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WHAT OUR FUTURE COULD BRING
Unfortunately, if 2009 is any indication of how the Obama administration intends to address this nation's problems, the future could be very bleak. 
-- 1/24/2010

Looking back at 2009 could offer insight into what our nation’s future could bring. However if 2009 is any indication, our future could be quite bleak.

When Barack Obama assumed the presidency last year, it was hoped that he would be a new kind of leader who could transcend party politics and seek practical solutions to the country’s problems. Unfortunately that has turned out not to be the case. After campaigning against excessive earmarks and pork-barrel government spending, Obama has signed numerous bills into law to the contrary. The result of this reckless spending is that the federal government is on the verge of bankruptcy.

When an effective solution to the economic crisis would have been to reduce corporate taxation, ease regulation and cut spending, the Obama administration has followed a completely opposite course. The result has been predictable: ballooning deficits, soaring unemployment, and a stagnant private sector. Unless the administration recognizes the error of its ways and changes course, the economic future does not bode well.

And instead of tackling these economic issues as top priority, Obama chose to hurry a “stimulus” plan through Congress, then spend the rest of the year focusing on health care reform. He did this in spite of the fact that not only are a vast majority of Americans satisfied with their current health care coverage, but they prefer the government to focus on the economy and jobs.

To make matters worse, the health care reform plan would have provided for massive government intrusion into the health care industry, despite overwhelming evidence that government intervention is what has caused health care costs to soar in the first place.

In addition, Obama has followed the course of all presidents before him by refusing to acknowledge that the primary source of our economic troubles rests with the organization empowered to control the nation’s money supply: the Federal Reserve System. Since its inception in 1913, the Fed has printed currency and manipulated interest rates, creating a false prosperity and causing inflation to skyrocket over the past 97 years. Until we closely examine our financial system, beginning with the all too-powerful Fed, we will not be able to enjoy true economic stability.

To further stabilize the economy, the federal government must combat unsustainable expenditures. This would include cutting entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. However this would be highly unpopular, as many people have grown accustomed to entitlements and would be unwilling to sacrifice what they believe is rightfully theirs. Unfortunately President Obama (or any other politician) brave enough to support entitlement cuts would be committing political suicide.

Short of revamping the financial system and cutting back, the government can only continue to print money (causing inflation), raising taxes on the citizenry (diminishing prosperity), and borrowing from foreign nations (straining our national credit and causing interest rates to rise). None of these options are good, but unless our current course is dramatically changed, our future is necessarily bleak.