President-Elect Obama's Economy Speech: A True Piece of Eleoquence

Today President-Elect Obama delivered a speech on the economy in Fairfax Virginia to advocate his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.  It was a speech of contradictions.  

The speech was all about the need for big government programs.

If nothing is done (by the federal government), this recession could linger for years.  

It  closed by talking about how this plan will result in increased personal responsibility.

That is why the time has come to build a 21st century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded.

It began by talking about how the federal government needs to solve the plan immediately.  

Now, the very fact that this crisis is largely of our (the U.S. Government's) own making means that it is not beyond our (the U.S. Government's) ability to solve. 

It ended by saying that this proposal will not solve the problem addressed.

Now, this recovery plan alone will not solve all the problems that led us into this crisis.

While advocating a bill estimated to cost over 800 billion, Obama talked about the importance of being fiscally responsible.

We cannot have a solid recovery if our people and our businesses don't have confidence that we're getting our fiscal house in order.... Politicians spent taxpayer money without wisdom or discipline, and too often focused on scoring political points instead of the problems they were sent here to solve. 

However he also admitted that there is a considerable short term cost.

There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short-term. 

In other news, China may be unwilling to buy even more U.S. debt.