President Obama And His Nutty Professor

The Private Sector Is Doing Fine, The Public Sector Is Suffering

Recently, President Obama embarrassed himself when he announced that the private sector was doing fine, but the public sector was suffering. How did he come up with this incredible statement?

They have said that the Obama Administration is unique in that there are barely any business people on board, but plenty of brainy so called intellectuals.

Meet One Of Obama’s Nutty Advisors

The Opinion page of the US Edition of the Wall Street Journal on 6/22/2012, published a third of a page article titled “Republicans Are Blocking Obama’s Jobs Plan”  written by Jeffrey Liebman, public policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. Professor Liebman is also “a senior economic policy advisor to the Obama campaign. From 2009 to 2010 he was executive associate director and Chief Economist and then acting deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.”. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard.

When it comes to economics, Professor Liebman has it completely backwards just like President Obama. He and the President are missing the point as if living in an ivory tower or in a bubble void of any understanding of basic economics.

Here are some selected quotes from Professor Liebman’s article (emphasis added):

·         “One of the largest drags on our economy has been the layoffs of public employment like teachers, firefighters and police officers”

·         “ … over the past 27 months, state and local government employment has fallen by 450,000 jobs …”

·         Professor Liebman summarizes a study by three economists as “that in a single year of teaching a great teacher raises the lifetime earnings of her students by $250,000 relative to an average teacher”

·         “There is a strong consensus about what the immediate challenges facing our economy are: first and foremost, a continued lack of demand …”

Obama Believes The Economy Depends On Teachers, Firefighters, And Police Offers

Until I read Professor Liebman’s opinion piece, I had no idea how essential unionized teachers in public schools, or firefighters, or police officers were for the well being of a free market economy. Of these three public sector professions listed only police officers are actually a genuine government function that also serves a free market economy. The other two, i.e. public schools and fire fighting, could easily be privatized and it would be cheaper to the public.

Is it not possible that this severe recession has finally opened our eyes as to how bloated the public sector was? Yes, I think so.

Would college tuitions be lower if professors like Mr. Liebman would be working in the private sector? Yes, I think so.

Thank you Wall Street Journal for exposing the peculiar thought processes of the inner circle of the Obama Administration. Thank you for not blocking access to the full article.