Obama plans “soak the rich” class-warfare economics

hotair.com ^ | Feb. 23, 2009 | Ed Morrissey

[Free ThinkerNY]

Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it. And those who repeat failed policies of the past are doomed to failure themselves, and the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We can apply all of these proverbs to what the Washington Post reports as the next phase of Deadbeatonomics, in which Obama will try the old populist “soak the rich” policies in order to close a deficit that he himself exploded in the past two weeks:

President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.

In addition to tackling a deficit swollen by the $787 billion stimulus package and other efforts to ease the nation’s economic crisis, the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda Obama outlined during the presidential campaign. This would include key changes to environmental policies and a major expansion of health coverage that he hopes to enact later this year.

[Free ThinkerNY]

[exist]

Hahaha oh crap cut the deficit in half in 4 years after increasing spending by a trillion bucks and sending the economy into a tail spin?

We = screwed.

[ClearCase_guy]

the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda

Reparations.

[G Larry]

This approach gets NO Sympathy!!!

Try my tagline:

Obama’s plan = “STEALING FROM THOSE WHO CREATE THE JOBS!”

[johnnycap]

So, what do you think will happen when this gets implemented? Business owners will not hire, especially the low skilled. Wealthy will not give as much to charities. Wealthy will purchase less luxury items. People who make yachts, limosines, luxury cars, leather hand bags, high end shoes will lose market share and revenue and lay off workers. With no incentive to hold assets for a year and a day, investors will trade more. Instead of investors, we will have a single class of speculators. This will add significant volatility to an already volatile securities market. The slightest provocation from here might mean a wholesale crash which we have avoided thusfar. With no capital due to reduced value of stocks, businesses will shelve plans to expand or spend to grow. They will stay smaller than they might have been, thereby not only laying off more workers but not hiring new ones. Finally, with the Cap & Trade program about to be announced, companies will consider this the last straw and begin, not offshoring but actually looking to move out of the United States...shrinking the corporate tax base and taking jobs with them thus shrinking the individual tax base. Sounds like a real recipe for success.

[Welcome2thejungle]

Did anyone seriously think he would not be doing these things?

[hellbender]

Despite the dismal record of socialism in producing wealth, ambitious politicians are forever drawn to it, because it concentrates power and wealth in their hands, which is all they care about. So 0bama, Emanuel, and co. are not doing this out of ignorance. They deliberately intend to impoverish the "bourgeoisie," and make the whole population dependent on the govt., as the Demonrat's pet constituencies already are.

[chainsaw]

those who repeat failed policies of the past are doomed to failure themselves, and the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Sounds to me like the anti-gun Brady bunch.

[Ciexyz]

Remember the ten percent luxury tax on boats that Congress enacted two decades ago, in an effort to soak the rich? It caused the quick demise of a very profitable boat and yacht sales business in my area, Pittsburgh PA.

The boatyard used to sit at a very convenient location, one of the best locations for such an emporium where many roads into the city converged (outside the Liberty Tunnels, along Saw Mill Run blvd.) On display were big boats and small, and I used to salivate when driving by. Thinking, maybe someday.

But the tax forced the shop to close. If you can't sell a boat in the City of Three Rivers that has a big boating culture, you can't sell one anywhere.

[Waco]

And if they hold on to what’s left too long, tax em again, right?

[TASMANIANRED]

Since the markets have tanked...So have many of the wealthy he was hoping to soak.