Chris Edwards at the Cato Institute promotes Matthew Lesko, the man in the money suit, for a cabinet position in an Obama Administration. Here’s why:
“I picked up my local beer magazine, On Tap, and was surprised to see a front page story on Matthew Lesko, the government subsidies guy who famously wears a question mark jacket. The question marks indicate that all you folks out there can get on board the federal gravy train, and Lesko can show you how.
As president-elect Barack Obama is trying to fill out his cabinet posts, I realized that Lesko would be perfect. I’m thinking maybe secretary of commerce because Lesko’s approach to commerce is to get everybody hooked on federal handouts. That’s exactly the same as Obama!
Obama has refundable tax credits for everyone, he’s got goodies for federal unions, and he’s got subsidies for health care, toddlers and college students, homeowners, prescription drug users, energy companies, and on and on.
Once President Obama gets all those new subsidy programs through Congress, Lesko would be the perfect salesman to travel the country and pump up excitement over a new era of subsidy-fueled prosperity.
Mr. Lesko, all your years of hard work making late-night TV commercials may pay off big time! All the Obama administration would have to do is change www.lesko.com to www.lesko.gov and Americans could start cashing in.â€
Listen for the revealing line near the beginning of this clip…one of Michigan’s own apparently doesn’t think your money belongs to you (HT: MSU Conservative)
Doug French writes for Mises.org reminding us that this is not the first time in history free-markets have been falsely blamed for government-created economic havoc:
It is often said “there are no atheists in a foxhole.” The other week, as world financial markets melted down, CNBC go-to wise man Art Cashen put a market spin on that familiar line drolly saying, “there are no libertarians in a market crash.”
The crusty Cashen is certainly right for the most part. Plenty of financial talking heads who argue for free markets and smaller government on a daily basis suddenly screamed that government must intervene to “save capitalism.” Of course, the idea that government must print multiple blizzards worth of money to save a system where individuals and businesses trade with each other unfettered makes as much sense as presidents who claim that war must be waged to “protect the peace.”
The fact is that what we’ve been enjoying since the Federal Reserve was created is anything but free-market capitalism. The value of the dollar has been pushed down 99 percent and the economy has been a series of booms, followed by busts, ad nauseam since J.P. Morgan partner Harry Davidson and other big bank chieftains secretly took a train to go duck hunting on Jekyll Island in 1910. Of course, the ducks were safe, but Americans since have paid the price for the Federal Reserve–system idea that was hatched that weekend.
The Fraser Institute is hosting a new Student Video Contest and students are eligible to win $10,000 in cash and electronics prizes. The topic is: Incentives Matter - Fixing Health Care in Canada.
Video concept papers are due Tuesday, September 30th!
Students must submit a short concept paper by September 30th and then post their video on YouTube by October 31st. Friends and classmates can vote for the best video, and there are lots of prizes to be won. Canadian and foreign students are welcome to enter – the economic analysis is the same for everybody! Full contest details can be found here.
