The Right Wing

Imron: (referencing NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/magazine/24Obamanomics-t.html) good article explaining “obamanomics”… when you look beyond the speeches and rallies you see that Obama has surrounded himself with top economic minds to help him tackle economic issues. his thoroughly liberal eye for income redistribution remains rooted not in big govt programs but in market-oriented fiscal policy tweaks. his philosophy as such is reminiscent of bill’s, but Obama also takes a serious look at the federal tax code - beyond just the income tax - promising the most comprehensive, most critical reevaluation of the tax code since Reagan…

Matthew Kowal: My question would be why does there need to be wealth redistribution?  Why do people in our country feel the need to penalize and punish the rich?  I think the more money you make the more tax you should pay, but it should be the same percentage as everyone else.  Obama prides himself on surrounding himself with the “best and brightest.”  For those of you who haven’t looked into previous Free-Market-Loving, Big-Spending, Fiscally Conservative Wealth Redistributionist Democratic presidents allow me this quick history lesson.  It was used to describe the Ivy-League advisors to JFK during the years liberals like to call “camelot,” and here is their legacy.  They micro-managed the Vietnam war from their desks in Washington ignoring commanders’ advice from the field with disastrous results.  The best and the brightest reemerged during the carter years older but none the wiser.  They appeased the soviets, decimated our intelligence capabilities and our military readiness, gave away the Panama Canal, turned Iran from an ally to the enemy that still troubles us today.  These old fogies reappeared during the Clinton years citing the peace dividend following the collapse of the evil empire.  They again weakened our military that Reagan built back up.  Ignored the threat of terrorism electing to criminalize it instead of financing the military to fight it, thus 9/11.  Their fiscal policies have been an utter catastrophe for America.  Their tax code is one of the single biggest reasons for the failing dollar, would you invest in a country that increases the percentage you are taxed if you are successful?  I will leave you with a short Op-Ed from David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

Obamanomics 101:
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and
the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the
way we pay our taxes, it would go something like thisThe first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed
quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the
owner threw them a curve. “Since you are
all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to
reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.

“Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we
pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected.

They would still drink for free. But what about the
other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get
his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But
if they subtracted that from everybody’s share,
then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end
up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner
suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s
bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded
to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the
first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the
restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth man.

He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I
only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times
more than I!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should
he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the
breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in
unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system
exploits the poor!”

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for
drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him.
But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn’t
have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen,
journalists and college professors, is
how our tax system works. The people who pay the
highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they
just may not show up anymore. In fact, they
might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is
somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics

University of Georgia