Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Look at the Left Hand, Pay No Attention to the Right Hand

It’s an old sleight of hand trick. Distract your subject by doing something with one hand while the real "magic" occurs in the other hand. At the end of the act, the subject is amazed that something seemingly occurred right before their eyes, yet they didn't see it.

In one breath President Obama chastises us like this, “Short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity… we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election… difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day,”. Yet actions speak louder than words, provided you can take your eyes off the distraction. The President still intends to bailout irresponsible homeowners who got them selves over extended with a loan they didn't even bother to read the terms on.

The President even said “people bought homes they knew they couldn't afford”, yet he still intended to help those people out, at the expense of people who were smart and avoided the bad gamble.

The President went easy on Iran, North Korea and China, but not once did he mention that his plan was going to take tax dollars from tens of millions of Americans who don't own their home and use those tax dollars against them by propping up unsustainably high home prices. I guess it’s smart to not alienate our biggest creditor and our 2 biggest protagonists whom we lack the stomach to coerce. Not only will that action forsake much of the current and future generation to salvage a relatively small minority, it will prolong the economic malaise which grips this country.

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