State of the Union ( or is it Collective Now? )

I wait with little anticipation for the First State of the Union Address by President Barack Obama. He is giving a speech at a rate of about one a day since taking office and while I had admired his speaking prowess I now find him vague and hard to listen to with his attempts at the folksy “I’m just like you” message. Probably because he is nothing like me, I believe in Free Market Capitalism with minimal Government intervention, I do not believe the “Too Big to Fail” doctrine and I think smaller Government taking less money out of the economy (lower taxes) is a better solution to jobs and economic growth then the Government sucking up all the capital to waste it on feel-good pet projects. I do not believe in class warfare and sharing the wealth and doing things for the simple reason they are fairer for the collective because penalizing one for the good of the others has nothing to do with equality. The President does not share my views on these issues and many others so I find it hard to relate to him being just like me.

I expect to hear a more fighting words President, a get Healthcare done for the people President, a more anti-business President still blaming Corporate America for all the failings of Washington, a still blaming Bush President and a we are in this together so we need more of your money President.

We shall see how it plays and I will update this post after the speech with my take on it.

UPDATE POST STATE OF THE UNION

No surprises, just as I described above and was a very long and uninspired address. There was nothing in it to indicate any change of position. I thought the most telling part was that in the face of crumbling IPCC credibility, the source of the overwhelming evidence of Global Warming he advanced, that he still took time to mock people who did not agree. He is in the minority now when it comes to climate change and the fact that he still refuses to even hedge his position based on the state of the supporting science is unfathomable to me, any reasonable person should at least acknowledge the changes appearing in the arena, but Democrats cannot change from their original position on anything.

The jobs initiatives are non-starters because they are targeted far too narrowly and do not address the real underlying issues around the financial system. They want to regulate, tax and charge fees on the banks and he did not address the EPA regulation expansion that is threatening businesses of all sizes. The President then dumped on corporate America again with riff of the taxing of companies that have overseas operations and income, proving he learned nothing from his meetings with business leaders.

Other notables; 30 Billion from TARP for SMB ( on top of the 20 Billion from TARP used to purchase SMB loans) so more of what does not work. Swap Nuclear Power and Gas and Oil Exploration concessions for his comprehensive climate change bill or Cap and Trade. Some minor short term tax breaks that will not change business behaviors or spur any purchasing of capital equipment of more importantly hiring people because they are short term and too narrow.

So no Change in Policy, no lessons learned.