Sunday, June 13, 2010

Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste!


I've been thinking a lot about Barack Obama's lackluster response to the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. If you recall, it was almost two weeks before he declared that it was possibly something of "national significance", and as of yesterday it's been over 50 days and he STILL hasn't talked to the CEO of BP. His reason for that was that he felt that the CEO would tell him, "what he wanted to hear", and that he wasn't about "words, but action". Now, as has been pointed out, he had no problem talking to the leaders in the banking industry. He had no problem discussing the automobile industry's woes with the leaders in that field. Yet why wouldn't he talk to the head of a company which, by the administration's own admission, controls the technology with which this disaster might be stopped? Why not coordinate action with this person? After all, aren't these the two executives in charge, one of BP and the other of the United States?
This administration used the crisis of the recession to nationalize the automobile industry. It used the same crisis to basically nationalize the banks and impose huge new taxes on the financial sector. Obama has installed pay "czars" to monitor the pay in the financial sector and in effect decide who makes what. If this isn't Socialism (or even Communism), then what is? Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff, was overheard prior to these actions saying that you should, "...never let a good crisis go to waste". This administration didn't let the financial crisis (which may have been overblown for political purposes and got out of hand because of it) go to waste--they used it to nationalize several industries. On top of that, through hook and crook they rammed a health care bill down the throats of Americans which enabled them to grab control of one sixth of the American economy in addition to the fields they had already usurped.
I'm starting to wonder if Obama has let this spiral out of control for the same reason--so the people in his administration can grab more power and control. They are already taking control through executive fiat--banning offshore drilling and the like, and now they are pointing to this disaster as the reason for more intrusive and power-grabbing legislation, the so-called Cap and Trade bill. This bill would impose huge new taxes on the American people and give the Obama administration sweeping new powers to regulate everything from automobile emissions to backyard grills, along with the powers to police those activities.
Take it one step further, however, and you can't help thinking that maybe there is even something more sinister afoot. Think about this: all of the states being affected by the spill are "red" states or, in other words, Republican leaning. By overwhelming majorities the people in these states reject Barack Obama and his policies. Could he be using this crisis to destroy their livelihoods and cause them to become dependent on government? I can't believe that a country which can put a man on the moon and map the human genome and develop vaccines and build aircraft which are invisible to radar can't cap an out of control oil well. Maybe we can. Maybe we just don't want to. Even as the governments of the affected states are calling for a resumption of drilling and a return of the people's lifestyles, the federal government, led by Barack Obama, continues to shut down operations in the Gulf and the financial viability of the people who live there. Maybe they are planning how to set up the soup kitchens or maybe this president hasn't yet decided whose "ass to kick". Whatever the reasons, it's becoming obvious that this administration isn't letting this crisis go to waste either.