Obama’s press conference on Jan. 14 seemed to focus on the theme, “from each according to his abilities; to each according to his needs.”

He may think he’s reinventing communism, but all he’s doing is trying to rebuild something that has failed.

In the view of Karl Marx (who popularized the slogan in 1875) this notion would work only if there were an abundance of goods and services.

Well, thanks to the failed economic policies of the USA, there is no longer abundance, unless you count the trash we’re importing from China, and there seems to be plenty of that on the shelves of the mega-stores.

We need a new slogan. More important, however, we need a new direction. Obama has failed to provide the direction or the leadership that might create a new direction.

Paul Lentz, curmudgeon

Peachtree City, Ga.