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Newsweek: Why the wealthy voted for Obama and higher taxes
Newweek ^ | 11/10/08 | Daniel Gross

Posted on 11/10/2008 12:32:39 PM PST by drzz

For several years, I've been writing about Bushenfreude, the phenomenon of angry yuppies—who've hugely benefited from President Bush's tax cuts—funding angry, populist Democratic campaigns. I've theorized that people who work in financial services and related fields have become so outraged and alienated by the incompetence, crass social conservatism, and repeated insults to the nation's intelligence, of the Bush-era Republican Party, that they're voting with their hearts and heads instead of their wallets.

Last week's election was perhaps Bushenfreude's grandest day. As the campaign entered its final weeks, Barack Obama, who pledged to unite the country, singled out one group of people for ridicule: those making more than $250,000. At his rallies, he would ask for a show of hands of those making less than one-quarter of $1 million per year. Then he'd look around, laugh, and note that those in the virtuous majority would get their taxes cut, while the rich among them would be hit with a tax increase. And yet the exit polls show, the rich—and yes, if you make $250,000 or more you're rich—went for Obama by bigger margins than did the merely well-off. If the exit polls are to be believed, those making $200,000 or more (6 percent of the electorate) voted for Obama 52-46, while McCain won the merely well-off ($100,000 to $150,000 by a 51-48 margin and $150,000 to $200,000 by a 50-48 margin).

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: bannewsweekarticles; bho2008; communism; hussein; millionaires; newsweek; obama; taxincrease; wealthy
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1 posted on 11/10/2008 12:32:40 PM PST by drzz
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To: drzz

white guilt. much more concise than the article.


2 posted on 11/10/2008 12:35:10 PM PST by bravo whiskey (NO I WON'T)
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To: drzz

It’s called pulling the ladder up. Less opportunity equals less competition for those who are well off.


3 posted on 11/10/2008 12:35:28 PM PST by vbmoneyspender
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To: drzz
Tax cuts are not about rewarding the rich. They are about incentives. In that sense Joe the Plumber showed that he understands economics. As Paul Krugman, a liberal economist who sometimes thinks straight pointed out, if the goal is to encourage the behaviors that make people become rich, then it is hard not to give a tax cut to people who are already are rich.

Most rich liberals don't care about their paycheck. That's fine. I, however, care about the entrepreneur who is conducting a cost-benefit analysis on starting a new business.

4 posted on 11/10/2008 12:35:48 PM PST by Jibaholic ("Those people who are not ruled by God will be ruled by tyrants." --William Penn)
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To: drzz
"alienated by the incompetence, crass social conservatism, and repeated insults to the nation's intelligence"

No bias here!

5 posted on 11/10/2008 12:36:39 PM PST by Jagman (Don't tax me, bro!)
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To: drzz

The industrialist backed Adolf Hitler early on. Nothing really changes, does it?


6 posted on 11/10/2008 12:37:05 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Barack Obama: In Error and arrogant -- he's errogant!)
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To: drzz

Or they’re just f’n spoiled brats that actually think they have it rough.


7 posted on 11/10/2008 12:37:08 PM PST by Free Vulcan (No prisoners. No mercy. 2010 awaits.....)
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To: drzz

The industrialists backed Adolf Hitler early on. Nothing really changes, does it?


8 posted on 11/10/2008 12:37:14 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Barack Obama: In Error and arrogant -- he's errogant!)
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To: drzz

Affrimative Action Vote.


9 posted on 11/10/2008 12:38:44 PM PST by Mikey_1962 (Obama: The Affirmative Action President)
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To: vbmoneyspender

They already have it made.
So what do they care about the rest of us.


10 posted on 11/10/2008 12:40:45 PM PST by thesetruths
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To: bravo whiskey
Typical rich moron: "I am 100% sure Abraham Lincoln was a member of American Idol and Paris Hilton's boyfriend"
11 posted on 11/10/2008 12:42:08 PM PST by drzz (I)
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To: drzz
"crass social conservatism"?

BWAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

12 posted on 11/10/2008 12:42:36 PM PST by grobdriver (Let the embeds check the bodies!)
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To: drzz

If I was at a BHO rally, and I made more than 250K, I wouldn’t raise my hand to indicate it for fear of being mugged on the way home.


13 posted on 11/10/2008 12:43:03 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
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To: drzz

I have spent three hours with my accountant in the last month making preparations for my 2009 taxes. I would venture to guess that there are MANY people in this country who are going to have a hell of a wake-up call, come tax time. I don’t plan to be one of them.


14 posted on 11/10/2008 12:43:06 PM PST by NetSurfer (It wasn't an election. It was The Fraudulent Selection.)
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To: drzz

Please, the wealthy have their money sheltered offshore and via other creative accounting measures.


15 posted on 11/10/2008 12:43:43 PM PST by sarasota
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To: drzz
Barf Alert? How dare you (Bush) let us get away with becoming rich by running companies and 401Ks in to the ground!
16 posted on 11/10/2008 12:45:22 PM PST by edge10 (Obama lied, babies died!)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: drzz

White guilt trumps higher taxes....


18 posted on 11/10/2008 12:46:48 PM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: drzz

if all your friends work @ subway, and you work at IBM, you are rich.

$250,000 isn’t rich. maybe by a 1960s definition. rich isn’t strictly income, but accumulated wealth. and depending on your write offs and which state you live in, you could be paying 48-63% tax, not including retail tax.

and exactly why should people be taxed beyond normal for properly investing their time and effort from the time they were a child? higher wages are the return-on-investment (ROI) for a youth spent focusing on a goal


19 posted on 11/10/2008 12:47:05 PM PST by sten
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To: Jibaholic
I, however, care about the entrepreneur who is conducting a cost-benefit analysis on starting a new business.

And the facts of life of starting a business is that in the initial years you work long hours with low income, which is made up for by higher income in the later years. But if the income in the later years is taxed heavily, you might as well be an employee of an existing company.

Looking at what I just wrote above, you might see the reason why some affluent people support Obama: they might pay more in taxes (or not, depending on how good their accountant is), but by killing new business startups Obama ensures that they will have less competition to worry about, and thus higher incomes to compensate for the higher taxes.

20 posted on 11/10/2008 12:48:08 PM PST by PapaBear3625 (Question O-thority)
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