Obama Doesn't Get It!

Another year and another State of the Union address and Obama still does not get. Yes, he focused his address on the economy and jobs (which he should have been doing since day 1 of his presidency), but his business acumen is as if he found his MBA in a Cracker Jack box. The Obama domestic economic plan is destined to fail for a plethora of reasons.

Obama is preaching competition and ingenuity to get the United States back on track. Sure, these are main ingredients for a successful economic recipe, but supporting unions makes it harder for United States corporations to compete globally. For instance, because of car union policies (UAW), U.S. car companies are losing out to foreign competition because it costs Ford, GM, and Chrysler much more to make equivalent cars.

Obama is putting his egg in one basket – green jobs. Most government subsidies are going to help “green” companies create green jobs. This is a recipe for disaster for many reasons. First, the Spain green jobs model showed that for every green job created, over 2 jobs left the economy. And worse yet, more people moved into poverty. The reason for this is simple – green energy is expensive and will be a massive tax on all individuals and businesses. Hence, jobs will move overseas where overhead costs are lower. Secondly, building up one business sector is similar to creating a financial bubble (similar to the dot com bubble). And like the dot com bubble, this bubble will explode creating another recession sometime in the future. Thirdly, green energy may slow carbon emissions, but it will never work to decrease harmful carbons and pollutants in our atmosphere. Thus, the approach of pouring trillions into an industry that does not solve the problem is just plain dumb. To solve this problem, carbon scrubbers are needed – carbon taxes and expensive wind or solar energy are not needed. Fourth, there are many other business sectors being ignored by Obama policies, and this is not only unfair, but it makes it harder for these industries to compete globally. Finally, government mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will once again force more jobs overseas were environmental laws are much more lenient.

Obama insists that education is a key ingredient in the recipe for economic success. And once again, I agree with what Obama says but not his actions. The problem with Obama’s “Race to the Top” educational plan is that school districts must follow the Obama vision to get funding. School systems or educators using innovative ideas and concepts are not viewed as important if they do not conform to the White House vision. In other words, education is a one way street where states and communities must follow the Obama vision or miss out on federal funding.

Many other Obama actions (policies) simply promote mediocrity and not excellence. Obama bragged about the innovation that came from past NASA programs, but he cancelled the current Constellation program. How do extending unemployment benefits to three years promote excellence? It does not; it promotes mediocrity and failure (laziness). How does the federal government’s debt promote excellence? It does not; it creates uncertainty and prevents businesses from expanding and growing. How does ObamaCare promote excellence? It does not; once again it promotes uncertainty for businesses. Besides, another entitlement means more Americans becoming dependent on the government. Dependent people are not innovators – independent and free people are the innovators. You will not find innovation in unemployment or welfare lines. Innovation is not created by forced regulations, mandates, and restrictions from the federal government. Instead, innovation comes from individuals working within a free enterprise system – capitalism.