Uncertainty. Perhaps the worst of words for private sector investors. The free market is filled to the brim with it. One rarely if ever knows how things will transpire. You measure twice – if not three, four or five times. And then you cut your deal. Then you cross your fingers – and hope for the best.
And with all of that – eight out ten businesses fail. Ouch.
But that’s the nature of the private sector. If you want a successful, vibrant economy – you have to acknowledge and accept this uncertainty as a part of the deal.
What you don’t need – is all sorts of additional, superfluous, ridiculous uncertainty piled on top of you by government.
And the Barack Obama Administration is Team Uncertainty.
What you want from government is an orderly process for new laws. Thankfully, the Constitution sets that up. Elected members of the Legislative Branch debate bills. We the People can lobby members of Congress to redress our grievances. Making the bills better – or, failing that, making Congress better by electing new members.
The Obama Administration has bypassed all of this. And has instead governed by a massive flood of regulatory fiats – issued by unelected bureaucrats. Whom we can’t lobby. Of whom we can’t rid ourselves in the next election. (In fact, we can’t get rid of them just about ever.)
This is the very definition of uncertainty. You never know when or where the next government anvils are going to fall. And you have zero say in any of it. It is thus impossible to measure twice, thrice or more – and you’ll never feel comfortable cutting any deal. So fewer and fewer people do.
Because for all you know your entire business model may the very next day be irreparably damaged or even deemed illegal – by some unnamed bureaucrat somewhere within the Gigantism of the $4-trillion-per-year federal government.
All of this (and more) is why President Obama will be the first chief executive in our history to never have a year of even 3% economic growth.
Speaking of – sometimes, the economy-killing bureaucrat does have a name. And a very recognizable face. Behold President Obama his own self – throwing an ocean-sized bucket of government water on the private sector.
Obama Says Army Corps is Considering Ways to ‘Reroute’ Controversial Dakota Access Pipeline: “On Tuesday, President Obama weighed in on the Dakota Access pipeline being constructed to transport oil from North Dakota to a refinery outside Chicago.”
Get that? The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is “being constructed.” Which means – it’s already been approved. By FIVE different governments.
The pipeline will run through four states. And all four of those states’ governments approved the pipeline. And guess who else approved it? The Barack Obama Administration – via its aforementioned Army Corps of Engineers.
So the DAPL folks did exactly what they were supposed (forced) to do. They played Mother-May-I with five different governments – and received five go-aheads.
And now President Obama has after-the-fact, retroactively pulled the rug out from under them. Hello, uncertainty.
And in so doing, is siding with the liars and thugs who have been blocking the already-approved project.
Up to and including the ridiculous New York Times’ ridiculous Bill McKibben – who last week defended the indefensible in a ridiculous screed entitled “Why Dakota Is the New Keystone.” The title isn’t even true. DAPL was approved by the Feds (and everyone else) – the Keystone Pipeline was not.
McKibben having joined with the liars and thugs in word – word is he will today be joining with them in deed. In person, in North Dakota, helping to continue to block lawful commerce from being conducted.
Who are the these liars and thugs? The Standing Rock Sioux Indian Tribe – and their environmentalist-radical trail lawyers from EarthJustice.
How are they liars?
The Disingenuous Duo has filed a lawsuit to block the pipeline, in which they claim: “Neither [Dakota Access] nor the Corps ever consulted with the Tribe…or had invited their participation as the Tribe had repeatedly requested.”
Except: “A basic examination of documents provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state utility boards, as well as filings by the Corps of Engineers and Dakota Access in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia shows the (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) and environmental allies met with regulators multiple times, and filed over a hundred comments throughout state and federal review periods. Filings also show that Dakota Access made seven attempts to meet with the tribe directly but were rejected every time.” (Emphasis ours.)
So, they’re liars.
How are they thugs?
The Morton County (North Dakota) Sheriff’s Department has issued a statement (and offered up some pictures) in which they catalog the very peaceful protesters’ very peaceful protests. Up to and including:
- A woman firing multiple gun shots at the police line,
- Protesters throwing Molotov Cocktails at officers,
- Two officers receiving minor injuries after being hit by logs and other debris,
- Protesters setting numerous fires to vehicles and other debris; at least nine vehicles plus construction equipment was torched. (For reference, the photos that show the burned out vehicles on the bridge are located at Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806.),
- 142 people were arrested on Thursday and Friday bringing the number of protesters who have been arrested in the County for illegal acts since August 10 to 411.
So, they’re thugs.
All of this lying and thuggery – now tacitly endorsed by the President of the United States.
All in opposition to a pipeline – already approved by the President of the United States.
Yet another federal-government-sized dose of uncertainty – heaped upon a private sector already suffering from pronounced crush syndrome.
I can’t imagine why the economy continues to stink on ice. Can you?
This first appeared in Red State.