Don't Hold Your Breath

From the beginning the Obama administration has been a lead balloon held aloft by wires, widgets and strange devices. The fact remains that lead balloons do not float. The moment cracks appeared in the suspension anchorage (in the form of poorly designed health care reform, stimulus; the University of East Anglia e-mail dump; foreign policy set-backs; deepening economic malaise; and, now, the Gulf oil spill – an apt metaphor) the balloon came crashing to the ground. Die-hard supporters of Obama’s Utopian vision were prepared for even this eventuality. They are now quite prepared to lower the ground.

"Mr. Obama is systematically diminishing the United States, effecting its transformation from what was once called 'the world's only superpower' to a nation subordinated to the demands of international consensus, organizations, 'peer competitors' and even rogue states." So writes Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. in a piece entitled, ‘The Obama Doctrine’.

Mr. Gaffney concerns himself primarily with international affairs, but the same ‘diminishing’ is going on domestically as well. It is largely uncertainty that is keeping the economy from roaring back. While much of it falls under the category ‘to be determined…’ (after elections), we do now have some idea of what the end game will look like (which we all know is not possible to achieve on American soil as it is presently configured).

Socialism is not what frightens us. It can be argued that we have been living under some degree of socialism for years. What frightens us is the specter of the step between now and then. In order for the seeds of socialism (or any new system) to sprout, the existing crop has to be plowed under. It is this we are now witnessing on a daily basis. In fact, the work has already progressed to the point of where it can no longer be stopped. Both the private sector and our government(s) are on the verge of collapsing.

On this blog we have been focusing on the private sector. Most of us are paying roughly 50% of our earnings to sustain government. Even at that rate, the government cannot survive. As taxes are increased, the private sector shrinks in same measure. There will be even less money to sustain government. The conservative drumbeat to shrink government is also no solution. The first thing cut will be the services we have come to rely on. This will also create problems for the private sector that depends on the continued maintenance of various forms of infrastructure while, at the same time thrusting more people onto the welfare rolls. Government and the private sector are entirely codependent. Cuts in either one end up harming both.

We have entered a lose-lose situation. The only way out of it is to encourage a robust private sector to mop up government excess. The private sector, however, is no longer robust. Government has grown too large and oppressive. It has smothered any hope of sustained economic expansion. We have in effect hit a wall.

The plowing under of the old crop has become inevitable. The kind of seeds we plant will be our next major decision. If we choose to go with the same old crop, the soil will end up even more depleted. There are alternatives, however. We can plant something different that will revive our soil; or we can leave the land lay fallow. In any case, we’ll have to resign ourselves to a long wait for the new seeds to sprout, for the stalks to grow. I would not advise anyone to hold their breath.