Obama & the Welfare State

[WhiskeyGirl]

From the ashes of this election, a new conservative insurgency will arise

By KATHERINE KERSTEN, Star Tribune

Last update: November 5, 2008 - 9:19 PM

Some conservatives worry that this election may signal a tipping point for America's free market economic system, the engine of our unprecedented prosperity. With Obama at the helm, they fear a slide into a highly regulated, European-style economy - aimed not so much at creating prosperity as funding a welfare state.

We've just elected a Democratic Congress and a president whom the non-partisan National Journal has named as America's "most liberal senator." We can expect them to overreach, as their predecessors did. And in today's global economy, the harmful consequences of economic missteps will likely become apparent far more quickly than in the past.

It's time for conservatives to mount a new insurgency. That insurgency will proclaim that economic policies focused on wealth redistribution, rather than wealth creation, cannot produce prosperity. It will remind Americans that, despite their vague promises of "hope" and "change," big-government enthusiasts are sooner or later revealed as emperors who have no clothes.

read the whole article here -
http://www.startribune.com/local/33943139.html?page=2&c=y

When does the prosperity start?

The Ant and the Grasshopper; Why Is U.S. Prosperity Eroding? Japan's Lessons.

January 9, 1989

That prospect frightens citizens unclear about why U.S. prosperity seems in decline. They are vulnerable to chauvinist calls to the economic ramparts, as though Japan and other resourceful trading countries are enemies. Such Japan-bashing is alarmist and mostly misguided. America and Japan can both flourish, each exploiting its strengths, each learning from the other's strengths. At the moment, there is much for America to learn:

Japan's annual share of U.S. patents has grown from 4 to 19 percent over 15 years, while America's has slid from 73 to 54 percent. The companies with the most U.S. patents in 1987 were 1) Canon, 2) Hitachi, 3) Toshiba and 4) General Electric.

The U.S. market share of world electronics has dropped from 50 to 40 percent in three years; Japan's rose from 21 to 27 percent. Experts in Tokyo, David Sanger noted in The Times recently, believe that ''in most areas of electronics, with the exception of computers and other very advanced equipment, the United States is no longer a significant factor.''

Japan now makes a raft of products that the world wants to buy. Its vigorous competition has shaken up complacent American industries, like steel and Detroit, to the consumer's vast benefit. Some of Japan's trade policies are unfair: for 15 years it has confined American computer chips to a 10 percent share of its market. Its Government refuses to buy American fighter planes, available at unmatchable price and quality.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFDC1330F93AA35752C0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

What does the US make?  Who buys our products?

Will jobs building roads and bridges bring prosperity?  What's the long term job outlook?