Fear of a growing government

One thing has always proven itself true: Money never lies. Politicians make promises, there are many campaign platforms presented over time, and policy is voted on and passed. But one thing is always certain: Money is an obvious sign as to how the economy is really going. And things aren’t looking up.

In recent polls from Wall Street Journal economists, President Obama was given a score of 59 out of 100 in regards to his economic policies, 42 percent of these economists having given him a score below 60. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received an even lower score from the same Wall Street Journal economists, having been given a score of 51 out of 100. This is even lower than the 57 score given to Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in January.

Just in case no one noticed, the scores that President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner are getting less than 100 days into Obama’s term are failing grades. These grades would send them flying out of any school system, but not the U.S. government.

Stephen Stanley of RBS Greenwich Capital noted to the Wall Street Journal: “They over-promised and under-delivered. Secretary Geithner scheduled a big speech and came out with just a vague blueprint. The uncertainty is hanging over everyone’s head.”

Vague? This is more than disconcerting to me. They are spending billions upon billions of dollars, with more proposed in the future, and they are being vague.

The Dow Jones dropped almost 20 percent since Geithner announced the Obama administration’s economic plans on Feb. 10, as reported by Fox News. It sounds like investors are losing confidence fast in what the government has to offer these days. And with all of the talk being so vague, why should they have confidence?

The American public should be more concerned than it is about this lack of specificity. Scream for answers, ask questions, or just open your eyes. People need to find out where all this money is going. Why? Because it is coming out of our pockets. How does the government pay bills? With tax dollars—money that comes out of the bank accounts of citizens. This money is flying out of government coffers and into the abyss, without taxpayers so much as questioning where it is going. The only people who are demanding answers on this spending are economists, and many of them are not happy with how things are looking.

To top things off, some of the banks want to give the money they received in the bailouts back to the government. No one thought of the strings attached when they took the money, and now there are many regrets. The New York Times reported: “One of the biggest concerns of the banks is that the program lets Congress and the administration pile on new conditions at any time.” This sounds like Congress has free rein to do as it pleases.

Now many banks have a credit line with the Treasury, and this can go one of two ways: Either the banks will be told what to do by the Treasury, or the Treasury will allow them to do what they want, which could be endorsing risky behavior. Either way sounds like a losing situation.

Ultimate government control isn’t what this country is supposed to be about, and now it seems that America’s citizens have begun to see this first hand. The way things are going, citizens of the United States will be in debt up to their ears—so will their children’s grandchildren. And all we will have to show for this is more government-run programs. Big government is back folks, and it’s here to take over.