Letter to the Editor: The President and the Economy

To the Editor:

At a recent re-election campaign event, President Obama stated that if provided another term in office, "We will finish what we started in 2008."

That is precisely what we are afraid of, Mr. President!

There have been accomplishments and successes within the Obama administration, particularly in the war on terror, but the president's actions on the economy and federal spending have been calamitous. The economy remains sluggish and unemployment remains at an unacceptable level of 8.2 percent (a figure which vastly understates the real amount of unemployment and suffering), a level which the president promised us it would not reach if his massive stimulus spending plan was approved.

He has no understanding of the limits to government intervention and assistance nor of the ticking time bomb of federal debt, which now stands at almost $16 trillion and soaring ever-higher as one debt limit increase after another is approved.

Rather than seeking to ensure that the American people are fully cognizant of the dire condition of our entitlement state and the need to act, he has sought to expand and enhance it.  Rather than using his bully pulpit to preach personal responsibility, he has welcomed new applicants for cradle to grave care delivered by the federal government, today's provider of first resort.

I would never have imagined that our nation would encourage individuals to become welfare recipients, that the federal government would produce radio and television promotions to solicit applicants for the costly, burgeoning Food Stamp program, a benefit that was originally set up to provide temporary relief to a tiny number of legitimately needy families.

Can one imagine this president addressing the nation to urge that we take responsibility for ourselves and our families, that we not give birth to children we cannot afford to support, that we not have out of wedlock births at a young age, and that to expect one's neighbors to support the family is unpatriotic? It shall never happen.

There is no doubt that the hyperpartisan environment in Congress has stymied the president in passing major legislation, but there is no reason to believe that he is serious about achieving significant, long-term deficit reduction as he adopts the fatally flawed mantra of, "Let's spend today and be fiscally conscious tomorrow".  Throughout our history, we have found that tomorrow never comes. Instead, the can is kicked down the road to the next guy as crisis approaches.

I am not convinced that Mitt Romney is sufficiently intelligent, talented, or motivated to put the brakes on deficit spending and to be able to secure such agreement with Congress or that a Romney presidency would usher in a new era of hope and spirit such as that which the esteemed late President Ronald Reagan brought to us, but it is difficult to imagine any president that would be worse for the economy than Barack Obama.

A vote for President Obama is a vote for the nation to plunge off the fiscal cliff into insolvency in the next four years, a vote for us to follow the failed model of Europe.  If he were honest, the president would say, "If you re-elect me, I will finish what I started in 2008, hurling a wrecking ball into the economy and destroying our nation's future!"

Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair