Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Bad Reviews



To prove that the post-shellacking "Barack Obama 2.0" is now friendly to business, the president has announced his plan to review government regulations which discourage hiring, inhibit business growth, and make American companies less competitive.

"Review" being the word that politicians use when they want to give the illusion of taking action, with no intention whatsoever of following through and actually doing anything.

In the same way that only reading a diet book won't cause weight loss, or forming a Debt Reduction Commission won't actually reduce debt, the president's "review" won't actually make the business climate better... and won't produce many surprises, either.

For instance, we can already tell Mr. Obama that any government regulations which increase the cost of hiring - whether an increase in minimum wage or higher premiums for Obamacare - kill jobs and encourage layoffs. The president's threat of a government increase in taxes on business and investment in two years hurts both right now.

Proposed energy taxes which make it prohibitively expensive to actually build things in the United States reduce our ability to compete internationally. Shutting down segments of our domestic oil exploration and production while oil prices skyrocket hurts all businesses. And regulations which exist solely to shore up the power of Democrat-friendly unions force domestic employers to find affordable employees overseas.

In other words, Mr. Obama, the reviews on your business policies are already in... and your "Hope and Change" show is a flop.

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22 comments:

Rick Armstrong-Tyler, Texas said...

Facebook will NOT allow the posting of this cartoon on my account...something about being hateful or spam...hmmmm, has it begun? I am sorry to say...I do believe so...Team Obama has decided to stop open dialog in favor of Government Run media by picking at the edges...Censureship at any level is a violation and just more fuel for the engine that drives his defeat in 2012....

Pete(Detroit) said...

"Review" >> "Illusion"
Yeah, no doubt.
Gonna be interesting to see what happens w/ the new House...
If anything...

Earl said...

Isn't this the same president who campaigned on the promise that he would go through the budget line by line looking for waste? Beware what the other hand is doing while the "reviewing" is going on.

John the Econ said...

Yesterday, I got a letter from my health insurance company outlining all of the wonderful changes to my coverage mandated by ObamaCare. But I have to wait until next month to find out how all of these wonderful changes will affect what I pay every month. Considering that it went up 20% last year, I can only imagine how much it will go up this time around.

As more of my money is diverted to pay my higher premiums, somebody else's job will be affected somewhere in the economy.

The irony is, of course, that sooner or later I will not be able to afford annual 20% increases in my coverage, (soon I'll be paying more for insurance than my mortgage) and I will make the rational choice to become one of the dreaded "uninsured" that ObamaCare was supposed to eliminate. The money I'll be saving will more than cover most medical issues, and should I get seriously ill, I will soon be able to buy insurance after the fact, effectively subsidized by the rest of you who for whatever reasons continue to have jobs.

Does any of this sound like it encourages job growth or competitiveness?

Angry Hoosier Dad said...

Earl:
Exactly right. But most of us know where the other hand is going. I suggest you keep a firm grip on your wallet, although it may not matter. What he can't take by stealth, he will take at the point of a bayonet. The bayonet just requires more PR to clean up.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Rick Armstrong- I tried posting a cartoon to Facebook and got the same message; apparently all Hope n' Change cartoons have been labeled "hateful or spam" by Facebook. I'm guessing this is most likely to be because some individuals falsely complained and Facebook didn't bother to check it out.

I've filed a complaint with Facebook, and hopefully they'll unfreeze things soon. Keep in mind that you can also share cartoons via Twitter or email links, or simply copy the cartoon to your desktop and then post it as a "picture" to Facebook.

Earl- Yes, Mr. Line-by-line is at it again. And as you correctly point out, the more he tries to direct our attention in a certain direction, the more important it is that we really look at what his other hand is doing.

John the Econ- I got that same letter a couple of days ago, and am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Although Obamacare was passed with the promise of bending down the cost curve so perhaps we'll both be surprised by lower rates!

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Readers- A little more info on the Facebook situation. My cartoons and commentary are also posted each day (M-F) at Rightnetwork.com, and it seems like the Facebook button over there still works.

I'll continue fiddling with this issue to try to figure out what, if anything, can be done on this end.

Anonymous said...

I'm able to post the cartoon on my Facebook page as a picture on my wall. Where are you guys talking about that's being kicked back?

Colby_Muenster said...

Oooooo! I can't wait to see what the big "review" reveals as business killers. It's going to be something completely unrelated to business; you watch. BO will find some way to blame talk radio or Sarah Palin, and will spin the findings into some twisted reason to raise taxes or abolish the constitution, or raise the minimum wage to 30 bucks per hour.

Yep, this morning I was filling my little old beat up car with $3.50 per gallon fuel wondering what in the world could be killing business in the US. It's a real mystery.... I'm sure it will take, oh, 2 more years for BO to come up with something that he thinks will get him another four years of extravagant vacations at our expense.

Rick said...

Facebook. If you save the cartoon as a JPG file and upload it as a photo there is noting the Liberal Scum at Facebook can do about it.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Anonymous- Under each post (just under the day's commentary) there are some little buttons which allow easy posting. When I tried pushing the Facebook link today, a pop-up gave the message about "hateful or spam."

As of 12:32 central time, that's still happening. The message is "This message contains blocked content that has previously been flagged as abusive or spammy. Let us know if you think this is an error."

The words "Let us know" are a link to Facebook - and obviously I'll appreciate it if as many readers as possible click on it to tell Facebook that this is a harmless and singularly non-spammy site.

Anonymous said...

I went back and I see what you're talking about. I sent a message stating that blocking my post is a violation of my right to free speech. Did you guys hear that? It was the first volley crossing our bow.

pryorguy said...

So how about that big spike in Obama's numbers...expected that after that 'inspiring heartfelt'speech in Arizona the other night! I still dont trust the guy any farther than I could throw him.

My son and I watched it for a while, until my son said..(he is about to start medical school), ..."okay, now he sounds like he is teaching a class!" He wanted none of that!!!! Had to agree!

robsan19 said...

As of 3:40 PM CST, I too am blocked. Following is my comment regarding this: There is nothing wrong with this site, it portrays a daily cartoon about current events with commentary.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Readers- My attempted Facebook fixes haven't worked. If you DO contact them to let them know you don't agree with the decision, be polite. Odds are that some lib-types got busy on their keyboards one night to flood Facebook with false complaints, and Facebook acted without checking out the benign truth of this site. I doubt there's a conspiracy - just "bureaucracy." Just as annoying, but only half the evil!

Anonymous said...

There are so many Gov regulations that we can't build any more nuclear power plants, they are going after the coal industry & now they want us to drive 'death-trap' electric cars.....where is the electricity going to come from to charge them? And the oil! We get most of our oil from Canada & Mexico, if our neighbors that 'sandwich' our environment have enough oil to export, then, it's a slam/dunk that we have plenty too. If we drill here it would create jobs (good paying jobs that we so desperately need) and lower the cost of gas. The consumer could spend the extra $ on other things therefore boosting the economy.

Unknown said...

Now, I know I'm not welcome here, but I do hope Professor Cheeses reads before burning. I've not had any difficulty posting links to this site on my facebook account, in fact I just did it a moment ago.

Awaiting deletion SIR!

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Mitch- I'll put you on probation for now, though taking the snark down a touch will help.

But regarding today's topic, do you think the Obama agenda has A) been good for business (or jobs) so far and, B) do you think our economy (and debt levels) can improve if businesses don't get more freedom from regulation?

I'm not laying any traps; just genuinely curious about a liberal's perspective on the president's announcement.

Moronpolitics said...

Yeah, Obama gonna READ through the budget? Is it printed in Rolling Stone now? Now if he is serious about looking for waste that shouldn't be too hard. Their WAIST usually be near the staples Mr. President. That's right. NO, Sir, I can't "give you a hand" with that. Yes, I KNOW it's a sticky problem. Sorry, Sir. Yes, sir, they don't have as many Asians as they should, Sir. Sorry, don't know what to tell Mr. Hu. By the way, he is on the phone. Who
? Hu? Line one, sir. Yes the first one.... Yes, I get it sir.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Moronpolitics- You exhibit a certain distrust of the president's sincerity. Which, I'd say, shows that you've been paying attention.

AngieComics said...

Stilton,

Obama is posturing for 2012. He's changing his position and hoping to look better for re-election. Nothing will come of it... except you'll have to change your strip from "HOPE AND CHANGE" to "CHANGE and HOPE"!

Unknown said...

"Mitch- I'll put you on probation for now, though taking the snark down a touch will help."

I can't believe you miss the irony, no, wait, I can.