When looking at this economy and the head shaking moves the Obama administration has made, one has to wonder if POTUS 1) has any economic clue and/or 2) is doing this on purpose to drag this recession out. Exhibit A:
At his press conference, Obama endorsed a surtax on families earning more than $1 million a year to pay for his health care initiative. This is no way to get the country out of a recession. Like them or not, millionaires are the folks whose investments create growth and jobs--which are, after all, exactly what the president is hoping for. Another tax hike--especially on top of the increased taxes on individual income, capital gains, dividends, and inheritances that Obama intends to go into effect in 2011--is sure to impede investment. It's an anti-growth measure, as those with even a sketchy grasp of economics know. But Obama doesn't appear to.The blueprint for economic stability has been created and proven to work – just look at what Reagan did in the early 80’s – but for some reason this administration refuses to learn from history’s successes and failures. Obama has been clear that he’s against large profits and is anti-big business in many of his statements and actions to date, and that approach isn’t going to help the economy. From the same article (emphasis mine):
Obama has proudly proclaimed an economically counterproductive approach to overseas profits. In his address to Congress in February, he announced: "We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas." Profits earned abroad would be taxed at 35 percent. This makes no economic sense. Untaxed foreign profits allow companies to keep many jobs at home. Taxing those profits weakens global competitiveness. And the beneficiaries would be foreign firms that replace American companies and reap the profits Obama is eager to tax. The Obama policy means the profits go away and tax revenues vanish. Does Obama understand this? There's no evidence he does.Reagan’s approach of adding tax cuts and investment incentives to his “stimulus plan” worked and lead to 25 years of unprecedented economic growth. Obama is doing the opposite and one has to wonder… why isn’t any of what Reagan did even being considered at this point by this administration?
