Obamanomics vs the American Dream
By Bob Robinson

In 2008 then presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to fundamentally change America. Now, five years later, despite little cooperation from the right, President Obama seems to be well on his way toward accomplishing his goal.

While naysayers have a long list of criticisms, ranging from IRS and NSA to Benghazi, it isn’t likely these complaints will have any impact on his presidency, or even the future of his party. When the mainstream media spends a week covering every possible angle of the Gov. Christie scandal over the GWB lane closures, but only gives brief lip service to proof Obama knew Benghazi was a terrorist attack and the death of four Americans under Hillary Clinton’s watch could have been prevented, the public will remain woefully uninformed.

The real question is will the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, his flagship legislation, also be his Waterloo? Will it bring his presidency down when he has been mostly given a pass on everything else? This is one area the media would have difficulty whitewashing.

I don’t think there is any disagreement the rollout has been a disaster. His statements “If you like your plan you can keep it” and “If you like your doctor you can keep him” have earned him ridicule, damaged his credibility and even prompted an apology of sorts. Despite continuous delays in its mandates by the Executive Branch, there seems to be no end in sight to the potential problems this legislation has created. Some of the resulting horror stories would be criminal if perpetrated by the private sector.

The question yet to be answered is whether or not the administration can figure out how to salvage this nightmare. However, I believe the future of America as we know it goes beyond Obama’s signature achievement and the public’s response to it. It has more to do with the president’s approach to the economy, often coined Obamanomics.

Two little noted points:

While an official 6.7 percent unemployment number for December, the lowest since October 2008, has been celebrated, almost nothing has been said about the labor force participation rate. Despite the economic collapse in 2008, the labor force participation rate was over 66 percent. Today it has dropped to 62.8 percent… the lowest since 1977.

We have the fewest number of able-bodied workers actually working in more than 35 years.

The other point, also little noted in the major media, is America’s steadily declining Economic Freedom standing. While as late as 2008 the U.S. was fifth in the world for allowing business to grow and prosper, it has dropped to 12th today. Government regulations and spending have stifled economic growth almost continuously for over five years.

Will this destroy the historic ingenuity that has been a focal point of the American Dream since the country’s inception? I don’t think so. There’s something about America that is uniquely American… adaptability. It seems no matter what the politicians in Washington do to screw up the free enterprise system, business figures out a way to overcome it, get around it or take advantage of it.

A prime example would be business’ adaptation to technology and the work force dilemma. Government makes it more expensive to employ people… higher taxes, health and safety regulations, minimum wage, Obamacare and more. Business responds by relying more on technology (ie automation), less on employees, online marketing, seeking government (taxpayer) bailouts and using government programs to train the people it still needs.

This in turn requires more public funds, greater government control and builds on a dependency cycle that is not likely to be reversed.

I don’t believe Obamanomics will destroy American ingenuity. There will always be entrepreneurs. I do however believe it will irreversibly change how business functions. Big business will become bigger and an increasing number of honest, hardworking people will become dependent on government largess. For them, the American Dream will no longer be an option.

The American middle class could finally – once and for all – become a distant memory.