Professor Boskin to the Defense...

Michael Boskin takes the defense against the Obama redesign of the USA's economic structure, in an article in the Wall Street Journal today. The title of the article is "Obama's Radicalism Is Killing the Dow", but the subtitle is more indicative of the general intent of the article: "A financial crisis is the worst time to change the foundations of American capitalism."

Prof. Boskin says,

"It's hard not to see the continued sell-off on Wall Street and the growing fear on Main Street as a product, at least in part, of the realization that our new president's policies are designed to radically re-engineer the market-based U.S. economy, not just mitigate the recession and financial crisis.

"The illusion that Barack Obama will lead from the economic center has quickly come to an end. Instead of combining the best policies of past Democratic presidents -- John Kennedy on taxes, Bill Clinton on welfare reform and a balanced budget, for instance -- President Obama is returning to Jimmy Carter's higher taxes and Mr. Clinton's draconian defense drawdown.

"Mr. Obama's $3.6 trillion budget blueprint, by his own admission, redefines the role of government in our economy and society. The budget more than doubles the national debt held by the public, adding more to the debt than all previous presidents -- from George Washington to George W. Bush -- combined. It reduces defense spending to a level not sustained since the dangerous days before World War II, while increasing nondefense spending (relative to GDP) to the highest level in U.S. history. And it would raise taxes to historically high levels (again, relative to GDP). And all of this before addressing the impending explosion in Social Security and Medicare costs."

It is abundantly clear that Obama intends to disembowel the economic system he hates, to decimate the defense of that system, to reduce all individual wealth to that of the lowest common denominator, and to install nanny-statism into as many institutions as possible. And actually Obama has a stated objective for Medicare: he will reduce funding for that to put the cash into his new socialized medicine plan for the 18 to 65 crowd.

In the meantime, the threat from Iran is met with taxpayer stipends to Palestine, ambassadorial recognition of Syria, and the abandonment and scolding of Israel; North Korea is ignored; Russia is set up for capitulation negotiations regarding missile defense shields; and Pakistan goes Sharia.

But Rush Limbaugh is under assault, so all is good.