One of my favorite Ronald Reagan quotes is this one, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Unfortunately too many people have fallen into the trap of government dependency. President Obama would change that quote from the “most terrifying words” to the “most comforting words.”

From last nights press conference, with my emphasis.

It is absolutely true that we can’t depend on government alone to create jobs or economic growth. That is and must be the role of the private sector. But at this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life.

It is only government that can break the vicious cycle, where lost jobs lead to people spending less money, which leads to even more layoffs.

I do have to give the President high marks for chutzpah. He was actually able to say this with a straight face.

It also contains an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so that every American will be able to go online and see where and how we’re spending every dime. What it does not contain, however, is a single pet project, not a single earmark, and it has been stripped of the projects members of both parties found most objectionable.

And later, in answering a reporter’s question.

But when they start characterizing this as pork, without acknowledging that there are no earmarks in this package — something, again, that was pretty rare over the last eight years — then you get a feeling that maybe we’re playing politics instead of actually trying to solve problems for the American people.

Well, the government is here to help. We are in serious trouble.

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Don Surber shares a great new word that should be in every new dictionary — Earmarxist.

Earmarxist perfectly describes the process of taking money from you and giving it back to you as a pork barrel.

My bureau chief is not the first to use it, of course. But earmarxist is so fitting that it should be in the dictionary.

[...]

Daily, I look at the earmarks as reported in local newspapers and I realize that the officials in too many towns and counties are on the take. Not from the Mob or business interests, but from Washington.

The word is so descriptively accurate that I’ve created a new category for it.

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