Is this Guile, Arrogance or Stupidity?
Is President Obama's recent "declaration" an example of guile, arrogance or stupidity? Here's what he "declared":
Arrogance: Where does the government come off lecturing the rest of us about financial responsibility? Aren't you repelled by the idea that a government administration thinks it should help or is in any way capable of helping anyone make "sound decisions in the marketplace" given the government's track record of spending far more than it takes in and spending money on projects that have been proven to frequently be pure pork - i.e., some combination of political "pay-back" or outright bribes intended to re-elect the politicians who vote for these projects? But even more repellant I think is the idea that politicians who spend their lives living off the taxes paid by people who actually work for a living would think they are in the position of teaching Americans how to handle money. What qualifies such people for this task? The only thing I can come up with is that they see themselves as somehow smart and capable. Is that what their decisions and behavior demonstrate: that they're smart and capable? So it would seem only pure arrogance could make such people believe anyone would follow their advice. They think we somehow look up to or admire or wish to emulate their behavior. Seems like a good example of arrogance, or...
Stupidity: Anyone who is married, has children and faces paying for college education or has tried to start, run and succeed at a business can't possibly believe that the government will add anything to the equation in trying to prepare young people for such challenges. Most young people I know are fully aware of the government's fiscal irresponsibility, so I doubt they'd take any financial advice coming from such quarters seriously. Even the sheep-like college students and graduates who've been successfully indoctrinated by the liberal academic establishment into believing the secularist-socialist propaganda that dominates "higher" education these days pretty much understand that the government can't manage money very well, and that the result of such mismanagement has been and will be an imposition of a financial burden on them.
So this may be a case where arrogance so distorts politicians and government bureaucrats perception and judgement that it leads to a terminal case of pure stupidity. As for opening a retirement account, the vast majority of Americans who have IRAs or 401ks can't possibly count on the meager amounts in these accounts to help them in any significant manner in retirement. So those government-created "retirement" programs have demonstrably failed. Yet here we see the government continue to push these failed programs on a new generation of Americans? If they're not stupid, it seems reasonable to conclude that they're evil, doesn't it? What else but evil (if not stupidity) can explain this desire to see a whole new generation fail at providing for themselves, as so many of their parents have failed in so doing?
Please, Mr. President, stop creating these new roles for government (teacher, guide, mentor, adviser, etc.) and focus your attention on spending less than the amount of taxes you collect. That should occupy enough of your time - if you take it seriously - and make you realize that government neither has the expertise to teach financial management, nor is government assigned such a role in our Constitution.
Come back to us with a balanced budget one of these days, OK?
...on the other hand, rather than rant about this sort of comment by the White House, I could just chuckle and shake my head at the idiocy of government leaders who so often talk way over their heads - if it weren't for the fact that they're driving our country into the ground with their idiocy and irresponsibility.
“My Administration is dedicated to helping people make sound decisions in the marketplace,” he said.Guile: Could this be simply an attempt to distract those all-too-easily-distractable Americans from the incredible fiscal irresponsibility of the federal government? Could be.
"Together, we can prepare young people to tackle financial challenges--from learning how to budget responsibly to saving for college, starting a business, or opening a retirement account,” he said.
Arrogance: Where does the government come off lecturing the rest of us about financial responsibility? Aren't you repelled by the idea that a government administration thinks it should help or is in any way capable of helping anyone make "sound decisions in the marketplace" given the government's track record of spending far more than it takes in and spending money on projects that have been proven to frequently be pure pork - i.e., some combination of political "pay-back" or outright bribes intended to re-elect the politicians who vote for these projects? But even more repellant I think is the idea that politicians who spend their lives living off the taxes paid by people who actually work for a living would think they are in the position of teaching Americans how to handle money. What qualifies such people for this task? The only thing I can come up with is that they see themselves as somehow smart and capable. Is that what their decisions and behavior demonstrate: that they're smart and capable? So it would seem only pure arrogance could make such people believe anyone would follow their advice. They think we somehow look up to or admire or wish to emulate their behavior. Seems like a good example of arrogance, or...
Stupidity: Anyone who is married, has children and faces paying for college education or has tried to start, run and succeed at a business can't possibly believe that the government will add anything to the equation in trying to prepare young people for such challenges. Most young people I know are fully aware of the government's fiscal irresponsibility, so I doubt they'd take any financial advice coming from such quarters seriously. Even the sheep-like college students and graduates who've been successfully indoctrinated by the liberal academic establishment into believing the secularist-socialist propaganda that dominates "higher" education these days pretty much understand that the government can't manage money very well, and that the result of such mismanagement has been and will be an imposition of a financial burden on them.
So this may be a case where arrogance so distorts politicians and government bureaucrats perception and judgement that it leads to a terminal case of pure stupidity. As for opening a retirement account, the vast majority of Americans who have IRAs or 401ks can't possibly count on the meager amounts in these accounts to help them in any significant manner in retirement. So those government-created "retirement" programs have demonstrably failed. Yet here we see the government continue to push these failed programs on a new generation of Americans? If they're not stupid, it seems reasonable to conclude that they're evil, doesn't it? What else but evil (if not stupidity) can explain this desire to see a whole new generation fail at providing for themselves, as so many of their parents have failed in so doing?
Please, Mr. President, stop creating these new roles for government (teacher, guide, mentor, adviser, etc.) and focus your attention on spending less than the amount of taxes you collect. That should occupy enough of your time - if you take it seriously - and make you realize that government neither has the expertise to teach financial management, nor is government assigned such a role in our Constitution.
Come back to us with a balanced budget one of these days, OK?
...on the other hand, rather than rant about this sort of comment by the White House, I could just chuckle and shake my head at the idiocy of government leaders who so often talk way over their heads - if it weren't for the fact that they're driving our country into the ground with their idiocy and irresponsibility.
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