Dr. Wolf on Obamanomics

This is a column worth reading. Dr. Milton Wolf just so happens to be President Obama's cousin and he has a blog at Wolf Files.

Mr. Obama, abandoning any pretense of economic literacy, has placed the blame for unemployment squarely on America's archenemy: the ATM. The jobless rate remains high, according to the president, because - it's hard to make this stuff up - "when you go to a bank you use the ATM, you don't go to a bank teller." Other Democrats share his ignorance. Recently, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. claimed that Apple's iPad was "probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs." Mr. Jackson, an iPad owner himself, adds hypoc-risy to ignorance.

Mr. Obama, meet Ned Ludd. In the early 1800s, the Luddites - named for Ned Ludd, an alias used to conceal their leaders' true identities - sabotaged factories for fear of new technology. Their mistake was a belief that jobs themselves are prosperity when, in fact, it's the products and services of those jobs that create prosperity. The government could hire people to dig holes and other people to fill them back in, but America would be poorer for the wasted effort. In reality, new technologies, from the advent of the wheel to today's nanotechnology - including the ATM and the iPad - increase efficiency, which frees people for more important endeavors. This is the precise mechanism that improves mankind's standard of living.

I'm looking forward to the next music video from Russ Roberts & John Papola throwing this in their lyrics. :P

BTW, I heard about Congressman Jackson's comments about iPads, but I would like to know what lead him to that conclusion. How are iPads costing Americans their jobs?

Via Instapundit!