IBD Wonders Why Confidence is So Broken

As the IBD points out, no one should be too surprised that consumer confidence is plummeting. After all, the Obama-Pelosi Administration spends like crazy and then says they can't fix anything.

The "can't dos" from our elected and appointed officials, both at the federal and state level, are piling up. Consider the following:

• "I can't suck the oil up with a straw," said President Obama when asked what he was doing about the BP spill that began April 20. Nor could he approve the building of sand berms, or the suspension of the Jones Act, which would have let foreign skimmers into U.S. waters to help with the oil cleanup.

• "You're never going to totally seal that border," said Janet Napolitano, making excuses for why Homeland Security has essentially ceded entire parts of Arizona to violent Mexican smuggling rings while still seeking "comprehensive immigration reform."

• "I think the world understands now that growth in the future around the world cannot depend as much on the United States as it did in the past," opined Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in a defeatist interview with the BBC before the G-20 summit.

• "There's no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession" was how Vice President Joe Biden put it at a fundraiser for Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold. But wasn't that the reason for the $862 billion stimulus package, the $700 billion in bailouts and the takeover of the auto industry and Wall Street?

• "It isn't possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we've considered the bipartisan commission's deficit-reduction plan," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, explaining why Congress couldn't pass a budget as required by law.