Obama Is Gambling With Our Future

Every now and then, when I have nothing better to do, I will watch poker on television. It is a fascinating game that requires skill, luck, and an amazing amount of nerve. Anyone can learn the basics of poker; which hands to bet and which hands to fold, but successful professional players have an intuition that sets the winners apart from the losers. The ability to know when to go “all in” and when to throw the hand away and take a small loss.

We, the viewers, have the advantage of knowing all of the hands at the table, and that gives us a tremendous advantage. I know from watching many a game that I do not have the nerve to play the game for real money.

What does watching poker on TV have to do with Obama? What we are watching every day in the news is a giant poker game of epic proportion. Obama and his economic advisers are sitting at the final table and they have just moved all in with only a five and a deuce. No professional poker player would ever make such a move, but Obama has just placed everything on the table with only a prayer of coming out on top.

At stake is the future of our entire financial system. That includes our 401ks, IRAs, and pension funds as well. In fact we are not just passive viewers in this mega poker game, we are in it up to our necks.

His odds of drawing a winning hand? I figure somewhere south of 5%.

All of Obama's efforts at stimulating the economy are for naught. Throwing money at the problem is like pushing on a string, it doesn't matter how you push, it just isn't going anywhere.

You see, most of this country's Gross Domestic Product is generated by consumer spending and consumer spending has collapsed. Americans have run out of money, their houses are dropping in value, their jobs are going away, and most folks have pulled in their horns and are hoping that they can hang on until the storm passes. Most of us will not be able to hang on.

Need some proof that consumer spending has collapsed? Look at new car sales for the month of February. GM and Ford reported that February sales were down more than half from last year. Industrial production has collapsed as well and not just here in the States, but in most countries overseas. Port traffic is down big as well, which means that Americans are not buying things supplied by overseas manufacturers. It is all a very ugly picture and it is going to get much worse.

Back in October, I wrote to both Obama and McCain, pleading with them that they vote against the bailout package. I explained to them that giving money to failing banks, insurance companies, and auto makers would not solve the problem. That these companies are doomed. I explained that throwing more money at the problem is like throwing gasoline on a fire. It only makes things worse, unless you are building a fire.

Our government is playing with fire and we are all going to get burned.