Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics: Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

[blueclown]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Obamanomics-vs-Reaganomics-Lets-get/story.aspx?guid=%7B3C6A8B71%2DB039%2D49C9%2DAEFF%2D171D4AED2C57%7D&dist=hplatest

Saying goodbye to Reaganomics and 'Capitalism 2.0'

More accurately, the new Obamanomics is a rejection of the Reaganomics thinking that began with Nobel economist Milton Friedman's 1962 classic, "Capitalism & Freedom," then moved into high gear under Reagan and the Bushes. That reign brought us the best and the worse of deregulation, globalization, major warfare, massive deficits, privatization and big plutocratic government, culminating in a disastrous credit meltdown, a deepening recession and a bear market that's already lost $9 trillion, the worst-case scenario since the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

You'd think such a miserable track record would be enough for the old guard to stand down. Unfortunately good old 20th century Reaganomics ideology is still being defended, even as it lives in disarray, confusion and pain amid wild contradictions. Listen to Steve Forbes recent post-election defense " How Capitalism Will Save Us:"

First off, Forbes blames "a chain of major economic policy errors, which, to use a current cliché, created the perfect storm. These government blunders temporarily paralyzed the global credit system and are now sending the U.S. and Europe into recession." How Reaganesque: The sole cause of the mess is always government.

Yet, while his idol Reagan believed "government is not the solution, it is the problem," Forbes contradicts that dogma by welcoming over a trillion in government bailouts to a greedy and totally incompetent Wall Street, calling the bailouts "sensible rescue efforts." Sensible? Yes, if you make the bizarre assumption that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and others were guiltless victims of "economic policy errors" requiring taxpayers to make "restitution."

Forbes adds "never before have so many people advanced so far economically in so short a period of time as they have during the last 25 years." Apparently he's referring only to the richest Americans on his Forbes 400, because he's ignoring the fact that the average inflation-adjusted income of most Americans has declined during the same 25 years as the inequality gap skyrocketed.

Who's to blame for the toxic meltdown? Not Wall Street. Oh no. Certainly not the Forbes 400. And never Reaganomics ideology. They take no responsibility. Zero. Who then? He goes back to Reagan's tired old mantra, "government is the problem," ignoring the fact that big government and deficits grew more the past eight years than in the entire two centuries since the Declaration of Independence!

Throughout, Forbes puts all blame on government, blindly ignoring the fact that Washington is controlled and manipulated by 42,000 special interest lobbyists bankrolled by the wealthy few controlling America's plutocratic government.
In fact, the real issue is not "how capitalism will save us." Capitalism 2.0 just failed miserably, creating a huge mess.