Scott Brown's Truck

Scott Brown's 2005 GMC Canyon truck with 200,000 miles featured in his television advertising served as a potent symbol in his upset victory. It is a clever, appealing commercial emphasizing Brown's down to earth, everyman appeal. ( See: (Youtube.com))

When President Obama came to campaign in Boston, he tried to make fun of the truck, telling voters to "forget the truck, everybody can buy a truck."   

The President has since been criticized for his comments.  Scott Brown said that given the economy not everyone can actually afford a truck.  Others suggested the President ought not to belittle a "Government Motors" product, now that the government owns GM.  Others saw his remarks as condescending.

As a symbol, Scott Brown's truck captures our current economic choices, both as a country and as individuals. 

As consumers, we have all struggled with decisions about keeping a late model vehicle or replacing it.  It is a choice between savings and spending. For most of us, 200,000 miles is well above the point when we opt to trade-in.

Many of us have begun now rethinking our choices in order to save more.  Consumer debt has been declining significantly for the first time in many years and retail sales have been down as well. 

Contrast Scott Brown, with his 200,000 mile truck, and the Obama economic strategy.  Based on Keynesian economic theory, the Democratic prescription for an economic bust produced by overspending and excess borrowing is ....even more spending and borrowing.  Alternative economic thinking, as well as common sense, suggests that more savings and debt reduction are the necessary conditions for a sustained recovery.  

Can there be any doubt that the Obama Stimulus Package has completely failed?  Since Obama's $787 Billion Stimulus was passed, we have lost 2.8 million jobs, the unemployment rate has gone above 10% and the underemployment rate is 17.2%.  Instead of ending the economic crisis, it has lengthened the time required to transition to a more sustainable level of spending and borrowing.

Governor O'Malley may be the last person who still has faith in the Obama economic program, as he continues to pin his budgetary hopes on a Stimulus driven recovery. This week's budget announcement reduced just 44 filled positions out of 80,000 state jobs.   Instead of making necessary decisions, his delay makes our future choices more difficult.  

At the risk of piling on Martha Coakley, the truck serves as an additional counterpoint to Brown's opponent.  After she first made a false public filing claiming that she had no personal assets, she amended it to report a single personal asset, a $12,000 IRA.  After a thirty year career, most recently at a $134,000 salary, her savings seems to place her on the wrong side of where popular sentiment is heading.

Personal financial experience and economic values do matter.   Members of the Obama administration have virtually no private sector experience. They have never faced the uncertainly of meeting a payroll, collecting overdue customer bills or struggling to get business financing.  Their job creation experience is limited to government appropriations and grants.

Michelle Obama summed up her and her husband's attitude toward business with an Ohio audience: "We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we are asking young people to do.  Don't go into corporate America.  You know, become teachers, work for the community, be a social worker, be a nurse....move out of the money-making industry, into the helping industry." Unsurprisingly, this week a Bloomberg poll of investors and analysts found that 77% of U.S. respondents believe Obama is too anti-business.

After a year of auto company bailouts, a "Cash for Clunkers" program and government subsidies for alternative fuel vehicles, Scott Brown's 200,000 mile truck makes an effective point about adjusting to our current economic conditions.  A candidate who demonstrates personal thrift generated strong political appeal.

A truck with 200,000 miles nicely symbolizes the need for spending restraint in difficult times. Instead of additional spending based on the hope that a return to the good times are just months away, it demonstrates a clearer appreciation of our current economic reality.

Mark Uncapher

Montgomery County Republican Chairman