By John W. Lillpop
My late mum, God rest her soul, was not a brilliant economic scholar, nor was she even much of a financial whiz as best as I recall.
For example, during an economic pinch, she once disclosed her recovery plan to be this: Secure a hard-money loan on the family home, deposit the loan proceeds in a money market account, and live a life of unfettered luxury and privilege on interest earned.
Sounds simple and easy enough, right?
Mum's enthusiasm remained steadfast even after we pointed out that the interest rate she would be paying would be around 18 percent, while her savings account might yield .75% in an up year.
Even so, Mum was driven by the urgent need to act quickly, even if her hasty actions were adverse to her own financial health.
Like my mum, President Obama seems to be operating under the wonky assumption that he can borrow the nation out of our financial woes, and pay back the money with chicken feed that distracted liberals overlook on the floors of the U.S. House and Senate.
At least that is how it sounds when President Obama signs a trillion dollar stimulus bill, followed by a $275 billion program to help homeowners avoid responsibility for their own actions, followed by a $643 billion plan to socialize medicine, followed by Lord knows how many further trillions of dollars in bail outs.
Followed by his latest dilly, a fantasy plan to reduce the deficit by half before the end of his first (and, hopefully, last) term.
With all due respect, President Obama, where do you propose to get the funds needed to reduce the deficit, especially if your administration and Congress continue to spend, spend, and spend additional trillions on liberal pet projects that the American people do not need nor want?
Moreover, with the nation heavily in debt, how can the United States respond to unexpected disasters like a repeat of 9/11, a major earthquake in Los Angeles, or several Katrina-like hurricanes?
What if world events cause gasoline prices to explode to, say, $10 a gallon, which would devastate the American economy in short order?
What if third world Mexico unravels into a full-scale civil war and carnage spills across the border, thereby threatening the safety and security of American citizens?
What if Iran develops a nuclear weapon and tries to wipe Israel off the face of the globe, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested, leading to an all-out war in the Middle East?
What if China refuses to buy more American debt?
What if the rate of inflation jumps to double digits, as it did during the dark deep ages of liberal insanity, AKA the first Carter administration?
Common sense should make it clear that mindless spending caused America to end up in the current mess to begin with.
How, then, can irresponsible and foolish spending on an even grander scale be expected to produce anything but more pain and devastation?
Were she still alive, Mary Quintal Lillpop would make an excellent nominee to be Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration.
Her 2 + 2 =9 mindset would fit right in with the president and leftist loonies in the Congress.
Her only weakness: Mum never cheated on her taxes, and she always told the truth!
