Obama’s Failed Stimulus and Opportunities Forgone
Gabe Rodriguez /
The immediate effects of Obama’s policies are easily seen. We can observe the workers of which billions of dollars have been spent to employ. We are aware of the entitlement checks given by the pen stroke of congress. It is inferred that the recovery plan actually recovers. However, Obama’s legislative activism has farther reaching consequences. Unfortunately, this administration is not able to see beyond the immediate results of its policy proposals. It is the opportunities forgone, those that are not seen, which prove the truly destructive aftermath of such policies.
It was the classical economist Frederic Bastiat that famously distinguished the difference between a good and bad economist. He stated only one simple difference, “the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.” The Obama administration boasts of the millions of jobs created by enormous government spending legislation such as The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. Though the instantaneous jobs generated are evident, the error is in neglecting the source of this funding and what its use would have otherwise been. (more…)