The Government Is Against Waste?

The Federal Government has corporations on the ropes, and Obama is demanding change. Despite his young, hip persona, Obama has come out swinging against corporate junkets to the Super Bowl and Vegas. This from a man whose private jet is a Boeing 747. This from a man who signed the most wasteful spending bill ever. This from a man who supports over 8,000 earmarks in a partial year budget (but no more earmarks next year).

Anyway, these corporations took federal money, so they must have expected strings to be attached. After all, they aren’t libraries, NPR, or museums who claim civil rights violations at any conditions on their federal sugar. Still, taking advice on frugality from the most wasteful institution on the planet must sting. The executives who can no longer fly in private jets, hold conferences in Vegas, or entertain clients at sporting events should take solace knowing the government likes waste just fine, but only on their terms.

Obama has said that the US must spend its way out of the recession, and the stimulus package is certainly an amorphous pile of spending. The Obama position is that any spending, no matter how silly, is an economic stimulus. By his own logic, Obama should welcome banks that waste money on jets and junkets. The bank money is a loan, which might very well be repaid with interest. The spending bill is unrecoverable, except by higher taxes. If where the money is spent is irrelevant to Obama, how can he complain? The answer is quite obvious: when Obama wastes money on the likes of eco-friendly golf carts, he is helping the helpless. Obama doesn’t want someone else getting in on his compassion shtick, hence the phase out of tax deductions for charitable giving by rich people.

Also, Democrats just hate successful people, unless they are from Hollywood. Ted Kennedy’s taxes on yachts, airplanes, and expensive cars didn’t raise much money for the government, but they appeased the instincts of his party (these punitive taxes were part of George H.W. Bush’s tax betrayal that lead to his 1992 loss). Of course along the way, the tax killed off the yacht and small plane industries. If Obama’s Vegas comments drive that city’s tourist industry under, it would be a fair price to pay for spanking those evil corporations.

Of course, no industry has ever thrived without conventions, marketing, and schmoozing clients. Even the lie industry, A.K.A. politics, has obscenely wasteful conventions every four years. Vegas is actually a convenient, attractive, and cost effective convention town. By pooh-poohing practices as old as business itself, Obama proves himself to be just another left wing class warrior.

N.B.: The original posting of this blog gave Pres. Clinton the blame for the luxury tax, which is incorrect. In fact Clinton signed the bill that repealed these taxes and revived the yacht and small airplane industries.