Investment versus Spending: A Quick Note on Political Sales Talk
ByTerence P. Jeffrey at CNS News makes a good point. He points out that it is inaccurate and misleading for President Obama to refer to deficit spending as “investment.” Jeffrey states:
“Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary defines ‘investment’ as ‘the outlay of money usually for income or profit.’ It defines ‘invest’ as committing money ‘in order to earn a financial return.’
Investing is something private individuals or companies do with their own money. What President Obama is talking about is borrowing money and having the government spend it now while relying on taxpayers to pay the interest on what amounts to the ‘maxed-out’ credit card held by Uncle Sam.”
It’s not our disagreement with President Obama’s economics that bothers us as much as his sleight of mouth. The President talks in a sincere tone, but his words are laced with the most manipulative linguistic strategies. It’s nothing new for a politician to refer to government spending as “investment” even though there is no expectation or intent of ROI. But, in combination with his more sophisticated linguistic strategies, like his constant abuse of dialectics, we’re beginning to hear President Obama with the kind of resistance we usually reserve for particularly pushy salesmen.
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