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Economics can be complicated in the details, but fundamentally it is quite simple. Wealth equals production minus consumption. If you consume more without producing more, you will grow less wealthy. If you produce more while holding or lowering your consumption, you will become more wealthy. This holds true for an individual, a family, a company or a country.

As far as the economy of a country is concerned, increasing its wealth provides more opportunities, more jobs and higher standards of living. It seems elementary, then, that a nation's economic policy should revolve around encouraging production, not consumption. Of course, it is more advantageous for politicians to encourage consumption and punish production to win elections. Hence, we get things like the extension of unemployment benefits which encourage consumption without any corresponding increase in production. If my original thesis is correct, then this will axiomatically decrease the overall wealth of the economy. Every liberal economic punishes production and rewards non-productive (and consumption-oriented) behavior. Barring being struck by lightning while traveling on the road to Damascus, Barack Obama is incapable of taking the steps necessary to insure long term health for the U.S. economy.