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Catastrophe as Envisioned by Dick Morris
Introduction:
Before I start the review on Dick Morris’ Catastrophe, I want to make it clear that my opinions expressed in this review are not intended to offend or praise anyone; only to get you to think, and question. No matter how many great points Dick Morris makes, his book is still extremely partisan and controversial as evident in the full title of the book: How Obama, Congress, and the Special Interests are Transforming…A Slump into a Crash, Freedom into Socialism, and a Disaster into a Catastrophe …and how to Fight Back. I intend to approach this book with a clear and open mind in order to help bring Dick Morris’ points to the surface, while keeping his partisanship in check.
Catastrophe was written by Dick Morris and co-authored by his wife, Eileen McGann. For those not familiar with Dick Morris, he was one of Bill Clinton’s closest advisers, often credited in helping Clinton reshape his image after the Democrats lost control of congress in the 1994 election. Clinton’s new center-left approach helped him regain popularity and another term as president. Although Morris had worked for the Clintons for over 20 years, he has spent much of his later career as a harsh critic of the Clintons. But now that the Clintons are out of the spotlight, Morris has set his sights on a new target: Barack Obama.
Obama’s Catastrophe:
In his latest book Catastrophe, Morris aims to expose Barack Obama for who he is, what he wants to accomplish as President, and why it will lead to a catastrophe. This is Dick Morris’ bold move to put a wall in front of the president in order to stop him from moving his political agenda forward. Catastrophe doesn’t just act as a warning of things to come, it is also a rally cry. Each chapter presents the reader with a problem, and concludes with a call to action; something the reader can do to participate in the solution to the problem. This is a very effective way of writing. When Morris sets up the problem in each chapter, he aims to scare the life out of you, inducing feelings of anger and disbelief. Once he has riled up your emotions, he presents the solution; a light at the end of the tunnel. This is especially effective if you happen to be politically aligned with Dick Morris. I see a lot of people volunteering and taking action as a result of this book. However, if you’re not on board with everything presented in Morris’ partisan train, you’re going to want to get out at the next exit. You’ll at least have to stop and grab a burrito before going back on. Once you’re able to move past Morris’ one-track perspective, you can get the most out of the information he presents, allowing you to see the big picture; what government is, what it is suppose to be, and how politicians are just looking to fulfill their own interests.
Catastrophe begins with the rally cry, “It is time to take back our country. Now. It’s that simple. It’s that urgent. It’s time to take it back from President Barack Obama, before he fully implements his radical political agenda – one that threatens our liberty, endangers our livelihood, and jeopardizes our very safety and security.” Agree or not, what makes this introduction so beautiful is that it completely sums up the entire book. Catastrophe goes into detail as to what Barack Obama and the Democrats in congress are currently doing to completely dismantle this country. Morris evaluates the current actions of the administration, and where it will lead us. Specifically, he hits on three current topics: Obama’s stimulus package, the bank bailouts, and health care reform.
This guy just received a government check. Problem is, he is dead.
Obama’s stimulus package is no doubt one of the most controversial stimulus packages passed by congress in our nations history. Morris is obviously no fan of the stimulus package. He attacks it on both a philosophical end, and also by showing exactly where much of the money is being wasted on. From a philosophical perspective, Morris dismantles the concept of demand-side economics or Keynesian economics; the idea that government spending stimulates the economy by moving money into various projects. Keynesian economics will stimulate an economy, but as Morris points out, the effects won’t last referencing observations of similar economic tactics executed in Japan (some say Japan still hasn’t recovered from their crisis in the 90’s). As to where the money is going, Catastrophe outlines 11 pages full of various projects. There is definitely waste involved. Keep an eye open, and you’ll see government waste. Back in May, I found this report where stimulus checks went out to dead people: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/your_money/consumer/090514_Dead_People_Get_Stimulus_Checks. There’s going to be a lot more of this because most of the stimulus money hasn’t been spent yet. In fact, Morris points out that only $185 billion of the $700 + billion will be spent in 2009. A majority of the package ($399 billion) will be spent next year. Here’s my question: How is this a stimulus package if most of the money is not going to be spent until the following year? Even when the money is spent, it takes time to stimulate the economy. If a huge bulk of the money wasn’t going to be spent until the following year, why rush moving it through congress?
Morris likes to quote Rahm Emanuel often when he says “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.” I have a quote for Morris, “If it doesn’t make sense, someone is making money from it.” The way the stimulus package was executed made no sense. Lo and behold, right after the stimulus bill was passed, we started to hear about all the AIG bonuses. There’s no telling who else got a piece of the pie, but I have no doubt who stands to benefit: corporations, unions, and the Federal Reserve i.e. any organization that gave money to the people in power. Corporations, unions, and The Federal Reserve benefit from government favors. Corporations give money so that the laws are passed in their favor. A new tobacco law was recently passed that makes it harder for companies to enter the market. Who didn’t complain? Philip Morris. Unions give money so that unionization laws are in their favor. What did they get? Three executive orders in their favor, and majority ownership in two of the worlds largest auto companies. The Federal Reserve (our so-called central bank), gladly printed the dollars for the stimulus package. What do they get? Interest, of course. Imagine getting paid interest on $700 billion dollars. Can you remember the last time we were rushed into a decision that didn’t make a lot of sense? Does the Iraq war come to mind? “If it doesn’t make sense, someone is making money from it.” This is the story of government. Morris does a good job of telling this story, but unfortunately, he tells it from only one perspective.
Right before the first chapter of Catastrophe, there is a paragraph insert from Dick Morris’ previous book Fleeced. This paragraph predicts a stock crash of massive proportions right before the 2008 election.
Obama’s tax increase will trigger a stock market crash and devastate the already slumping real estate industry. A selling psychology often feeds on itself and can induce a market-wide panic.
Dick Morris got it right. He successfully predicted the future, but he highlights reasons that are ridiculous. Is he not aware of the banking crisis we were and are still in? He knows what was going on; chapter two is dedicated to the banking crisis. Morris even does a wonderful job summarizing how the banking crisis came to be in his side note “Thirteen Steps to Doom”. Why on earth would he think the stock market crashed because Obama was coming to power, especially when a majority of the people on Wall Street voted for Obama or at least supported Obama over McCain. This is where you have to be able to flush through Morris’ bullshit. He has no qualms in calling Barack Obama a socialist, but when was the last time our president was not a socialist to a certain degree? Would you consider George W. Bush a capitalist? During the eight years of the previous administration, there was virtually nothing that could have been considered capitalist about it. It was the previous administration that used big government to go to war, allowed Freddie Mac and Fannie May to buy all the mortgages in the country, and bailed out the banks and the auto companies. Morris predicts that the bank crisis is going to get worse when Obama uses the crisis to nationalize the banks – “the linchpin of his plan for a socialist economy”. But it’s important to note that the road to this socialist economy has been paved by a prior administration. I’m sure that Morris understands this, but in presenting such a one sided perspective, it makes it look as though he doesn’t see the big picture.
Government and the Ponzi scheme – My Opinion on Health Care:
Perhaps one of his strongest chapters is on health care. I particularly loved this chapter because I learned a lot about socialized medicine and how implementing it into this country would lead to rationalized health care no matter what. I have to agree with Morris on this one, as he makes a great point. If you cover millions more people through government controlled care, where do all the doctors and nurses come from? They are not going to magically appear, and you can’t force people to be doctors. However, the government can make it easier for people to become a doctor or a nurse by lowering the standards, and pushing them through the system faster. So, on top of a rationalized health care system, you’ll also have stupid doctors. The Democrats love this, there will be plenty of malpractice lawsuits (if you haven’t noticed, all the Democrats are lawyers).
1910 Police Mugshot of Charles Ponzi
This Summer, Obama unveiled his health care reform plan which includes government entering into the health insurance business. Fortunately, it is not being rushed through like the stimulus package. However, I do think that the government option might stick around in some form, and this is why.
I don’t think the government option is a way for the left in congress to get their way with health care. It may be for some, but I see it more as a way for the government to enact another Ponzi scheme. It is obvious that the government is going to have to raise money to pay off a massive dept. During the Great Depression, Roosevelt needed money, so he did what any desperate individual would do, he stole it. He made it illegal for people to own gold, and then he created social security; a form of a Ponzi scheme. When you go to work, you have to pay a certain dollar amount into Social Security. This money is used to pay other people who are retiring. In the mean time, the excess money sits with the government where they get a free loan. And to make sure the odds are stacked in their favor, if you die before using your Social Security, that money does not go to your family, it stays with Uncle Sam. That’s called stealing!
If you look really carefully, you can identify another Ponzi scheme that the government uses. Yup, your Federal income taxes! You have to pay the government a portion of your wage. At the end of the year, if you gave them too much money, they send you back a check. In the mean time, they just held on to your money interest free. This is why you’ll never see a consumption tax or a flat tax. Don’t believe the nonsense that they benefit the rich; they can care less about that. The reason you’ll never see it is because it doesn’t benefit the government. Now the government wants to execute another Ponzi scheme in the form of government run health insurance. If we allow this, we will never go back to the way it was. We will be slaves to this system in one form or another.
Americans and Europeans:
Catastrophe really does have a lot of great topics to talk about. One of my favorites was Morris’ comparison of how Americans lived their lives compared to Europeans. This was in relation to how Obama is trying to model the United States around Europe. He cites economist Jeremy Rifkin who in his latest book The European Dream, tells us that the American Dream is defunct and that its natural successor is the new European model. Rifkin quotes the Pew Global Attitudes Project’s observation that
“two-thirds of Americans believe that success is not outside their control….Asked why people are wealthy, 64 percent of Americans say [it is] because of personal drive, willingness to take risks, and hard work and initiative.” And why do others fail? When asked that question, 64 percent of Americans cited a lack of thrift, 53 percent ascribed the failure (at least in part) to a lack of effort, and a like percentage said that failure was due to lack of ability. But Rifkin notes that “in Europe, a majority in every country – with the exception of the U.K., Czech Republic, and Slovakia – ‘believe that forces outside of an individual’s personal control determine success.’”
Where I come from, the only people that I have seen that believe outside forces are contributors to their lack of success are called “losers”. I’m not trying to be an ass, I’m merely citing a fact from my personal observation. There is a real difference in the way winners and losers think. When successful people lose, they see it as a stepping stone to a higher goal. They learn from their losses, and try to make themselves better to win next time. When “losers” lose, they blame every outside factor in the world but themselves. For anyone to want a society where we blame others for our problems is unthinkable.
There are many more topics in Catastrophe that I’m sure most people will enjoy including class warfare, the war on terror, and pay to play corruption. I discussed a few of my favorites, and I hope they made sense and are interesting. Dick Morris’ Catastrophe is a good read no matter what side of the isle you sit on. If you’re able to look past his partisan rhetoric, you will be able to see that he brings up a lot of issues that need to be addressed. I recommend reading Catastrophe especially if you are interested in being active in your local district.
- The Crumb
Rating: 
Check out Dick Morris’ site at DickMorris.com
Here’s one of Dick Morris’ video blogs on Shariah Law, another fascinating topic from the book Catastrophe:
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Hey Mr. Crumb, great review! Your points are all well taken and understood. Dead people getting stimulous money uh? That reminds me when a dog got a call for Jury Duty.
Why in hell is Pelosi and company trying to turn us into Europe? Have they seen their unemployment rates lately? Have they seen how those people live?
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Fair review. I have only two issues.
I believe that the bailout, while debated during the Bush Administration was actually approved during the Obama administration a day or two after his inauguration. And, as I recall, the auto bailout was, as all of Obama’s legislation has been, rushed through Congress with nominal discussion.
Secondly, while I will not disagree with your observation that social programs were pushed during Bush’s Presidency, the allocation of wealth from those programs does not match the allocation of wealth in President Obama’s programs, as I see them.
Bush’s program used unconstrained consumer debt, artificial appreciation of assets, misleading credit ratings and marketing of toxic assets as the cornerstone of his social program. The result was that the low- and middle-income strata of society developed a false sense of financial security while the upper-income strata realized real financial gain supported by government intervention when the economy collapsed.
Obama’s program seems to be intent on using Bushes catastrophe to justify the allocation of billions of dollars to social programs benefiting the lower income population at a tremendous expense to future generations by creating enormous national debt. He will not spend all the stimulus money up front because he needs to retain a large portion in order to continue manipulating a false recovery long enough to gain reelection.
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September 4th, 2009 at 7:02 am
You answered the question very well. I too believe that a majority of the stimulus money is being spent in 2010 as a strategic way to make everything appear better for re-election; there’s no other logical reason. They would have spent most of the money this year if they just cared about stimulating the economy. Great comment Grayfox. Thank you.
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The Administration is wise to tread carefully in addressing the Freddie and Fannie structures. It took 40 years to grow these problems and they arent going to get solved with any magic potion in a year. The cerebral nature of the President’s decision-making processes are especially critical at a time like this; these decisions may be among the most important he will make in his 8 years in the White House. What needs to be done is to take them apart slowly and carefully. A $5.0 trillion gorilla is best dealt with cautiously. A strategic plan developed by someone with Volcker’s wisdom could pull this off and the national and world economies will be all the better as a result!
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