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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thomas Sowell :: Townhall.com Columnist
The Rush to Wait
by Thomas Sowell
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Was the Copenhagen Global Warming Summit Walk-Out a Win for the U.S.?


There is far more to fear from this administration than its amateurism in governing. The urgency with which it has rushed through a monumental spending bill, whose actual spending will not be completed even after 2010, ought to set off alarm bells among those who are not in thrall to the euphoria of Obama's presidency.

The urgency was real, even if the reason given was phony. President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, let slip a valuable clue when he said that a crisis should not go to waste, that a crisis is an opportunity to do things that you could not do otherwise.

Think about the utter cynicism of that. During a crisis, a panicked public will let you get away with things you couldn't get away with otherwise.

A corollary of that is that you had better act quickly while the crisis is at hand, without Congressional hearings or public debates about what you are doing. Above all, you must act before the economy begins to recover on its own.

The party line is that the market has failed so disastrously that only the government can save us. It is proclaimed in Washington and echoed in the media.

The last thing the administration can risk is delay that could allow the market to begin recovering on its own. That would undermine, if not destroy, a golden opportunity to restructure the American economy in ways that would allow politicians to micro-manage other sectors of the economy the way they have micro-managed the housing market into disaster.

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About The Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.
 
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zapdoodat
Why do you bother to post here? Do you actually fancy that the people here think that there could be merit in what you say? How long do you expect half-truths, non-truths, and past GOP guilt to substitute for argument?

More to the point, if you really thought your description of things represents reality, and that the general public now recognizes it such that there is a permanent shift in politics, then why are you bothering to post here? Why not just go and enjoy your eternal electoral triumph? Why do you need Republican approval? I know that if the tables were turned, my very last concern would be to gloat or seek approval from my enemies. I would be focused entirely on ensuring my meritorious political platform was implemented--not convincing a recalcitrant opposition it is meritorious--and letting the results speak for themselves.

Are you feeling intense but vague fears? Yes, you are. You know that Obama is doing the same types of things that Bush has done only worse, that the result will be the same types of disaster only worse, and that it is only a matter of time before the public sees it and rejects Obama and the Dems en masse. (I did not support Bush, so don't even try it). Obama's approval rate is already starting to slip. Significantly. And because Republicans are not going along with Obama's leftist platform, you won't be able to pawn the blame for the results off on Republicans this time.

The stench of your intellectual insecurities is carried even by electrons. It amuses me.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Hurry Up and Wait?
Senator Nelson of Florida assured me that he has read the bill and that it is a real stimulus. He did NOT tell me he read it before his vote - and the news that he was personally a victim of the Stanoff ponzie scheme does not give me any confidence in his own economic judgment. So why should I think the politicos have any idea what they are doing? Why should we trust them to run the economy? It failed in Russia. What makes us think it will succeed here?
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