Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has come out with further criticisms of Barack Obama. As usual, it does not make much sense.
Bachmann was asked by the Christian Examiner, “What’s your assessment of President Obama’s administration so far?”
Bachmann’s response:
“I think it is jaw dropping when you think that under his watch, the federal government has taken ownership or control of the private economy. People know that something has really changed. The federal government now owns or controls 30% of the private economy. Just over a year ago, you couldn’t say that. Just over a year ago, 100% of the private economy was private. Today, 30% is owned or controlled by government.”
Bachmann then explains that if the Obama healthcare package passes, another 18% of the private economy will be sucked up.
Saying that “100% of the private economy was private” is like saying 100% of yellow goldfish are yellow. Of course, if it is private, then it is private.
Yet to suggest that last year the United States was a libertarian-style, free-wheeling economy is absurd. The government was much more involved in the economy in 2008 than it was in 1958. What portion of the private economy was private in 1958? 140%? Why choose 2008 as a baseline for such a comment?
I assume that the 30% of the private economy that Bachmann is referring to is primarily the banking and automobiles sectors. To claim that Obama is responsible for that is disingenuous. Those bailouts started with George Bush, not Barack Obama.
Of course, if everything was peachy last year when 100% of the private economy was private, then why did a huge financial disaster come along?
Even if the entire healthcare system in the U.S. was taken over by the government, that still would not translate into an 18% absorption of the economy by the government. That is because large parts of that 18% is already government run, like Medicare, veterans benefits and the fancy healthcare that all members of Congress get.
It is Michele Bachmann after all. She is not after the truth, just attention.
