Obama the Central Planner?
Obama Wants to be a Central PlannerWashington – In a speech before the Michigan Economic Club, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama blamed the auto industry for its financial problems and promised to solve these problems by imposing a new mix of expensive federal mandates and subsidies, regardless of the economic cost to the industry and the American people. Apparently, the irony of this “solution” was lost on Senator Obama.
According to the Transportation Department, government mandated increases in CAFE standards—as advocated by Democrats like Obama—would cost companies $85 billion between 2010 and 2017. Under Obama’s plan, this cost would be born by Americans in the form of higher prices or higher taxes to pay for government subsidies. But Barack Obama doesn’t have to worry about being able to afford a new car, so why should he care?
“I’m sure the leaders of the world’s largest companies were on the edges of their seats, eagerly listening to every word from this former law professor-turned-politician who has never even run a corner grocery store,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Someone ought to inform Senator Obama that the free-market entrepreneurial spirit is what makes America the economic powerhouse of the world, and the political micromanaging of corporations would wreak devastation on the American economy.”
