{"id":397,"date":"2009-05-26T17:39:38","date_gmt":"2009-05-26T22:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=397"},"modified":"2009-05-26T17:39:38","modified_gmt":"2009-05-26T22:39:38","slug":"the-success-of-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Success of Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">The controversy about Rush Limbaugh wanting Obama to fail continues to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0509\/22322.html\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #800080; font-size: small;\">show life<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>It is a meaningless controversy.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the larger scheme of things, the wants of Rush Limbaugh, however interesting and entertaining, will have little impact on Obama\u2019s success. Likewise public opinion polls on how Obama is doing, are meaningless.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Polls are merely a reflection of current public opinion, which given the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.journalism.org\/node\/13307\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">fawning coverage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\"> of the press core says very little about reality. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">In the end the success or failure of the Obama Presidency will be determined by whether or not he gets his policies put in place and then if they make things better. <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>Given the Democratic majorities in Congress,<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>getting his policies passed in not an issue.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>So if his liberal ideology is correct, and the policies produce noticeable improvements in people\u2019s quality of life, then his presidency will be deemed a success and he will go on to win reelection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Yet for those who look at reality rather than ideology,<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>unfortunately for the country, and for Obama, there is actually very little doubt about what Obama\u2019s policies will do. Whether one is looking at theory or history, the affects of Obama\u2019s policies are really pretty clear, and they are not good. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">On the domestic front we are looking at a huge expansion of government, massive increase of government influence in the private economy, a doubling of the national debt, and all funded by a massive increase in the money supply.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Obama and the Democrats justify this by<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>pointing to the problems we have, and the good that they are trying to do.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Yet, we do not need to question their intentions to be trouble by their policies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">But therein lies the first problem.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Obama and the Democrats are so focused on their attempts to do good, that they fail to consider the effects of these policies, and each of these policies will not only have effects, but negative effects.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Increasing government by definition limits liberty, and if paid for burdens the economy suppressing economic growth. Obama and the Democrats pretty much ignore the first problem as they are more interested in equality than liberty. As for burdening the economy, in the short term they hope to reduce that by deficit spending and increasing the money supply,<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>and in the long term by taxing the rich. <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Their willingness to increase government <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>influence in the private economy comes from a basic distrust of markets and the belief that their planning can do things better than the chaos of the markets driven by profit. Unfortunately Obama and the Democrats only focus on one part of Capitalism.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">An effective capitalist system is not driven by profit alone, but must be combined with choice and competition.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The choice of consumers and the competition among supplier all driven by the profit motive is what results in the constant push to improve the delivery of goods and services at a lower cost that has so improved the quality of life. In fact in the places today where there are the most problems, such as health care, a large part of the problem is the lack of choice and competition. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Government planning has no such mechanism pushing to reduce costs.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>In fact over the last century, capitalism\u2019s ability to deliver goods and services at lower costs meant that people\u2019s disposable income grew, though much of this was crowded out by the massive increase in the cost of government.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>While the amount of time people had to work for essentials dropped, the amount of time they had to work to pay for government <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/preservingdemocracy.com\/\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #800080; font-size: small;\">increased 459<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\"> percent over the last century.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is also demonstrated in the how the more capitalist U.S. economy <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/preservingdemocracy.com\/\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #800080; font-size: small;\">consistently<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>out performs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\"> the more planning and control based European economies. In short bringing the inefficiencies of government to the private sector can hardly be expected to improve things, nor can substituting political decisions for business decisions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">There is a lot of hypocrisy in the third policy, the doubling of the national debt.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Throughout the last eight year Democrats were highly critical of Bush for increasing the national debt. And yet in his first budget, Obama will not only exceed Bush\u2019s debt, but the debt of all previous presidents combined. <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>Such a massive increase will crowd out other forms of lending and will obligate future generations to paying for these policies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Finally there is the increase in the money supply.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>This one is really pretty simple.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Flood the economy with money and things will improve in the short term.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>The long term effect of all this extra money is also clear: Inflation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">All of these policies will have serious and long term problems. Nor should any of this be surprising.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>All of these policies, with the exception of increasing the money supply, have been tried in the states with predicable results.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There is a reason Blue states<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>like California, New York and Michigan are having such problems.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>There is also a reason people are voting with their feet and moving from Blue States to Red States.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>Liberals like to try and blame this on the weather, but that does not explain why <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2008\/dec\/18\/business\/fi-leaving-california18\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #800080; font-size: small;\">people are leaving California.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">So Obama can safely ignore the wants and wishes of Rush Limbaugh as they will have little lasting effect on his Presidency.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>What he should be worried about is the effects of his own policies, policies that have a known and proven track record, a record that shows we are headed for some very bad economic time in our future.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He can play the<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cit is all Bush\u2019s fault\u201d card even though <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=388\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #800080; font-size: small;\">he supported the key policies that got us here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>But at some point that excuse will wear thin. Particularly if, as can be reasonably expected the inflated money supply bring some uptick in the economy before the real problems begin.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">On the other hand, could it just be possible that perhaps Limbaugh\u2019s wish for Obama to fail was grounded, not in partisan politics, but rather in a desire to avoid the major problems that are now looming in the near future? <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The controversy about Rush Limbaugh wanting Obama to fail continues to show life.\u00a0 It is a meaningless controversy.\u00a0 In the larger scheme of things, the wants of Rush Limbaugh, however interesting and entertaining, will have little impact on Obama\u2019s success. Likewise public opinion polls on how Obama is doing, are meaningless.\u00a0\u00a0 Polls are merely a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,28,36],"tags":[189,217,260,313,384,390,403,1998,469,492,676,794,800,934,999,1083],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domestic-policy","category-politics","category-taxes","tag-blue-states","tag-california","tag-choice","tag-competition","tag-debt","tag-deficit","tag-democrats","tag-economy","tag-equality","tag-failure","tag-inflation","tag-liberty","tag-limbaugh","tag-obama","tag-planning","tag-red-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Success of Failure - Politics and Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Success of Failure - Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The controversy about Rush Limbaugh wanting Obama to fail continues to show life.\u00a0 It is a meaningless controversy.\u00a0 In the larger scheme of things, the wants of Rush Limbaugh, however interesting and entertaining, will have little impact on Obama\u2019s success. Likewise public opinion polls on how Obama is doing, are meaningless.\u00a0\u00a0 Polls are merely a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-26T22:39:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elgin Hushbeck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elgin Hushbeck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/\",\"name\":\"The Success of Failure - Politics and Religion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-26T22:39:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Success of Failure\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Politics and Religion\",\"description\":\"Comments on Politics and Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b\",\"name\":\"Elgin Hushbeck\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elgin Hushbeck\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Success of Failure - Politics and Religion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Success of Failure - Politics and Religion","og_description":"The controversy about Rush Limbaugh wanting Obama to fail continues to show life.\u00a0 It is a meaningless controversy.\u00a0 In the larger scheme of things, the wants of Rush Limbaugh, however interesting and entertaining, will have little impact on Obama\u2019s success. Likewise public opinion polls on how Obama is doing, are meaningless.\u00a0\u00a0 Polls are merely a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/","og_site_name":"Politics and Religion","article_published_time":"2009-05-26T22:39:38+00:00","author":"Elgin Hushbeck","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elgin Hushbeck","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/","url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/","name":"The Success of Failure - Politics and Religion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-05-26T22:39:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/the-success-of-failure\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Success of Failure"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/","name":"Politics and Religion","description":"Comments on Politics and Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b","name":"Elgin Hushbeck","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elgin Hushbeck"},"url":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}