Obama Doesn't Heart Capitalism

CNN reports:

"Recovery in the labor market is expected to be slower than in the broader economy, with 7.5 million jobs lost through the entire recession as the unemployment rate spikes to 10.5% in the middle of 2010. By the end of 2011, employment is forecast to total 4 million jobs below 2007's employment peak, and the unemployment rate will still be above 9%."

The second stated purpose of HR1 was to "help those recently unemployed". That was something that Democrats avoided when HR1 was structured. Jobs from HR1 will not really start flowing until early 2010, just in time for midterm elections. Workers and Obama supporters will go back into their election trance when Obama throws his chin up and proclaims, "See how well my plan worked!".

In the meantime, 11,600,000 people are unemployed, can't pay their bills or mortgages, and have lost their self respect.

HR1 will allow illegal aliens to take many of the construction jobs, and get stimulus checks by filing using alternative tax numbers. In addition, those who don't even pay any taxes will reap the benefits of the stimulus checks at the taxpayers' expense. These facts work in Obama's favor and helps him solidify the support he wants for his agenda of socialism.

FACT: Obama dislikes capitalism, small business and a strong middle class. He wants small businesses and the middle class to be saddled with unbearable debt. This is why he touts the "flow of credit" (read that as the flow of debt via loans), as his "solution" to the problems of the economy. The problem is people are out of work, have no money to spend and thus, businesses can't sell their products and services. In fact, I proposed in an email to the White House (obviously distasteful to Obama because it was ignored) a solution that would not have cost the taxpayer anything. It would have saved the small businesses that have closed their doors since January 2009, and would have put workers back to work.

This was the proposal. For those who lost their jobs since September 2008, approximately 2.5 million unemployed, send them back to their employers and allow them to continue to collect unemployment for a six month period. The employer would pay their salaries minus the $1000 per month, per employee that the employees would collect in RE-EMPLOYMENT Stimulus benefits.

The small businesses could have remained viable, the workers would have been able to make good on their payments and would not have lost their homes as well as their self respect. The businesses could have reduced the prices for their goods and services making them more competitive and productive. The cost to the taxpayer would have been ZERO because the
benefits were being paid already!

The program could have been extended to a whole year and, if taxes were reduced for that period, the economic impact would have been far more immediate and far greater than the impact of HR1. The national debt would not have been pumped up to the ridiculously high numbers we see today.

But this program had no chance to work because there was no PORK for the swine in the Congress. The decision was a simple one. The choice was either pay people unemployment checks not to work, or pay them the same amount to work via a RE-EMPLOYMENT Stimulus benefit check thereby saving small business from closing their doors.

The bottom line? Obama cares nothing for the unemployed. Obama cares nothing for the small businesses. Obama cares nothing for capitalism, but a lot for socialism. The second stated purpose of HR1 was a lie. The recently unemployed received no help from HR1 and the taxpayers' children got the bill.

No, Obama does not care for Capitalism because it is not part of his agenda.

Barack's Brainiacs

In his recent column, New York Times writer, David Brooks writes "Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) will take the oath of office as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law), looks on proudly. Nearby, his foreign policy advisers will stand beaming, including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg (Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford D. Phil.).
The domestic policy team will be there, too, including Jason Furman (Harvard, Harvard Ph.D.), Austan Goolsbee (Yale, M.I.T. Ph.D.), Blair Levin (Yale, Yale Law), Peter Orszag (Princeton, London School of Economics Ph.D.) and, of course, the White House Counsel Greg Craig (Harvard, Yale Law).
This truly will be an administration that looks like America, or at least that slice of America that got double 800s on their SATs. Even more than past administrations, this will be a valedictocracy — rule by those who graduate first in their high school classes."

Obamaniacs are euphoric over the Obama team's intellect factor. Lest they forget, it was a bunch of valedictorians on Wall Street who came up with the brilliant new financial markets of derivatives based upon mortgage backed securities which sent the economy into it's downward spiral. Intellect alone does not guarantee common sense or good policy making. From my persective, Obama's picks so far have been somewhat comforting, not based on their Ivy League pedigrees, but simply for the fact that they are not a group of left wing loons. While they are not conservative, each one is at least a bit more centrist in their views than their leader. (It will also be so entertaining to see Barry and Hil and Bill playing in the same sandbox!)

Obama's pick of Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury sent a reassuring message to the markets on Friday, at a time when confidence is sorely needed. Since the election, the Dow had dropped 16% before rebounding with the leak of Geithner's name as the man who will hold the money bags. But the big elephant still stands in the room, hovering over the markets like a blanket of doom. If the economy is to recover, and not falter into a deep recession or even a depression, simply naming a team is not going to cut it. Neither will promising to invest billions of dollars into infrastructure improvements and green autos to create new jobs, as Obama mentioned in his weekly radio address. The government alone cannot jump start this jalopy. Obama must come out soon and say that he will NOT raise taxes on anyone in this economy. That message alone will pump up confidence, sooth the market jitters, and help get small businesses back on track to create the jobs Americans need. Come on, Obama, do the right thing. JUST SAY IT.

Update: Good news from the NYT- it seems he has said it!

November 23, 2008, 11:00 am — Updated: 11:08 am -->
Obama Considers Delaying Tax Increase
By Sharon Otterman
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is considering delaying his proposal to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in light of the economic downturn, two aides said on Sunday.
Bill Daley, an adviser to Obama and commerce secretary under former President Bill Clinton, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it “looks more likely than not” that President Obama will delay any tax increase until after 2010, when the Bush cuts for those making more than $250,000 are due to expire.

New Update: David Axelrod, Obama's chief campaign advisor, when interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News, waffled on the issue of whether Obama will let the Bush tax cuts simply expire in 2010, or raise taxes in 2009. So again, no certainty about this issue.