—ENERGY: “[W]e will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.”
This is a government subsidized make-work project wrapped in the flag of energy conservation. A gift to the unions?
—ROADS AND BRIDGES: “[W]e will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.”
A government subsidized make-work. Another gift to the unions?
—SCHOOLS: “[M]y economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.”
Note that this proposal says nothing about improving the quality of education our children experience. This proposal is all about justifying more government subsidized make work programs. I know of no research that connects the energy efficiency of a school building with student performance as a result of an educational program.
—BROADBAND: “As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m president – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.”
It his a proposal for government subsidized broadband? The US already has an oversupply of broadband capacity.
—ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS: “In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the Internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the Internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.”
The thought of the government driving the adoption of an electronic medical records system raises more concerns about preservation of personal privacy than I can begin to enumerate. Given the numerous violations of privacy laws by State officials poking into "Joe the Plumber's" records, I have zero confidence in an electronic medical records system that is touched by the government (state or national) in any way. I support movement of medical records from dead-trees to electronic media. Let's encourage companies like Google to lead that charge.
These proposals are all about expanding the reach of big brother government.
Stunningly absent from Obama's proposals are incentives to spur entrepreneurs to take risk and create value. Innovation and entrepreneurship are the true strength and defining nature of this country. Only value created in the private sector can reenergize the US and World economies.
UPDATE: Has Obama proposed a Macho Stimulus Plan? Pass the Viagra please.
3 comments:
Obama has vowed to push the capital gain rate to ZERO for small businesses. Since small business entrepreneurs and Birkenstock wearers, like me, make all our money through liquidity events that trigger capital gains for small businesses, it's a great incentive. Obama will also spur upstream demand for goods and services. As for the Big Brother charge, the Republican Party, through McCarthy and Bush, have done more to promote Big Brother than anything or anybody else. They basically invented US domestic spying. The party of civil rights is the Democratic Party though, I will admit, there's always room for improvement.
Michael - Thanks for your comment. The zero cap gain rate proposal you mention is (welcome) news to me. Zero cap gains would definitely be a very welcome step toward energizing value creation.
A quick goog search on the theme came up empty. Can you point me to more details?
In fairness, Obama has signaled an intention to continue the Bush tax cuts. That's positive, too.
You are correct that big brother charges can be a slippery slope. There's much I don't know about counter terrorism, so I'm hesitant to venture into those waters.
I am curious about the suggestion that the Democratic Party is the party of civil rights. And perhaps it is a matter of historical time frame and/or what one regards as progress on the civil rights front. For example, Lincoln was a?
Your sentiment that there's always room for improvement is well taken. The constant push for improvement has kept this country on the cutting edge. And will keep it there if that attitude persists.
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/SmallBusinessFINAL.pdf
It's at the bottom of page one.
Lincoln was a Republican ... in 1860. Things have changed since then. More contemporary Republicans include Herbert Hoover, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, and George W Bush. On the civil rights side we can look to Republican Alberto Gonzales. In all fairness, Democrats include the inventors of political correctness, though Republicans took up the call with a vengeance (think Clinton's sex harassment deposition; where we can force people to talk about their consensual sexual relations).
Truthfully, I can't stand taxes or most governmental intervention. But Republicans have become the party of borrow-and-spend and big government to benefit a small number of connected corporations ("looters" in Ayn Rand speak) rather than Democratic tax-and-spend. As a business person I'd strongly prefer government spend as little as needed, spend that money carefully (no no-bid contracts for Haliburton), and levy taxes for what's spent so people feel the pain and respond immediately. But nobody seems to offering up that solution.
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