Obama fires another round in the war on business

Yahoo Finance ^ | Rick Newman

[expat_panama]

President Obama came into office railing against “fat cat bankers” and “corporate jet owners.” He’s going out much the same way...

...first target: Set-top boxes cable companies typically rent...

...cable industry, clearly surprised by Obama’s latest move, fought back, faulting the president for “inflammatory rhetoric” and for politicizing a matter that ought to be handled by independent regulators. No matter. Obama says his administration plans to take more such actions...

...With the exception of his support for free trade, Obama is center-left on most economic issues, favoring higher taxes on the wealthy... ...more rules and regulations to rein in business behavior isn’t surprising. What is surprising is the broader shift in public attitudes toward corporations, which have become the bogeymen blamed for stagnating middle-class living standards.

The insurgent presidential campaigns of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders are built squarely on the anger many Americans feel toward corporate elites... ...no presidential candidate dares stand up for the corporate class, as Mitt Romney did in 2012.

Obama may feel emboldened by the anger... ...pushed hard for tougher new environmental rules that limit the use of coal, causing severe hardship for coal producers... ...wind, solar and natural gas production, are the beneficiaries, yet Obama has offered little sympathy toward those displaced...

...The question for corporate America is whether the anti-business sentiment animating the presidential election will intensify or abate once Obama is gone and the next president takes office. The worst scenario for big business and Wall Street would be a Democratic sweep that puts Hillary Clinton in the White House and flips both houses of Congress into the D column, leaving business exposed to the more activist party. That’s unlikely, but so is the popularity Trump and Sanders have gained with disgusted voters. Even Obama may be surprised...

[bert]

there are many FReepers that qate anti business and anti capitalist, agreeing with the president. Corporations are not the root of evil

[facedown]

...Obama is center-left on most economic issues,...

Center-left? Maybe compared to Elizabeth Warren.

[sport]

Business, particularly big businesses , so the hell with them. the cable companies such as Time Warner spent more time in bed with the son of a bitch than Michelle did.

[equaviator]

“With the exception of his support for free trade, Obama is center-left on most economic issues”

What a joke.

[amihow]

A conservative realizes that corporations can become too large, dominating the market and overpowering healthy comptition. A little trust busting is a reasonable temedy.

[bert]

we have no trusts

[Diogenesis]

"Obama may feel emboldened by the anger ...."

Obama is emboldened by a submissive GOP
which has eagerly passed his ObamaTRADE
and ObamaNuke4Iran deals. EAGERLY, as they
kept ObamaCARE intact, and themselves: EXEMPT.

[OrangeHoof]

Yet quietly he has added another layer into Obamacare that is forcing federal contractors to take huge paycuts so that money can be set aside under Health and Wellness for Obamacare premiums that are itemized separately. Any unused amounts won't go into their paychecks, they'll go into a 401k which the contractors can't access until they're age 59-1/2. By that time, the Dems will have seized the money to fund the next federal debt bailout.

Obama is no friend to consumers. He simply wants to steal bigger and bigger chunks for the government to spend, just like a true commie/socialist does.

[expat_panama]

A beautiful morning to all!

No way around it, last week was good for us investors w/ both stocks (that notched up to a new high even if Friday did close slightly in rising trade) and w/  metals (that hold steady w/ a solid price level that's been holding for months now).  Futures traders are reasonably upbeat pegging metals +0.24% and stock indexes +0.05% today.  More reasurrance comes from the fact we shouldn't have many econ stat surprises, just the NAHB Housing Market Index at an hour and a half into the trading day.

It's all suggesting a quiet day, lots of time to catch up on the latest FR econ threads:

• This California Town Wants to be the Next Marijuana Mecca
• California minimum wage hike hits L.A. apparel industry: 'The exodus has begun'
• James Grant: ‘Something Is Going to Go Wrong’
• The Place That Wants Donald Trump Most
• It begins: In wake of California $15 minimum wage, garment firms moving out of Los Angeles
• Sport Chalet closing all of its stores
• I was told yesterday that Trump is a liberal Democrat. My reply:
• Ted Cruz Is Right: His Tax Plan Would Supercharge GDP Growth
• US industrial production fell 0.6% in March vs. 0.1% drop expected

[expat_panama]

Somehow I’d always thought that class hatred had no place on a conservative forum but we sure do get a lot of it.

[MortMan]

The insurgent presidential campaigns of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders are built squarely on the anger many Americans feel toward corporate elites...

The author is an imbecile. Trump's campaign is built atop political anger, not anger at the corporate boogeyman.

[expat_panama]

Center-left?

Maybe they mean that O being a socialist who denies he's a socialist is "center-left" but Sanders saying he's a socialist (when he's really a revolutionary Marxist) is to be referred to as "moderate-left'.

media-speak

[expat_panama]

"Obama may feel emboldened by the anger ...."

Obama is emboldened by a submissive GOP

That's the nut of what's been going on.  Too often fear generates a rational that appeasement can bring peace, but the reality is that appeasement starts wars.

[bert]

Emboldened is not involved.

Obama has a do list and is systematically checking them off.

The clock is running out and the quality of the stuff on the list is diminishing.

[expat_panama]

The author is an imbecile.

--and he's w/ the loopy-left Yahoo News.  What caught my eye was the fact that they're up-front and clear that we got an out'n'out war on business.

Nobody's saying it's wrong.  Bad sign.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ve often wondered this: If I am a small business person who works her butt off for decades, building and growing her business from NOTHING, providing JOBS and putting a ton of cash back into the economy through said jobs...at what point do I become EVIL?

When my sales are $2 Million? $10 Million? 100 Million?

I have yet to have a Liberal that can answer that for me.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Obama may feel emboldened by the anger...”

This poser has no IDEA what we’re angry about in the first place!!

[Sequoyah101]

And yet another village is missing an idiot. The anger is not against corps it is against gubment.

[pas]

I agree with him on set top boxes. The cable companies have been ripping off the consumer for years. Now they even force you to have a set top box. So you pay for service and have to get a box to descramble the signal. So you pay 2 times for the service.