Shunning free market, Obama’s economic vision ultimately means tepid growth, higher prices

Canada Free Press ^ | March 12, 2009 | William Beach

[Scanian]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The new buzz-word in Washington is “pivot,” used to describe a fundamental change in public policy.

Team Obama has done a lot of pivoting — on issues both foreign and domestic. Nowhere has it pivoted more, though, than on the economic front.

Clearly, it has turned away from free-market. And while it’s not always clear exactly where they are turning to —leading some pundits to suggest they are simply “making it up as they go along” — the general approach is one more commonly seen in Europe.

It assumes that only government can solve key social and economic problems. And it has few qualms about manipulating markets, by-passing institutions of civil society and shouldering aside the private sector to get where it wants to go.

There’s a downside to this approach. It directly increases dependency on government and slows economic activity.

Take healthcare, for example. A non-governmental solution to our messed up healthcare system would use competition to keep insurance prices down and empower consumers to own the private health coverage that suits them best. Charitable organizations and government would step in as healthcare providers of last resort for those who cannot afford private care.

President Obama’s healthcare vision takes a different approach. Improvements in healthcare and health insurance are driven by the federal government, not by consumer choice and market forces.

[Jabba the Nutt]

There’s a downside to this approach. It directly increases dependency on government and slows economic activity.

That's not a bug, that's a feature.

[Carley]

O’s marxist policies will expand the underground economy.

Big Time