President Barack Obama’s own smoking habit represents the most obvious sign that his healthcare reform plan was ill-conceived, says financial author James Dale Davidson.
“It’s always a bad sign when you have a Congress that’s so feeble-minded that it will take trillions of dollars worth of health advice from a smoker,” Davidson, a columnist for Newsmax’s Financial Intelligence Report newsletter, told Newsmax.TV.
“Why should anybody believe anything Obama says about health, because we know he’s the type of person who’s willing to take a huge risk where health is concerned, otherwise he wouldn’t be smoking?”
Video — James Davidson: Economic Recovery a 'Statistical Mirage'
The real healthcare problem in this country is a shortage of hospitals, doctors and nurses, says Davidson, co-author of several financial books with William Rees-Mogg
“Obamacare does nothing to increase the supply of doctors, hospitals and nurses,” Davidson said.
“It just adds millions of more patients to push in and raise the costs of all these services. . . . It’s totally idiotic to think this is going to reduce costs.”
Davidson also sees a strong chance of a double-dip recession and housing slump.
“Most of the recovery to this point is a statistical mirage,” he said. “We have the government spending money like a drunken sailor.”
But that spending increases gross domestic product, or GDP, whether the spending is productive or not. “The consequence is we’re getting a lot of spending that probably doesn’t amount to much,” Davidson said.
The excessive government spending may actually reduce the country’s productive capacity, he points out.
“I still believe we’re at very great risk of a further downturn because so much of the economy has been built up over so many years based on consumer spending,” Davidson said.
And now consumers can no longer borrow to spend.
He’s also worried about inflation, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy. “Generally if you print a lot of money, you end up getting a lot of inflation. And we’ve been printing money like wild.”
Davidson recommends investors pick up gold – both physical bullion and gold-miner stocks.
“One thing is sure: when you have all this financial hanky-panky and chaos, the gold price tends to go up.”
And he says you should hold on to your positions, even if gold appreciates further.
“If it gets to $3,000 (an ounce), or $5,000, or whatever, that is not a time to take profits,” Davidson said.
“It’s a sign you did the right thing and better stick with your gold, because that’s about the only way you’ll maintain your purchasing power.”
Video — James Davidson: Economic Recovery a 'Statistical Mirage'
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