It's The Big Government, Stupid
reason editor-in-chief Matt Welch spells it out in the New York Post -- the real reason Americans are angry:
The message of the various Tea Party protests, which predated this summer's ahistorical media panic over town hall "lynch mobs," has been pretty simple, says Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, the nonprofit that has helped organize the protests, told Reason magazine this spring. "It was: stop spending so much money, stop borrowing so much money, and stop bailing out people who were irresponsible."...This isn't about liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. A majority oppose Obama's policies because they fly in the face of this country's bedrock values of personal liberty and limited government. Robbing Peter to pay Goldman Sachs does violence to that fundamentally American ethos.
Read his whole piece at the link. Here's his list of the Top 10 Obama Government Grabs:
1. The Stimulus ($787 billion)Making government the nation's largest employer.
2. The Omnibus ($410 billion)
Now largely forgotten, this porktastic piece of leftover Bush legislation passed in March without so much as a peep from a new administration that campaigned nobly against earmarks and fiscal irresponsibility.
3. Health Care Reform ($1 trillion?)
The white whale of Obama's domestic agenda; currently under threat from all sides of every aisle.
4. Cap and Trade.
Not yet law, and less likely to become so now that health care reform has hit the skids, this House-approved legislation would nonetheless make producing and consuming energy much more expensive, adding an estimated $1,100 per household by 2050, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
5. Antitrust lawsuits against Google, et al.
Not on everyone's radar screen yet, but the new head of the Justice Department's antitrust division has recently said, regarding everyone's favorite free search engine, that "I think you are going to see a repeat of Microsoft."
6) Pay Czar
As part of the federalization of commerce, the Obama administration appointed a "Special Master for Compensation" to review the top salaries of executives at firms receiving bailout money. This will surely debase their global competitiveness.
7. Turning Pell Grants into an entitlement.
This, like the recently terminated Cash-for-Clunkers program, will doubtlessly prove popular (as most federal programs that give away "free" money usually are), but the Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act will, if passed, make the federal government the last big provider of student loans in America.
8. Having the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco.
This Philip Morris-backed development, which will reduce the nicotine content of cigarettes, will keep safer tobacco products off the market while imposing onerous marketing restrictions.
9. Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
Unclear how it will all shake out, but the federal government is preparing steps for unprecedented regulation of all consumer finance transactions. Already, payday lenders are being chased into the black market, and New York is losing its luster as an international capital for finance.
10. Federal Trade Commission overreach.
Again off most radar screens, the former Ralph Naderite who now runs the FTC's Consumer Protection Division has announced intentions to crack down on companies deemed to violate consumer privacy, even if no consumers are complaining.
Cap and Trade.
Cap and trade is dumb. Period. A carbon tax would be the smart and efficient way to reduce carbon emissions. Politically not feasible, which is why we get the cap and trade mess.
Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act will, if passed, make the federal government the last big provider of student loans in America.
Which is so much worse than right now where the government assumes the risk for these loans, while private banks who issue them make the money? Everything I've read about this suggests that changing the way student loans are provided will save the government billions.
Whatever at August 24, 2009 7:33 AM
Actually, neither is worth a damn. All they do is give the government money, which gives the government incentive to keep the pollution (such as it is) happening. Just like cigarettes!
Or the government could stop giving tax advantages to universities who keep massive endowments. And stop giving loans to anyone who wants to attend university.
If the money wasn't guaranteed, the universities wouldn't be able to get away with the massive tuitions they charge. But since the government will back (or loan) any amount for "education", expect to pay anywhere between 50,000 and 200,000 for that BS degree.
brian at August 24, 2009 7:46 AM
Don't forget the "cash for appliances" coming soon. It's much better for the environment to take perfectly good items, toss them, and buy new.
Whatever happened to acid rain? Weren't we all going to be dissolved, back in the 80's??
momof4 at August 24, 2009 10:11 AM
The recent Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) requires testing items for lead, intended for use by children. This zero tolerance regulation has closed 10,000+ small businesses that make children's goods such as quilts, toy blocks, and books.
Even bicycles have been banned, because there are some parts in them which have lead content. How many children have suffered lead poisoning from chewing on their bicycle?
A great tragedy of this idiotic law is the banning of all children's books published before 1986. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama have arranged for a national book burning, all in the name of "the children".
Stop the Death from Quilts and Food
This is the type of nuanced regulation and gentle nudging that you can expect from the regulatory state. Our all-seeing government will be watching and making life better for us all, as implemented by a thoughtful bureaucracy.
Don't expect them to make any judgments or allowances. Bending the law could interfere with getting their pensions and healthcare.
Andrew_M_Garland at August 24, 2009 11:19 AM
No it won't.
The government only assumes part of the risk of student loans. The private banks assume the rest.
And the stringent servicing requirements almost guarantee that the loan's servicer or owner will fail to meet some requirement(s) and have to swallow a percentage of liability.
Direct lending by the government is an accounting game. Under Gramm-Rudman, the government must book a certain percentage of expected defaults to liabilities. But with direct lending, all outstanding loans are counted as assets.
And, under direct lending, the government incurs the servicing fees and risks. In private lending, the owners of the loans incur the servicing fees and share the risks.
The biggest problem in student loans is not from students graduating from 4-year colleges and walking away from loans. It's the less sophisticated students who attend fly-by-night private trade schools, get little or no education, and cannot find a job in their field upon graduation.
Under the program, schools can keep a certain percentage of the loan amount as a processing fee - even if the student drops out immediately. In most of these schools, the process of applying to the school includes a student loan application - so the school is guaranteed to get something from every qualified applicant.
Congress wanted poor students who weren't headed for 4-year universities be included in the program and opened it up to all types of post-secondary education. And the fraud began.
Many of these schools only last a year of two and then close - only to reopen later with another name and another scam.
And the tuition coincidentally happens to be the maximum one-semester limit for student loans.
When I worked in student loans, I had many a borrower tell me that he heard from employer after employer that the school he had attended was a joke - and when he tried to call the school, it had closed. Now, he was stuck for $2,500 or more and had no way to repay it. Too many of these callers were high school drop-outs or functionally illiterate.
Many of them had been told by the now-closed school that they were getting a grant and would not need to repay it.
One guy didn't even have enough money to buy a bus ticket home. The school was out of state and he had borrowed money to get there. His initial application to the school included a student loan application, so when he failed the entrance exam, the school threw him out and processed his student loan application. The school closed a few months later.
Just wait until health care lobbies pressure Congress to include holistic medicine, chiropractic, herbal healing, accupuncture, and other non-AMA methods.
Conan the Grammarian at August 24, 2009 11:30 AM
Whatever happened to acid rain? Weren't we all going to be dissolved, back in the 80's??
The situation has improved, though it is still a problem in the Northeast and Canada. But better than it was. The Clean Air Act was amended to require reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that helped reduce rain pH.
http://www.slate.com/id/2225509/
Whatever at August 24, 2009 12:12 PM
In 2008, America's debt was 41% of its GDP. If the current path continues, and there's no evidence that it will deviate away from it, the accumulated federal debt will rise to 82% of GDP by 2019.
Source
Robert W. (Vancouver) at August 24, 2009 6:27 PM
In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan:
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
Ari Rodriguez at August 24, 2009 6:42 PM
After reading this I got to wondering if Paul Krugman is a cousin of Baghdad Bob, the Information Minister?!?
Robert W. (Vancouver) at August 24, 2009 8:43 PM
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