Two Americas

Not exactly the same “Two Americas” the sleazy John Edwards spoke of, though. These are competing economies within America. The traditional one and the Goliath of the public economy. This election will decide which economy leads, says Daniel Henninger:

With the Obama administration, the tensions between the country’s two economies clarified. The $831 billion spending bill in 2009 was intended to stimulate hiring of public-sector workforces but also among the satellite businesses that are subsidiaries of the public economy. Barack Obama’s routine use of the traditional private-economy term “investment”—in energy, education and such—is the public economy claiming capital for its needs.

President Obama is telling the private economy it must subordinate itself to the public economy’s moral efficacy. The passage in 2010 of the Affordable Care Act, with no Republican support, was justified as a 1960s-type act of moral necessity. The private economy, in his view, can’t compete on that basis.

The problem is that the public economy is attempting to choke the cow while milking it. The story of the golden goose comes to mind, here. The public economy now is hell bent on destroying the very sources of revenue that enable it. The leaders of that public economy, notably Barack Obama, are running out of other people’s money.