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America's biggest patriot, Rush Limbaugh, wants our newly elected president to fail. That's what he said, and there's really no way to spin it.So, if Mr. Obama fails, then that means that the majority of Americans, which would be the other 99 percent of us not in Mr. Limbaugh's top income percentile, fail. Yet, many of his listeners, and the many who lauded his recent WSJ op-ed, think that his idea of stimulus--a corporate income tax cut--is the way to boost our nation's flagging economy.
Interestingly, I found this written testimony, offered by Mark Zandi, from last July, when he was speaking before the House Committee on Small Business. Zandi is Chief Economist, and co-founder of Moody's.com.
According to Zandi, Limbaugh's idea is the third worst, of 13 possible choices that Zandi highlights, indicating bang for the buck as it pertains to GDP. (see the bottom of page 5)
While Mr. Limbaugh is at the top of his field as an entertainer, and certainly isn't shy about stating the importance of the pablum he passes off each day, when it comes to economics, he should leave that field to the experts.
Despite Limbaugh's faux populism, and claims that he wants what's best for the average joe, his meteoric rise to the top of talk radio has more to do with his being first and foremost, a corporate shill.
Of course, Limbaugh's not alone when it comes to carrying corporate America's water--Bill O'Reilly has also shared his vast economic expertise, railing against directing stimulus where it might actually help, which when you carefully consider the facts, neither Limbaugh, or O'Reilly are at all concerned about. What matters to them is ratings. And nothing benefits ratings more, especially for Limbaugh, than having a Democrat in the White House to bash, on a daily basis.
2 comments:
Well it is obvious that even Limbaugh or O'Reilly could not screw it up any worse than the so called professionals of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. For that matter it appears that the Congress as a whole is pretty poor at bailing us out of this mess created by what they have allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to become.
@ Gaffer
Your comment raises the point that there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides. Many members of Congress have not had the best interests of most middle-class Americans in mind in their policymaking for quite some time. That's what's obvious to me.
As to Limbaugh, O'Reilly (Beck, Hannity, et al) not screwing it up any worse, I'm not so sure. There is a certain safety that comes when one sits behind a microphone, playing Monday morning quarterback. The same could be said about bloggers, also.
The real challenge is when you have your hands in the pie, making policies, to do no harm (or as little as possible).
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