Obama: Imbecile or Madman?

June 8, 2012-  Barack Obama:  "the private sector is doing fine"

Imbecile or madman?  After yesterday's press conference, that is all any thinking person can have left in their vocabulary to describe Barack Obama.  At the presser, he TWICE said "the private sector is doing fine", and went on to say that the major weakness in the economy is a lack of hiring by state and local governments!

Here's how I explain one of the most outrageous statements ever uttered by the President of the United States. Obama thinks the private sector is doing fine because he places so little importance and value on it.  To committed socialists, the private sector is not the engine of economic growth, rather it is only an impediment to their desired expansion of the role of government.

Barack Obama thinks the private sector is doing fine because he doesn't care about it, doesn't think about it, doesn't spend any time considering how to help it.  He really wishes people would just stop asking about it, so he can get on with the business of "fundamentally transforming" America. Well, I do care about the private sector.  Let me tell you about one tiny little part of it.

Anytown Animal Hospital is a very small veterinary practice in a major U.S. metropolitan area.  It is run as a sole proprietorship by a husband and wife who employ one additional person.  It came under its current ownership in 1991, and at the time had been a very poorly run business.  The practice experienced slow, steady growth throughout the 1990's.  Increased competition from several angles slowed that growth through the 2000's, but sales continued to grow.  As with any business, expenses grew every year as well.  Taxes, regulatory requirements, fuel costs, drug costs, they all have been on a steady upward trend.

The owners were comfortably middle class, able to save some money for their two sons' college education as well as their own retirement. Being self-employed business people, there is no cushy pension or health insurance benefits available to them.  Annual sales peaked in 2007.  2008 seemed to be going well until October, when sales dropped precipitously with the election of Barack Obama and the TARP fiasco.  At the end of 2008, sales had dropped 3.8% from 2007, the first decrease in 17 years.  

2009 brought the Obama stimulus plan, and the economy went off the cliff, dragging Anytown Animal Hospital down with it.  You see, most people want to take care of their pets.  But money spent on veterinary services is still "disposable income" for most Americans, and under Barack Obama disposable income dried up fast for most of us.  2009 sales dropped another 6.1% from 2008.  

2010 and 2011 brought a level of desperation to Anytown Animal Hospital.  Sales dropped 7.7% in 2010, and another 1% in 2011.  In total, sales have dropped almost 20% since Obama's election.  

Unfortunately, expenses didn't go down concomitantly.  Sales decreases come right out of the owner's pockets. With the cost of doing business increasing every year, the owner's personal income has dropped 37% since Obama's election.  37%! 

 The owner has spent many long nights over the last two years agonizing about the practice.  Should he just close it up and walk away from the last 20 years of his life?  Should he try to get a second job, any job, just to be able to continue saving for the future?  Should he fire his only employee to buttress the bottom line?  

Why has this happened?  Did Anytown Animal Hospital start doing something differently that caused sales to plummet?  I don't believe so.  The economic pain and uncertainty under Barack Obama has simply eliminated disposable income for many people in Anytown.  As his clients have endured Obama's "fundamental transformation", Anytown Animal Hospital's owner now finds himself 23 years into his professional career, and with an income last year less than the starting salary for a newly graduated elementary school teacher in the Anytown Public School District.  

Mr. President, don't you dare tell me the private sector is doing fine.  I own Anytown Animal Hospital, and I know the truth.

Editor's note---  The answer to the opening question of this post is IMBECILE.