Obama's Economic Plan Makes Him Poster Child for Deficiencies in American Math Education

It is clear that America has been deficient in teaching math to our youth. The generation first at historical risk to this problem has now grown up and we can finally see the completed cycle of illiteracy, as those publicly educated youth are now dominant in the work force. No study needs to be done. No survey taken. It is evidenced in our leaders en masse. The most notable of those could be the poster child for math illiteracy--President Obama.

Wednesday, in a press conference, the President demanded aloud to the Congress regarding the upcoming 4th of July recess and the debt ceiling debate,

…You need to be here. I've been here. I've been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden
and the Greek crisis and--you stay here. Let's get it done."

If Mr. Obama is claiming that he has been working on the debt and budget crisis and that they should be too, he did a very poor job of conveying that message during the telecast. In fact, he conveyed the opposite. By his own admission he said he has been working on Afghanistan, bin Laden and the "Greek crisis"--not the spending crisis.

This may not be construed as bad math, except to say it is poor reasoning and some will claim he is hypocritical. But that is not all there is to it. On the heels of saying this, Mr. Obama justified increasing taxes among the rich because, "you can afford it…You'll still be able to ride on your corporate jet: you're just going to pay a little more…"

First, the reasoning of saying that one can to afford more taking by the government is like saying the robber has a right to steal from you because you (or the insurance company) can afford to replace what he/she takes. It is neither sound nor legitimate to take something from someone because in someone else's eyes the other person can afford it. --How ridiculous an argument. If it were a correct principle it would empty our jails. Thieves, robbers, collusionists, conspirators, larcenists, et al. would be allowed to plunder our neighborhoods and businesses so long as (at least in their minds) the victim could afford the loss more than the perpetrator could afford not to pull the heist. But again, that is not the worst math. It's just very poor reasoning.

Where Obama gets in trouble (again) is in his challenge the Congress to stay and duke it out with him on the budget, with which he also offers his solution for them to pass: A solution, by the way, he claims Americans won't mind and will endorse. Pass a bill to provide loans to businesses, he says. Now, why would anyone want to pay more taxes so he/she would have to then borrow on the very money they were just forced to give to the government? This is seriously bad math. Imagine if your neighbor told you to pay them $5000, then you turned around and borrowed the very same money back--with interest. How ridiculous a formula for economic success!

Secondly, as Mr. Obama stated himself, the money is not for every business. No. It is only for those businesses that build roads, highways, possibly windmills, and solar panels, etc. or involve "free trade agreements," as the President put it. In other words, his solution is to only grow that part of the economy that he deems good--roads and foreign trade under such pacts as NAFTA. These government loans require the citizen-borrower to surrender their interest, ideas, and visions about what kind of business to build to Mr. Obama's. Take it or leave it.

When you add up the math and actually account for his words, the stark reality of what Mr. Obama is offering leaves Americans on the short end of the stick. Very, very bad math.