Brain-Dead Economy

[Geee]

American Spectator:

A few thoughts prompted by "Stocks Swoon, Worry Rises" -- the banner headline in the weekend Wall Street Journal:

• Even as stocks swoon and worries mount, our president continues to hold his head high -- a little too high, in fact -- every time he strides to the podium. This makes him the anti-Princess Di. He is always triumphantly chin up, just as she, poor thing, was always tremulously chin down. Given the lousy state of the economy, he might try to be a little self-effacing himself. He should stop acting as if he expects his every word to be greeted with rapturous applause.

• Why would anybody pay $2.6 million to have a "power lunch" with Warren ("Please, may I have a tax hike, Mr. President?") Buffett? But someone who wishes to remain anonymous did just that on Friday night -- bidding on eBay. The proceeds will go to a charity in San Francisco that feeds those who have "given up on themselves." It seems appropriate. Perhaps Mr. Buffett could start a billionaires-for-diminished-self-reliance club.

• How can we measure Mr. Buffett's net contribution to P, our nation's prosperity? I would suggest the formula A minus B = P, where A is the money that he has earned for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders through his prowess in picking stocks, and B is the negative impact he has had in lending superficial credence and support for wrong-headed policies (favoring higher taxes, increased government intervention into the economy, and disregard for constitutional limits) that are responsible for the weakness of the recovery, if it can even be called a recovery. Under my formula, it is probable that Buffett, a frequent visitor to the Obama White House and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is already in negative territory in the calculation of P. We have a massively under-performing economy, thanks at least in part to business leaders who have been happy to truck with bad policies either because they have benefited directly from them (as Buffett has in being heavily invested in Goldman Sachs and other financial firms that were bailed out by TARP money), or because it has endeared them to the mainstream media (Buffett qualifies here too).