Obama and Fear

Obama is running on fear. It took me a while to figure this out, because the CW is that he is running on Hope, and the Republicans are the ones who run on Fear. Now there is an element of truth to the CW, in that Obama talks a lot about Hope, and McCain has suggested that Obama is not ready to protect America. But there is more to the story.

People in America are afraid of many things. Not just terrorism. Not even primarily terrorism. They are afraid of losing their job. Losing their home. Not being able to send their kids to college. It is these economic fears that Obama is playing on.

Obama's plan is to "spread the wealth" around, to help the folks who can't afford groceries, or gas, or their mortgage. The problem with this is that unearned money is like morphine, it dulls the pain, but it also reduces the incentive to work. Even worse, subsidies for specific goods will raise the prices of those goods. If the government offered people money to buy eggs, and you sold eggs, wouldn't you raise your prices? Of course you would! And people wouldn't complain, because the government was footing the bill.

The same thing happens with college tuition. Why has tuition risen faster than inflation for so many years? Because the government subsidizes it, with low-cost loans and grants. Why did we see in the past few years a huge run-up in home prices (followed by a crash of course)? Because the government was encouraging, via the CRA and Freddie and Fannie, low-down and no-down loans. More money coming into the market makes prices go up, this is inflation 101.

What does this mean? The fears Americans have are real. There is no question that the economy is suffering. What we need is Hope. Hope for a better America, in which we can work hard, and reap the rewards of our work. Not Obama's Fear America, where success is taxed.