Things to do in Denver when you’re pharaoh

As I began this column, President Barack Obama was en route to Denver, Colo. – a short drive from my current and otherwise idyllic location – to make official the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a legislative obscenity that has commonly come to be known as the “stimulus package.” Using a set of 10 different pens that looked like they cost more than I made last year (the press got really good photos of them), the president who continues to be marketed like a Muppet put his signature on what just might be America’s economic death warrant.

The event was pretty disgusting when you think about it. There were around 250 people at the invitation-only ceremony, which means that it was packed with fawning Obama sycophants. Ostensibly, this farce was held in Denver to underscore the state of Colorado’s efforts toward rebuilding the economy as well as its “green-ness”; Colorado happens to be at the forefront of promoting solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy.

There were probably more photos taken of Obama in Denver that day than were taken of former President Bush in all of 2008. The entire charade was an ironically expensive photo op considering the expense of a presidential trip and signing ceremony juxtaposed against what the event was meant to stand for according to the administration. Looking appropriately somber, the president took a walk amongst solar panels on the roof of the Natural History Museum in Denver. Photos of that were all over cyberspace and the print press before the day was out.

The idea that a carefully considered economic recovery plan for our nation could have been crafted in such a short time is beyond incredulous; anyone with even scant knowledge of our legislative process is aware of its impossibility. Those with better than scant knowledge of our legislative process are pretty sure that what occurred is closer to this: Obama instructed congressional Democratic leaders to construct a bill packed with all of the pork they’d wanted for as many years back as their limited attention spans would allow, then he’d sell it as an economic recovery plan. The establishment press would be behind him, of course, and so Americans would buy it.

And he was right.

There were slight variations between the House and Senate versions of the bill, and minor conciliations were made for Senate Republicans, but the differences were as negligible as the result of a pedestrian being struck by a Volkswagen Beetle and a Chevy Malibu traveling 90 miles per hour. They’re going to be just as dead either way.

Obama has referred to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as “my stimulus bill.” Whether this was due to megalomania or vanity remains to be seen; where he would have found time to work on the thousand-plus page, eight-inch thick bill escapes this columnist. It is, of course, more likely that all of the real work was done by minions of Sens. Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Reps. Barney Frank, Steny Hoyer, David Obey and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom I am beginning to suspect has some trouble walking and keeping her heart beating at the same time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dove 298 points on Tuesday – the day of the signing – nearing a six-year low. This would have been a front-page story on any other day. The ritual overshadowed it for two reasons, however:

1. The ceremony was so frightfully important, and
2. Plummeting stocks would have been contraindicative vis-à-vis the business community’s confidence in the plan. Can’t have reality disagree with pharaoh, now can we?

Fact: Our current jobless rate and the number of jobs that have been lost of late are approximately the same in relative terms as in 1981-82 (just over 2 percent), before the Reagan economic reforms had a chance to kick in.

Fact: The Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s had more of a direct effect on our economy.

Fact: According to a poll taken in 2008, 50 percent of Americans believed that the media were responsible for portraying the economy as worse than it actually was. This ought not be surprising, considering their agenda and who they’re in bed with.

Conclusion: We’ve been through worse. Unfortunately, conditions have never been as politicized as they are now. Propaganda as regards our current financial woes and politicians worsening consumer confidence with their rhetoric (Obama being foremost in this) has exacerbated the problem – probably intentionally – and resulted in the current downward spiral. In this our doom has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

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