Thursday, February 5, 2009

Obama's MTV Show

This morning I read an opinion piece with perhaps the most baller byline ever: "The writer is president of the United States."

The article got me back to thinking about the differences between our two major political parties in regards to the way to fix the economy. I wrote something about this topic in a blog post a couple weeks ago, but left it unfinished. Now, I'm more confident in my own thoughts. There seems to be a major rift between Republicans and Democrats, even though both seem to understand that the growing unemployment problem is the primary factor in the current economic plummet.

Republicans believe that tax cuts for small businesses will allow them to hire more people.
Democrats believe that government spending on government projects will increase the number of jobs.

During the Clinton years we had higher taxes and increased government spending.
During the Clinton years, the US economy reached it's highest level of growth ever.

During the Bush years we had lower taxes and decreased government spending.
During the Bush years, the US economy plunged into a recession and suffered the worst decline in job growth since the Great Depression.

Is this simplistic? Hell yes. And I'm aware there are other major factors. But when it comes to simply the issues of taxation and government spending - I don't really see how Republicans can still believe more tax cuts will solve our current problem.

When I read Barack Obama's editorial in today's Washington Post this morning, I knew I would be able to publish my thoughts on this subject. I write this post partly because I figured Obama's words should be seen by as many eyes as possible. But also, because I was more confident in my own words. Obviously, his words are better, and you should read those:

"The Action Americans Need" by Barack Obama


On the other end of the political spectrum... Newsweek Magazine Online is doing a weekly MTV-style reality show about the Obama Administration. It's full of bubblegum-pop-music montages and the same hilarious editing styles. It's even narrated by a fake Obama! It's pretty amazing, and I'm looking forward to episode two. Maybe it will make the MTV generation actually watch politics? This all leads me to my idea for my next post: SportsCenter for CSPAN. Let's make it happen America!

Here is the Newsweek mock show (Thank you to 'Celsius' for showing this to me): NEWSWEEK

And here is the same thing embedded from YouTube. Please watch, it's pretty funny:

3 comments:

Daniel said...

I've always wondered about when people are going to realize trickle down economics doesn't, hasn't, and never will work. i'm a pretty firm believer in you spend more, you get more.

the NPR this american life podcast this week has a great story on obama's new economic plan-i recommend a listen.

Unknown said...

I totally agree. But I'm not sure Bush reduced government spending, he just shifted the spending to the military which has a non-existent financial return for the general economy and a disastrous impact on our foreign relations.

It is definitely time for Americans to pool their resources and spend it on the assets and services that empower us to grow and compete in the global marketplace of goods AND ideas.

Word.

Daniel said...

also-this video is hilarious. thanks for posting it!