Mrs. Ruestman, in a recent capital report, wrote that Obama said capitalism is "an economic philosophy that has failed."
There is a good reason why Mrs. Ruestman only put those six words in quotes- Obama never made any such statement about capitalism. Last October, at a time when the country is just beginning to get hit with the hardest part of the recession, Obama, a presidential candidate at the time, referred to the idea that the markets can be self-regulating. The excesses in the banking and insurance industries made that apparent. The push to deregulate everything left the markets to vulnerable to speculators and con artists who exercised little or no self control and dragged everyone else down with them.
Had Obama actually made the statement, it would not have been any problem for Mrs. Ruestman to quote it exactly. The cute use of the quotation marks show she knew full well that what she was saying was not even close to the truth.
The full text of Mrs. Ruestman's capital report is below:
Let me begin this week by disagreeing with the following quote from our current President: Capitalism is… “an economic philosophy that has failed.” This “failure” was the theme of his campaign last year.
Continuing with the conservative principles I began last week, I’d like to shift the focus to free enterprise (Capitalism), the economic philosophy that has made us the most successful nation on earth. America ’s opportunities and prosperity are the result of free enterprise and individual initiative. This “failure” as the President claims comes after the most prosperous century human beings have ever known. The United States of the last 100 years is the wealthiest nation to have ever existed, not by a small margin, but by a giant gap.
The technology and quality of life we ALL enjoy (even the poorest among us), is far beyond what our Founding Fathers could have imagined. Everywhere you look, we are surrounded by monuments to capitalism that never would have existed under socialism. Not far from my district is the Home Office of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world and nearly the largest employer. Wal-Mart would never have been considered under socialist policies.
Yet, with all the evidence of the success of free enterprise and individual initiative, the liberal media and Democrat White House want you to believe it is a failure. It baffles me that the very people who enjoy the fruits of individual incentive and capitalism would claim it is the problem. I really wonder how they believe we became so successful. They must believe it is a cosmic coincidence that brought us to be the only super power and the largest force behind the world’s economy.
The promise of a better life and the “American dream” has been the drive for millions of people over the decades. That promise brought us amazing technology like the personal computer and major leaps forward in healthcare. Now, we have a Leader who says it was all a waste.
Our President believes the government should compete with you and I for business. He says that Washington should compete with Detroit . Ford Motors already knows the struggle other companies will soon face under socialism policies. You cannot compete with the government because it is subsidized by you and I, the taxpayers.
As a small business owner, I have faith in Missourians. I believe you best know how to spend your money. I believe that when you are able to enjoy the wages of your labor, you have an incentive to work harder. When you open a business, I don’t think the government should be next door trying to steal your customers. I believe that Capitalism has not failed. We must stand up and defeat the liberal policies of this administration!
Mrs. Ruestman has every right to express her political philosophy, but as an elected official, she should also strive for accuracy and not mislead her constituents.
8 comments:
Sounds like you and Van Jones have some things in common. Go here and listen at around the 4:20 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZIb1DXId4o
In terms of what Pres. Obama thinks, I guess we can't judge a person by the company they keep
Ruestman panders to the low-information voters who get their political education from their Yahoo mail inbox.
Capitalism is an unattainable archetype, due to the inherent greed of individuals. We have examples of capitalism, but the ideal free-market let-the-buyer-beware make-it-and-sell-it version is not self-sustaining in reality. Anyone talking about "the free hand of the market" is trying to deify a system which has no morals or ethics higher than "the last man standing wins." This may appeal to those who've been lucky with it or have power, but its obvious why it tends to bread the corruption we see today with money in politics.
My conclusion is that people, that is, human nature, are the scourge of the capitalist system.
You quote Mrs. Ruestman but only paraphrase Obama instead of showing us enough of his full quote so that we can judge for ourselves if she took him out of context.
No offense, but only someone who is out of touch with reality or trying to perpetuate a lie would think any politician could say something like that and be elected president of the United States.
Here is a Washington Post article outlining exactly what he said, "final verdict on an economic philosophy that has failed." What other economic philosophy could he have been referring to?? The U.S. has only operated on one since its inception...Capitalism.
If Capitalism has "failed" why are we the wealthiest nation on earth?? Why do all other countries depend on us?
And Randy you are wrong, apparently the country has gone mad and elected a fascist/communist - !!!
You know full well that Obama was talking about the abuse of the capitalist system through deregulation and lax supervision, both of which opened the door for the excesses that brought about our current economic situation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having disagreements over issues, but there is no need to bend the truth out of shape to make your points.
I don't know that you can say all other countries depend on us anymore. Thanks to Republican free-spending and a completely unnecessary war in Iraq, we are now dependent on China to buy U.S. Debt to fund our government. Republicans try to say the last year of Democratic and Obama presidency is why we're in this situation, but it was a Republican administration and congress that got us in this mess. Obama said it was the abuse of capitalism that has failed. Capitalism, like Kindergarten, can work, but it needs proper supervision.
If you have ever listened to Marilyn on KZRG of a morning. The woman is an air head. I am always amazed about what comes out of her mouth. I do not think she ever had an original thought.
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