it.” said Obama Thursday. Freedom in the philosophical sense is defined as “the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination”. So a “free” market IS meant to get whatever you want, whenever you want it.
Not everybody makes the right decision all the time, but we learn from our mistakes. As children, our parents can tell us a stove is hot, but we don’t believe them until we get burned. They tell us not to wrestle outside with our friends, but we don’t stop until we break our arm. They can shield us however much they want, but ultimately, by human nature, we learn by mistakes. There are several million people who have made bad financial decisions recently. Granted many were encouraged to do so by enticing products and services, however they were not forced. No matter how often someone may tell you something is a bad decision, it is human nature to see for yourself and learn from the consequences.
The current state of our economy is a correction, a learning curve if you will. Many of us have made bad financial decisions. The average rate of personal savings for 2007, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Commerce, was 0.43%. So, with a median income of around $48,000, that means on average, consumers saved $206 last year. That is the largest indicator that we are not making sound financial decisions – we are not saving anything! However, Obama and other Democratic thinkers feel that if the government can step in and shield us from ourselves, the economy can avoid a state of “bubbles and bursts” and get to a system of “steady growth”. Nothing is wrong with steady growth, it is shielding us from ourselves that goes against the idea of freedom.
Obama stated that government needs to protect consumers from their excesses, that they should regulate institutions more to protect the consumer, and that, and I quote, “…if we can extend a hand to banks on Wall St. who are in trouble, we can extend one to Americans who are in trouble by no fault of their own.” The housing crisis, as I said before, is a well needed correction, and many economists agree. This is a free country, and consumers were not forced to sign for a bad loan, or buy a $500,000 that they could afford only because they received a temporary rate of 1%. What, honestly, did they expect to happen? For Obama to say that consumers are hurting “by no fault of their own” is an outright lie.
A free market should be just that – a free market. We need to learn from our mistakes, take freedom in its ups and downs and deal with the consequences, or else we are bound to repeat ourselves. This exact scenario happened in the 1920′s. I wrote a thesis paper on the causes of the Great Depression, and it scares me how exactly similar it is to today when I look back on my writings. However the government stepped in and attempted to bail us all out and implement regulations to keep us from ever having to suffer a consequence again. This false sense of security that the government has it all under control is raining down on us once again, so why let the government have even more control, and repeat the cycle all over? Obama feels the government should regulate and control every aspect of consumer spending and industry to keep us from our excesses, and ultimately our successes and fortunes. Maybe I’m wrong, but this is eerily similar to the economic philosophies of the former Soviet Union and the National Socialist Party of Germany, and we have seen how all of those have turned out.
I have actually only covered about 5 minutes of Obama’s speech, his understatements, his economic plans to shield us from freedom and excesses and his new Communist Manifesto for America in 2008. To read more, please subscribe to our newsletter!
You can view all of Obama’s speech here
Comment by Falcon on 29 March 2008:
Regulations exist for a reason. Under a completely free market, monopolies reign, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. No minimum wage, no child labour laws, no environmental standards…this article is a too self righteous in its conservative views of the economy.
Comment by gordo on 30 March 2008:
I don’t know who told you that there weren’t any business regulations in the early days of the United States. And there are a lot of examples of countries that use the laissez-faire system that you advocate. Countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, and El Salvador feature low taxes and few regulations. We know these countries collectively as “the third world”.
It’s easy to see why these countries have trouble developing. Like the US before the 1930s, they go through a constant cycle of booms and devastating busts, wiping out most of their entrepreneurs in the process. Their workforces are inefficient, due to poor health and education.
As America turns away from modern economic theory, and back toward the theories that led us into the Great Depression, we drift further from the developed world, and closer to the third world. The value of our currency slides, our debts pile up, and the rates of poverty and homelessness increase. Already, Canada and many Western European nations boast a higher standard of living than the US. That wasn’t true before your hero built his “shining city on the hill.”
If you’re on a downward slide, it’s time for a change in direction.
Comment by Kathy on 11 July 2008:
When the rich get richer, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the poor get poorer. When the rich get poorer, they stop buying their luxury items thus putting the people that make said luxury items out of business. Way too many Americans seem to be willing to shoot themselves in the foot in order to get back at those that have more than them. Small, petty minds will bring this country down.
Comment by NFL Jerseys Wholesale on 30 August 2010:
NFL Jerseys Wholesale
Comment by cheap laptop battery on 27 December 2010:
m to be willing to shoot themselves in
Comment by Air Max 2009 on 15 May 2011:
when i was struggling with my homeworks. He said “I got you a present”
when i was left out alone on my birthday night. He said “I fell for you”
when i was chating with another guy on the phone. He said “I’ll kill it for you”
Comment by haode on 27 June 2011:
cheap wholesale NFL jerseys, buy authentic NFL jerseys
at http://www.green-bay-packers-jersey.com
Comment by peter on 27 June 2011:
cheap wholesale NFL jerseys, buy authentic NFL jerseys
at http://www.shopnfljerseysonline.com
Comment by air max 2011 on 1 July 2011:
Spillerne union direktør Billy – Hunter holdning er svært fast, “Vi vil ikke komme før forholdene, vil forhandlingene fortsette, men den nåværende situasjonen
Comment by Phelps28Daphne on 1 July 2011:
Various people all over the world get the mortgage loans in various creditors, just because that’s simple and comfortable.
Comment by air jordan 13 fusion air max on 13 July 2011:
eam. Good financial and superior strength, the Russian team have let this concern. Unfortunately, shut down, the Central Army team’s attitude is quite a man of character, which m
Comment by Jordan 11 high women heels on 15 July 2011:
In the late 1960’s, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems
Comment by Jordan 13 fusion air max on 19 July 2011:
very clear that the team attitude, “we will not consider those who had only played one season to the players, our club’s goal is to become a longterm winner, short-term pr
Comment by ugg boots tall boots on 20 July 2011:
in the preseason or the occurrence of injuries in Europe, we will not consider other peo
Comment by ugg classic tall boots on 28 July 2011:
e la situation financière, mais aussi sur la nouvelle convention collective a été discuté. Bien que pas encore réalisé une percée, mais il est toujours de voir l
Comment by kids ugg boots on 31 July 2011:
Rumeurs NBA que les employeurs et les employés pour préparer Sike, la saison prochaine pourrait être annulé. Cependant, à partir de la situation act
Comment by uggbootspls on 5 August 2011:
ll tâche suivante est de voter par les joueurs pour rétablir le fonctionnement normal de l’Union joueurs, la ligue de rugby sera officiellement déclaré la fin d
Comment by cheap nike free run on 9 August 2011:
rait être annulé. Cependant, à partir de la situation actuelle, la NBA négociations collectives étaient toujours attitude très positive. Les joueurs de la NBA s
Comment by fake oakleys on 3 September 2011:
thanks for you sharing, i like it. such as the fake oakleys, thanks!
Comment by r4 on 6 September 2011:
Very good r4 card, maybe you will interesting, I like your post very much, very useful. I just stumbled upon your informative blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your very well written blog posts.
Comment by cheap jerseys on 7 September 2011:
thank you for sharing
Comment by jordan air max fusion on 7 September 2011:
oriske evakueringen zone, men øen Manhattan indgik i højrisiko-orkan angreb i nogle m
Comment by discount jerseys on 22 September 2011:
The article is worth reading, I like it very much. I will keep your new articles.
http://www.nfljerseysmalls.com
Comment by Ugg Boots On Sale on 22 September 2011:
I really like this website , and hope you will write more ,thanks a lot for your information.
http://www.bestuggaustralia.com
Comment by evisu on 6 October 2011:
Great News!!! Forza Roby!!!
Comment by replica gucci belts on 13 October 2011:
Thanks for your sharing! I think you are very reasonable, What people want to see is the thing, some days ago, I have seen an article is about your writing. I think also is very good: is about. I think is also a need to share with everyone. Hope to be helpful to you.
Comment by nikelunarwomens on 9 January 2012:
ns is replaced, eliminating the issue right away. Best of all, this procedure is very quick, alm