Obamanomics Not That Bad?

Steve Chapman is pundit that on domestic issues, like the economy, can normally be counted on to follow a fairly conservative free market, small government, deregulation ideology. As such, his latest piece can't be attacked ideologically. Yet, this defense of Obama's economic policies left this conservative less than reassured. Chapman's defense of Obama's economic platform rests on three principles.

1) Obama isn't that liberal.

Chapman proclaims that Obama's record has been skewed by the National Journal ranking him most liberal. He proclaims that others have him as low as 16th. Well, frankly, what one or another survey ranks him is frankly entirely irrelevant to me. I am not concerned about Obama's economic policies so much because the National Journal ranked him most liberal. I am concerned because of what I believe his policies will unleash. It is rather stark that in this piece Chapman spends scant time addressing any of Obama's specific economic policies. Barack Obama wants to concurrently raise trillions of dollars worth of taxes at the same time he wants to introduce trillions in new spending programs. This is called tax and spend liberalism. It has a history of enormous failure and at this weakening economic period it is a recipe for disaster. Whether such ideas put him first, sixteenth, or six hundredth in terms of liberalism is irrelevant. The specific policies are dangerous. Period.

2) He's open to evidence. I hope so, but it's difficult to surmise how Chapman could know this with any certainty. Obama has made no decisions on economics. Chapman's evidence is the large economic team that he has assembled and its varying ideologies. So what. So far, this team has produced an economic policy that includes raising the top two income tax brackets, capital gains taxes, inherintence taxes, and even taxes on oil companies specifically. He intends to spend several hundred billions more in job creation. He wants to socialize medicine. Yet, despite all of this, Chapman contends that Obama has more affinity to the "free market" than most Democrats. Based on his platform, if this is a correct analysis, that says much more about the Democrats total rejection of the free market than Obama's acceptance.

It is on the issue of mortgages where Chapman really uses circular logic.

He balked when she said all adjustable mortgage rates should be frozen for five years -- with Obama's campaign quoting an expert who said, accurately, that it would be "disastrous

What Chapman doesn't mention is that Obama supports Dodd/Frank. This law won't merely freeze rates. Instead, it will take the unprecedented step of reducing mortgage balances. Furthermore, it will do it only for those borrowers that currently have lates on their mortgages. Borrowers with no lates aren't eligible for this lucrative deal. If this expert thought that freezing rates was disastrous, what do they think of this boondoggle? Does it sound as though Obama is listening to evidence?

3) Barack Obama believes in the free market more than most Democrats.

This really isn't very reassuring because nothing in Obama's rhetoric or economic platform shows that he believes in it all that much. His solution to health care is socialization. His solution to job creation is government spending. His solution to the real estate bubble is more regulations. He says he is against the winner take all economy without recognizing that free markets thrive based on competition. Competition and winner take all go hand in hand. Will he also recommend that the NCAA basketball tournament stop once we reach the final four and have those teams share the National Championship? What exactly is Obama's definition of competition? Does he recognize that the free market encourages competition?