
 |
|
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 13, 2009
/ 17 Adar 5769
Obama's Messiah complex
By
Linda Chavez
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
President Obama reminds me of the fellow who's off to save the world
while he ignores the disaster in his own backyard. Instead of focusing
on the urgent problems facing the country the credit crisis and the
collapse of the housing market he's diverting scarce resources and
attention to solving health care, reforming education, and stopping
global climate change. Worse, his efforts to tackle these intractable
issues involve fiscal policies that exacerbate the current financial
crisis. He is not only driving the deficit up to unsustainable heights,
his policies will amount to a huge tax on all Americans.
President Obama claims he's only going to raise taxes on the wealthiest
Americans. But even if his tax-the-rich scheme didn't depress investment
and slow growth which it will there are other ways government
policies, in effect, tax individuals. Government also imposes tax
increases indirectly on individuals through policies that encourage
businesses to raise prices paid by everyone.
Most companies operate on relatively thin profit margins; the corporate average has
been about 8.5 percent since 1980. Those margins stay relatively constant because
capitalism works. If a company's profits get too high, a smart competitor comes in
and starts a rival business that makes the same product for less, and the greedy
company loses customers.
But what happens when government taxes all businesses or even a
select group of companies? If the company's profits decline, the company
might reasonably respond by laying off workers or reducing capital
outlays to cut costs. That's not exactly what we'd like to see at a time
of skyrocketing unemployment, declining construction, and decreasing
manufacturing orders. The alternative for most businesses is simply to
pass on the increased costs to the consumer.
That is exactly what will happen if President Obama's cap-and-trade
policy on greenhouse emissions is enacted by Congress. The president
wants to impose stricter pollution controls on carbon emissions and
allow companies that can't meet those regulations to purchase the right
to pollute more through a government auction, with the money flowing
into the federal budget.
But how will energy companies pay for what is really a new government
tax? By passing it on to their consumers, of course. And unlike other
businesses, where competition can help control costs, there isn't much
competition in the utilities world. Most of us have few choices when it
comes to purchasing electricity or natural gas. We're pretty much
captives of our geography, so we won't have a choice about choosing a
more efficient, less polluting electricity company if President Obama
gets his way on cap-and-trade legislation.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that cutting carbon emissions
by 15 percent would result in a huge cost to most Americans. According
to CBO's analysis as reported on the Wall Street Journal editorial page
March 9, the plan would cost the bottom 20 percent of households 3.3
percent of their entire after-tax incomes every year, or about $680,
while those in the next three quintiles would pay between $880 and
$1,500 a year in extra energy costs.
This is exactly the wrong thing to do, and the worst time to do it. The
president ought to get over his messiah complex. He's not going to slow
the rise of the oceans, as he promised in June when he clinched the
Democratic presidential nomination. What the country needs now is not
grand schemes to redistribute wealth and provide all Americans
cradle-to-grave education and health care at government expense. We
don't even need someone to find a way to keep all those homeowners
facing foreclosure in their homes. Sadly, the housing bubble has burst
and everyone is going to suffer, especially those who couldn't afford
the homes they bought in the first place.
What we need now is someone who can figure out what actions the
government can and should take to unfreeze credit. If President Obama
fixes that, he'll be miracle worker enough.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)
Linda Chavez Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|