LETTER: Stop digging or be stuck

To the Telegram:

If you’re kicking yourself and you find the kicking painful, stop kicking. Likewise, if you mistakenly voted for tyranny in 2008 and you find tyranny painful, stop voting for tyranny.

Nobody familiar with economics and human behavior is surprised that Barack Obama’s command and control, Marxist-redistributionist policies are killing the United States economy. It was predictable. Throughout history, redistributive governments have a perfect, 100 percent, record of failure, because they discourage work and encourage sloth and corruption — see Europe.

In his 2008 campaign, Obama promised to “redistribute wealth.” Those words began destroying wealth the moment they left his lips. Producers were discouraged from producing. Wealthy “1-percenters” fled the country, wealth in tow. Able-bodied citizens were encouraged through taxpayer-funded media to depend on taxpayer-funded handouts see SNAP, formerly known as “food stamps.” That’s a problem. The appetite for other people’s money is infinite, the supply finite.

An authoritarian bully wedded to wealth redistribution is a dangerous mix. Eventually, private resources are exhausted. Foreigners stop financing our debt. Government prints “pretend money” to continue the charade. A Soviet Union “worker” summarized perfectly the inevitable result of redistributive government: “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.” This assumes enough infrastructure remains after the street riots to permit “work” to continue — see Europe.

Employers will waste billions of dollars dealing with ObamaCare, the EPA, and Obama’s army of czars, dollars that could be dedicated to expanding businesses and hiring workers. Meanwhile, Obama strives to make economic uncertainty certain, forcing companies and investors to hoard cash. Which business will he demonize next? Why is “profit” a dirty word?

Bloated government and bad policy inevitably bring economic collapse. Obama’s remedy: more government, more rules, and less liberty.

Voters, if you’re stuck in a hole and would like to escape the hole, stop digging.

Wayne C. Anderson,

Superior

Tags: opinion, letters