The latest from Obama on the "stimulus" package naysayers included this assessment...

"These criticisms echo the very same failed economic theories that led us into this crisis in the first place -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can ignore fundamental challenges like energy independence and the high cost of health care; that we can somehow deal with this in a piecemeal fashion and still expect our economy and our country to thrive."

Obama contends that an economic policy solely of tax cuts got us where we are today. How accurate is this statement? Virtually nobody would be in disagreement that the severity of our current downturn was fast-tracked by the housing bubble. The cause of our housing problems was the government deciding they wanted to try their hand at increasing homeownership. It was the government (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and their fellow ideologues) who made Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's primary responsibility to create and buy unconventional loans for people who the private industry otherwise had determined were uncreditworthy. The "Wall Street Greed" that everyone points to is secondary, if not irrelevant, when considering that private enterprise did not get the ball rolling when it comes to credit giveaways for those who were previously denied.

Circle back to Obama's statement that a policy of tax cuts alone is what got us here. This rhetoric swiftly ignores the reality of what the housing crisis meant to this economic downturn, and avoids discussion of the cascading events that led up to it. Those who are responsible for screwing up the housing market with their selfish, vote-mongering, unsustainable fantasy of putting people in homes they can't afford are getting off scot-free.

What problem in our economy can be linked to tax cuts? Who ever spent less money after having their tax burden decreased? What company ever cut their workforce as a result of lowered corporate tax rates?

What we are experiencing now is the superior abilities of politicians at their worst. If Obama and the Democrats get their way, this will go down as the most opportunistic power grab and concession of economic freedom that our country has ever seen. They very well may get their way, based on their successful squashing of independent thought. Obama is making the rules now. He is telling everyone that "tax cuts alone" are what dug this hole, and we can only be saved if we do what he says. And everyone is listening.

What we are missing is an honest discussion of the merits of what's on the table. Central planners attempting to direct an economy through borrowing, spending, and telling people what to produce and what to buy has a long history dating back to the ancient times. Why isn't this information being considered front and center?