Thursday, April 28, 2016

Obama's Economic Legacy

President Barrack Obama tells Andrew Ross Sorkin of NYT:
I actually compare our economic performance to how, historically, countries that have wrenching financial crises perform.By that measure, we probably managed this better than any large economy on Earth in modern history.

This, of course, ignores a number of important factors. The president's early economic policy initiatives were responsible for extending the "wrenching financial" crisis. To the degree we can say we are in a recovery is not because of Obama policies but Federal Reserve money manipulations that have simply put us in the boom phase of another Fed-created boom-bust cycle.

If Obama leaves any significant economic legacy, it will be Obamacare, If not reversed in a Donald Trump presidency, Obama's healthcare plan will ultimately result in a health economic system that sees life expectancy crashing.

And for this reason, Obama should be considered just a few notches below Mao as a horrific leader.




-RW 

5 comments:

  1. I agree with this sentiment. He's very cunning to make the most economically difficult parts of his plan to take effect after leaving office too. By the way, there is a good analysis on Mises.org wire on tax receipts that also helps validate Mr Wenzel's boom phase argument.

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    1. Whoa! Mr. Wenzel confuses economic "recovery" with "the boom phase of another Fed-created boom-bust cycle." Any recovery we have had is not due to "Federal Reserve money manipulations." It is in spite of these manipulations and due to the free market that still remains in the U.S. And while policies under Obama have resulted in thousands of deaths directly (and perhaps millions related to economic regulations), Mao was responsible for tens of millions of deaths and left China in economic ruins. The comparison of Obama to Mao is simply not credible and only weakens Mr. Wenzel's argument.

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    2. There is a boom phase if you're in SF where Mr. Wenzel is. Here in Illinois by me, not so much.

      There are booms near the fed money taps while far away from the fed money taps things have clawed their way back up to levels that are called recessions. It's not only a matter of what you choose to look at and what time period you restrict yourself to.

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  2. Incidentally, this is the same justification employed by the worst tyrants of history. Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I'm sure Mao had a particularly poetic phrasing of how things would have been so much worse without his mountain of corpses.

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  3. If I was a betting man, I would place money on President Trump leaving ObamaCare as-is and in tact.

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