Friday, August 8, 2008

Barack Obama: Wrong on Tire Pressure; Right on the Weak Dollar

Paris Hilton may strengthen the dollar if you keep looking at her long enough but she failed to mention it in her much touted economic plan. Not so with Barack Obama. He mentioned it, and then failed to follow it up with any kind of sensible economic policy.


Hey…Chalk it up as a first! This is the first time I’ve ever agreed with Barack Obama on anything. It makes me feel positively cheery, as if I had suddenly become immune to pejoratives of racism.

Last Tuesday, during a campaign stop, Obama blamed the weak U.S. dollar a significant reason for the high price of oil. That’s a lot better than blaming the air in vehicle tires, especially since Obama has probably never put air into any of his own tires, and especially since most tire gauges are hopelessly inadequate, and especially since most Americans have long since forgotten how to do that simple task properly.

We have yet another reason to admire our forefathers, who could not only put the right amount of air into the tires, but they could also change a tire if they had to.

But this is not to detract from the singular brilliance of the Obama indictment of the weak dollar. Vice Chairman Donald Kohn of the Federal Reserve reflects the denial mode of many administration economic officials in rejecting any strong link between the oil price surge and the weak dollar.

That’s a bunch of crap to anyone with a memory. Everyone knows that the Fed policy support for a weak dollar is a price support for American exports. That’s not all bad, but letting the dollar slide to the degree that they have is loonie. Pun intended. When the dollar is worth less than the Canadian loonie, there is trouble afoot.

Thank you, Oh Great One! Unfortunately, you memorized the line and read it with feeling, but you failed to pound on the only vital statistic of your economic plan worth knowing. The rest of your messianic economic plan spells disaster for America in higher taxes, restrictive economic growth, unrealistic promises, Algorean goals, and a general lack of understanding.

But someone put the right word in your ear, and you should keep saying it. America thanks you, O Great One.

No comments:

Post a Comment