Workfare nation

Mr. Obama wants to put America back to work again--patching roads and replacing light bulbs. Yup, he is proposing a colossal public works program as the solution to the crashing job market. Are you a laid-off electrical engineer? Start screwing in energy-efficient light bulbs, pal. Are you an out-of-work cost accountant? Mister, grab a shovel and start filling in the pot holes.

All of this, of course, is "investment" in America, not make-work jobs imagined by a president-to-be who can't think of anything except reviving antique 1930s New Deal programs with him playing the featured role of a faux FDR. Word has not yet reached Mr. Obama that the New Deal was a failure, that intractable American unemployment was relieved only by drafting 10 million men to fight World War II, that idle factories were revived only by conversion to war materiel manufacturing, and that a pre-1929 standard of living was not recovered until after 1945.

But these are mere details. It's the bold, sweeping, new-yet-old, fresh-though-stale thought of our glorious leader-elect that counts. Who will pay for all these grand plans, you ask? Now you spoil the mood. Does Santa Claus pay for the presents he bestows? Does the Easter Bunny pay for the chocolate eggs he leaves in baskets? Why should Mr. Obama pay for the goodies he's about to scatter upon us? Perhaps because this is the real world, you say, and somebody has to pay. Varlet, say I, clam up and get with the program. You cynics in the reality-based community are always trying to pee on our parade. Yes, we can! That's all you need--a positive attitude. The power of positive thinking trumps facts any day of the week and twice on Sundays--especially in Mr. Obama's Washington. If you don't think about financial ruin, then it won't happen. Just look at Wall Street...or Detroit...or California...or some place where people still have money they call their own. We'll get them to pay. Quick, alert the IRS and the Treasury! Help is on the way!

Read the nonsense here