Obamanomics Flunks The Test

IBD Editorials ^ | August 1, 2008

[Kaslin]

Election '08: Barack Obama the lawyer-organizer could use a crash course in economics. His economic plan's assumptions, based on long-discredited Marxist theories, are wildly wrongheaded.

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In arguing for a heavier mix of government, he assumes that capitalism unfairly favors the rich, almost exclusively so, and fails to spread prosperity.

"The rich in America have little to complain about," he carps. "The distribution of wealth is skewed, and levels of inequality are now higher than at any time since the Gilded Age."

Obama cites data showing a yawning gap between the income of the average worker and the wealthiest 1%. He thinks it's government's job to step in and close it — "for purposes of fairness" — by soaking the rich, among other leftist nostrums.

"Between 1971 and 2001," he complains, "while the median wage and salary income of the average worker showed literally no gain, the income of the top hundredth of a percent went up almost 500%."

But such a snapshot comparison would be meaningful only if America were a caste society, in which the people making up one income group remained static over time.

Of course that's not the case. The composition of the rich and poor in this country is in constant flux, as the income distribution changes dramatically over relatively short periods. Few are "stuck" in poverty, or have a "lock" on wealth.

[the anti-liberal]

O probably thinks that poor people can give other poor people jobs. Hey Barry? Where do all those jobs (in the private sector) come from? Where does does the money for all taxes ultimately come from? It comes from the wealthy who create jobs, jobs which provide the money that pays the taxes.

Otherwise there would be no jobs - public or private.

[Kaslin]

He wouldn’t be any different then other liberals I know who think that you can get a job from poor people. It just shows you how ignorant he is

[socialismisinsidious]

Obama's economic plan also calls for mandating a "living wage." He plans to saddle retailers with a $10 minimum wage indexed to inflation, along with a mandate to provide seven days of paid sick leave to workers.
Obama assumes business owners will just eat the added costs.

He graduated from where?! The man is an idiot. It feels good to liberals to talk about a "living rage"...they love making victims. Why think when you can emote?



If restaurateurs had their way, every lawmaker would run a small business before starting to legislate," the industry opined in a recent press release.

Agreed and none would be lawyers.

[Telepathic Intruder]

“Obamanomics”. Hmmm, harder to say than “taxes”, but I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I do.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Alright, maybe cold and prickly best describes it.

[Need4Truth]

“Obama just didn’t get it. “Well, Charlie,” he argued, “what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.””

In America everyone has the freedom to invest and obtain capital gains. It isn’t just for the wealthy. This fairness crap is just that.

[bruinbirdman]

"Obama's economic plan also calls for mandating a "living wage." He plans to saddle retailers with a $10 minimum wage indexed to inflation, along with a mandate to provide seven days of paid sick leave to workers.

Obama assumes business owners will just eat the added costs.

But restaurants, the nation's second-largest private-sector employer, already operate on razor-thin profit margins. Faced with such mandatory paid benefits, they'll have no choice but to cut staff."

Commies worst enemy is the petit bourgeoisie (little capitalist). They like big nationalized enterprises that they can control.

yitbos

[jmcenanly]

Obamanomics would be to economics what Ebonics was to the English language.

[jmcenanly]

Tying a high minimum wage to the inflation rate? You'd have high unemployment and high inflation. Is he trying to recreate the Carter era?

[supercat]

But such a snapshot comparison would be meaningful only if America were a caste society, in which the people making up one income group remained static over time.

Has anyone drawn up a Markov chain or anything similar, showing American individual wealth ? I'm not sure where one would get the data, but it would be interesting to see.

[supercat]

“Obamanomics”. Hmmm, harder to say than “taxes”, but I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I do.

I prefer dropping a syllable: "Obanomics". Either way works, though, i suppose.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Either way works, though, i suppose.

Or doesn't work, rather. But hopefully we won't have to repeat the lessons lost during Carter's term. Maybe that's understated; Carter on crack is probably more accurate.

[penelopesire]

I am hooked on IBD now. Just what I needed...another website I compulsivly have to check....LOL

[Chode]

prosperity is worked for and earned, not spread around...

[billmor]

Obamanomics can be summed up as “ Take from the Rich and give to the poor”...In olden days that was Robin Hood’s thinking..In this modern era it is Socialism: rob the rich, distribute some to the poor, and use the rest to build a huge government bureaucracy to herd the masses...

In reality, his brand of economics would hit not only the ‘rich’ but even more so- the Middle Class...He uses the Democrats tired rhetoric of the 20’s and 30’s of ‘soak the rich’, get the robber barons- the railroad and oil barons...
You can throw millions at the poor and if they do not know what to do with it, or how to invest it, it will just go up in smoke..At least the ‘rich’ and middle classes try and put their money to work but they are taxed to death already...

Soak the rich may sound appealing to thje dimRATS but it gets mighty tiring working and then watching a large portion of your hard earned money go back for taxes- to buy needles for drug addicts; scholarships for illegal immigrants; for social programs for the poor who don’t want them; for treatment programs for youths in gangs,which don’t work; and for special foods for privileged prisoners...Obama lama ding dong can take his tax views and stuff them...They are punitive, unfair, unjust, and Americans are tired of playing the Tax Code CHANGE game...

[Salvation]

BTTT!

[bruinbirdman]

"Tying a high minimum wage to the inflation rate? You'd have high unemployment and high inflation. Is he trying to recreate the Carter era?"

A poor economy is indicative of the failure of capitalism. After he is elected B. Hussein, his socialist congress and Supreme Court toadies will institute another type of economic system.

yitbos

[nicollo]

The distribution of wealth is skewed, and levels of inequality are now higher than at any time since the Gilded Age.

Oh, bloody hell, this could be said of any period in American history, especially all the times before the Gilded Age. And as if his audience even knows what the "Gilded Age" was or the term actually means. He doesn't even know.

The rich are always getting richer, especially when taxes are high: high taxes don't hurt the rich, they keep others from getting rich.

[supercat]

Either way works, though, i suppose.

Or doesn't work, rather.

Well, I had meant "works as a means of combining 'Obama' with 'Economics'", but I'm not sure why you think Obanomics, if implemented, wouldn't accomplish its mission of destroying the middle class economy?