Progressive Half-truths

 In a recent Denver Post YourHub article, “Twisting half-truths into whole lies,” Jack Van Ens listed what he claimed were half-truths spread by conservatives.  From his leftist, big government perspective that favors statism at the expense of free markets, those so called half-truths would appear to be lies.  However, Van Ens shades the truth himself by failing to give a fair and balanced perspective of each item he delineates.  Van Ens also fails to include some of the half-truths spread by the progressives in the Obama Administration.  A few of those half-truths would include the following.

Shovel-ready jobs: When President Obama was selling his $787 billion stimulus package, he consistently bragged about how shovel-ready construction jobs would be funded across the nation. Even the President later admitted that was a lie, when he told the New York Times: “There’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.”

Keep your doctor: President Obama repeatedly pledged that under his health care measure, Americans would be able to keep their doctors. However, with rising costs, many employers will dump their health care plans and force workers into the state health care exchanges (unless you belong to one of the unions getting ObamaCare waivers.) A survey by McKinsey & Company found that more than 30% of companies will discontinue coverage for their workers.

Transparency: President Obama pledged that transparency would be a top priority, but his administration refused to grant one-third of the Freedom of Information Act requests, according to an Associated Press analysis. He also was dishonest about transparency when he said that health-care negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN and that he would wait five days to sign a bill so people would have a chance to read it online.

Deficit Reduction:  In 2009 President Obama made the bold statement that he and his administration would work to cut the federal deficit in half.  Now we have 5 trillion more dollars in debt then we did in the beginning of 2009.  Americans should rise up and demand a stop to the madness, but today this is considered to be just another necessary thing to help the “recovering” economy.  Recently President Obama released the newest budget that he claims will reduce the deficit by trillions. This budget, when examined, isn’t a spending reduction but a continued spending that continues to jeopardize our posterity’s future.

 Auto Bailouts:  President Obama likes to claim that Chrysler repaid its loans made under Obama’s watch to the US government.  FactCheck.org notes that taxpayers are still left $1.3 billion in the hole even after the remaining shares the government owned where sold to Fiat.  And while GM, Chrysler and Ford may be out of financial danger, for now, their political liabilities continue to multiply. The Bush-Obama bailout isn't over because its terms increase the chances that one or more of the Big Three end up in trouble again. Chapter 11 would have provided an orderly workout, giving the auto makers the legal protection to clean up balance sheets, modify contracts and restructure under due process. The steel industry reorganized itself through bankruptcy a little over a decade ago, rationalizing its capacity and labor agreements. American Airlines is the latest legacy carrier to enter bankruptcy, and the planes are still in the air.  The auto bailout isn't an example of enlightened government revitalizing an industry after a market failure. It is a bailout in the wake of failed government policies and bad management that may keep going and going as big government statism does whatever it takes to make sure Detroit keeps doing its political bidding. 

So, Van Ens is correct when he tells us that we should check facts, become a savvy-listener, and beware of half-truths including those spread by liberals who favor big government statism at the expense of limited government, free markets, and conservatism.