Some of you know that I have been stewing over this post for the last week or so. I figured it would be best if I didn't post my thoughts on Mr Obama's economic plan immediately so I have let it stew for a week. I've had a couple glasses of wine tonight and figured it needed to come out...so here goes....
I am not a fan of Barack Obama. I am also not a huge fan of John McCain, but I definitely see McCain as the lesser of two evils in the 2008 Presidential Election. Last weekend I was reading some articles on Obama and McCain's economic ideas and quite frankly, Obama's ideas scared the hell out of me. As I consider myself a well informed person on the economy, here is my opinion on three of Mr Obama's economic ideas that scared me the most:
1) Extend unemployment benefits to more people. What? We live in a consumer society where approximately 70% of our economy depends on people spending money to buy goods and services. How does it help our society by giving money to people that don't have jobs? How does giving away more money to unemployed people help us get out of an economic hole? Answer: it doesn't! Even Bill Clinton recognized this when he reduced unemployment benefits during his administration.
2) Tax the "Rich" people more. This is an even dumber idea. Lets give money to people with no jobs but lets increase the tax burden on the people who make the economy run (spend the money). I am willing to bet that the rich guy is gonna buy a lot more big-screen TVs and cars than the unemployed guy.
3) Increase the Minimum Wage from $6.50 to $9.50/hour. May sound like a good idea on the surface but does this make sense financially? Hell no. If you want to increase the minimum wage, that is fine with me...but it should be done slowly over time and there should be some type of link to inflation. Quickly increasing the minimum wage by 50% is going to cripple small businesses in this country...the same small businesses which provide so many jobs to American people. Think about it this way...what if your grocery or electric bill went up 50% overnight? And what will happen when that small business owner now has a 50% increase in his labor cost? Thats right...he is going to lay off workers because he can't afford to pay them. And how does that help the economy??
This exact same concept was rampant in the 1970s...tax the rich...give money away...high inflation...stagnant economy...I could go on and on but it was not a good time for our country. Now we sit here about to repeat the same mistakes with Mr Obama. And this doesn't even mention the crazy whack-job advisors that Obama had working for him up until a few months ago (remember that Reverend Wright dude...enough said).
My whole point here is that Barack Obama isn't anything new. He is a incredibly inexperienced guy who is a great talker...that much I will give him. But he is rehashing old ideas from the 1970s...ideas that didn't work then and most certainly won't work today.
Sure...John McCain is 257 years old and he is a grumpy old codger...I don't relate to him on many levels. But the guy has been around and has experience. I know what he stands for. He is much more middle-of-the-road than George Bush on many issues. And given the choice of one or the other, I am gonna go with guy who is an experienced driver...not the guy who just got his license two weeks ago.
1 comment:
one of his "ideas" that he put out there was to raise the capital gains tax to 30% from its current 15%. This is 5% higher then when they originally cut it! He's sort of backed off of it but the fact that he thinks that is a good idea is scary enough.
That would tank the market and cause world-wide repurcussions. But, if he does get in and implement these policies, I guarantee he won't be get re-elected.
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