http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T35QhLx_KI
George came to mind today as Constanza-like behavior from the political class keeps on rolling on:
- Let's start with the most minor but possibly the most symbolic of the new George Constanzaisms from the political class. Nine months ago, the Obama administration announced that it had decided to install solar panels on the White House to promote the idea of alternative energy sources. The logic was that if the most famous building in the world had solar power, it would symbolically make solar more popular and widespread in the country and the world.
Sounds like solid reasoning. However, the entire concept depended on the ability of this administration and the political class to actually install a few solar panels in one location. Unfortunately, they were not able to do that simple task. According to an Associated Press report from June 21, 2011, those panels have not yet been installed and there is no definitive date when they would be operational.
Mr. Bill McKibben of the climate activist group 350.org summed up the Constanza-like fiasco and frustration best: "Nine months is a pretty long time. You can have a baby in that time. On the list of things that get done, this isn't all that hard. It doesn't require Seal Team 6. It just requires a good-faith effort. You can just open the Yellow Pages and get page after page of solar installers." I could not have said it any better.
But it gets worse. After nine months, the installation has not happened but according to a Department of Energy spokesperson, the project is "on the path" but details and timing would not be shared publicly. Apparently, the competitive procurement process, after nine months, has not been completed.
Is it no wonder that almost forty years after the oil shocks of the 1970s, the political class in this country has not developed and deployed a coherent national energy policy? How could they develop any national plan for energy if they cannot even install a few solar panels in a reasonable amount of time? George would be so proud.
- The second George Constanza moment is quite scary and comes to us courtesy of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, our national bank. Although this story is widespread, I am going to quote from an online Forbes article written by Agustino Fontevecchia on June 22, 2011. Quoting directly from the article: "Brutally honest, Bernanke admitted that he had no clue what was actually causing the current fragility in the U.S. economic recovery."
Come again. The most powerful financial Federal government employee in the country has no clue? This is a man who printed and deployed hundreds of billions of dollars to unsuccessfully jump start the economy, weakening the buying power of every American and he does not have a clue? This is a man that controls interest rates in this country and he does not have a clue? He is a trained economist who has been involved in this type of high financial and economic concepts his whole life and he does not have a clue?
Well, if he is clueless, how much more clueless is the rest of the political class that have nowhere near the education and experience of Bernanke? It is not like the United States just got formed, it has been around for over two hundred years. Have we learned so little about our economy over that time that we are being guided by cluelessness? Much like Geroge Constanza who seldom had a clue, it seems his disease has spread throughout the halls of Washington.
- Yesterday the Obama administration, in conjunction with about two dozen other countries, have decided to release 60 billion barrels of petroleum onto the market in a desperate attempt to lower the skyrocketing cost of gasoline. Of the 60 million barrels, 30 million barrels will come out of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
How Constanza-like is this move? Just consider some simple math facts:
- The United States uses about 19 billion gallons of petroleum a day so this 30 million barrel release is equivalent to about only a day and a half worth of our country's usage, hardly enough to bring gas prices crashing down.
- With 42 gallons in a barrel and about 115 million U.S. households, this 30 million barrel release would come out to about 11 gallons per household, about one tankful of gas for an average car. Again, hardly enough to make a significant difference in the market place or the price of gas.
- This previous point is a best case since petroleum is used for a variety of different applications and uses beside gasoline so the 11 gallon per household calculation above is a best case.
Typical George Constanza behavior. Rather than do the right thing and just get a job, George goes through all kinds of wasteful contortions and misdirection to justify his bad behavior. Just like the political class. Rather than do the right thing and just address the underlying root causes of our energy problems in a straightforward manner, the political class goes through the hysterics of a one time release of an extremely small amount of petroleum that solves nothing.
- And finally, one last example of cluelessness. Yesterday saw the publication of the weekly first time unemployment applications and the news is not good. 429,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, up several thousand from the week before and very consistent with other weekly reports for what seems forever.
The political class spent about $830 billion on an economic stimulus program that did nothing to stem the flow of unemployment. They gave hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to financial institutions and auto makers, and even though their management mismanaged their respective businesses, the political class rewarded them for their incompetence with such programs as TARP. They operated short term, tactical economic stimulus programs (e.g. Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Appliances, Cash For Caulkers, First Time Homeowner Rebate Program, etc.), all of which were failures and wasteful. These all sound like crazy George Constanza plans that never worked out as planned.
How proud we should be that those that are supposed to be leading us only conjure up visions of a TV series bumbler. Very sad. That is why several steps from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" are necessary in order to change our political processes. These political process changes have to start delivering people into office more competent than the George Constanzas we are stuck with today.
George was a fictional character, he could cause no real life damage. Which is what makes our political class so much more dangerous than George - our politicians live, operate, and make life affecting decisions in our real world but have no clue what they are doing: they are clueless when it comes to the economy's sluggishness, they cannot implement any kind of successful economic program, their energy program consists of adding a day and half's worth of petroleum to the market, and cannot even install a few simple solar panels. Not sure that Jerry Seinfeld would even hire them to be his latex salesmen.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com
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