The Economics of Shovels

Obama always talks about "shovel ready" projects. He likes to tout shovel-ready jobs that he can fund with money the govenment borrows from abroad... or at least he always talks about the first part of that statement. I wonder if Obama ever used a shovel or understands a shovel's value in the market. I am sure he undertands the theory of the shovel and maybe even the physics of the shovel, but does know why we need shovels or know all of the things I can do with a shovel? Based on his speech yesterday about raising taxes yesterday, I don't think he knows anything about shovels other than that if he needs one, he should be able to come over and take mine.


I think Obama's speech yesterday was a complete capitulation to the economic doldrums we have seen since 2008. A campaign speech versus a policy speech, the subtext of Obama's speech was that you can't get more by earning it in our economy today. Instead, you can get more by taking from the mean guys...the millionaires and billionaires. The president told us that the way for us to get more for everyone is to take it from someone else. How is that going to work?How is that leadership?

The president snarked "it's not class warefare, it's math" Really? For someone who is supposed to be so smart, he doesn't seem to be very good at math. Beyond all the false comparisons in the "Buffett Rule" and his ommissions about double taxation of corporate taxes, how can he miss the simple math that the federal spending has far outpaced the capacity for even the most robust economy to support it? How did he miss that math? How can the president miss the math that job creation is essentially zero. What is the math behind creating jobs by taking money from one pocket and putting it in another? Did the president quanitfy the lost jobs and economic output in our domestic energy industry? Where is that math?

I think the only math problem the president has is that the math behind his proposals doesn't work.