Obama and the Death of Capitalism
Jul 21, 2011
This post is dedicated to everyone who supported Barack Obama in 2008.
Here’s my message to you people: Unless you were actively hoping to install a functioning socialist government when you cast your ballot, it’s now obvious that you wasted your vote.
Of course … socialism was not what you wanted. Right?
Good. Then admit you made a mistake. Admit this presidency is a freaking lost cause. Tell other people to admit THEIR mistake. Tell THEM to tell other people. And let’s get this guy off the air.
Socialism, though not necessarily by that name, is clearly Objective One for this administration. If you liked ObamaCare, you’re going to love what a second Obama term comes up with. My prediction: Regulation will reach hallucinatory new highs. Corporate profits will be illegal in any practical sense. And capitalism as we know it will twitch a few more times and then die.
I’m not saying the guy’s not persuasive. As the current sound bite has it, he could talk a dog off a meat wagon. What I’m saying is that if he uses his considerable bullshitting ability to sweet-talk 270 electoral votes at the end of next year, we are finished as a country.
Capitalism and the profit motive are what built this nation. They are what has made it great and seen it through both good times and bad. Obama does not get this. We are currently being led by a man who, quite literally, wouldn’t be able to launch and support a new business if his life depended on it. He has all but declared war on the profit motive, and if we don’t stop him, he will sink the goddamned boat.
The American people elected Obama three years ago based on his likability factor, not based on his record of demonstrated success in business (or, for that matter, his non-record in the Senate). As we approach the next campaign season, we need to ask ourselves what America will look like if we make the mistake of voting for him again.
We are now fighting three wars, supposedly to support, sustain, and establish democracy and free enterprise. But I’m afraid President Obama may have already lowered democratic capitalism onto its deathbed.
JZ – Right on the money. Could be your best post yet. The issue that complicates this further is that the liberal media continues to support him (and blame everyone else at the same time). Obamamaniacs will never admit to any wrong doing/displeasure with this untouchable anointed one…which leads me to believe that he will be re-elected by the zombies that threw him their support in 2008. (Thanks for the quote Fred.)
I agree. Obama is utterly ignorant about economics. I mean who uses the phrase “job-killing tax cuts”? And did you hear how Obama said ATM machines cause unemployment? Seriously, google it. What a fraud that he is in the White House.
And just imagine where Obama would be without a teleprompter. As the director of the Congressional Budget Office said, “We don’t estimate speeches.”
Thanks for having the guts to speak loudly and truthfully about Obama. I only wish more people would do the same.
Jordan I wondered when you plan to run for office. Your posts get more political each week!
I couldn’t agree more, however how do we fix the broken two party system and how do we get a good businessman into office. The two party system is a joke and no man could do well as president be he a republican or democrat. No successful businessman would take the pay cut or bullshit that goes with the office. So the question is- how do we get a good no bullshit businessman in the white house? Hint
Amazing. Corporate tax liabilities are at their lowest since BEFORE the Great Depression, profits are at their highest in US history and you present this nonsense as a reasoned argument for what exactly is uncertain. Perhaps to turn the US into another Mexico with its unregulated and frontier approach to business and the environment. I’m guessing you would not move your family into one of the cesspools that masquerades as a living place though. This is nothing more than bumper sticker rhetoric designed to attract the uninformed, the intellectually challenged and the downright lazy. Shame on you.
Since this dribble was penned, McDonalds posted better than expected profits across the board, Caterpillar is up, and Wynn posted record profits of 61% better than anytime in its history. Yep, that Obama is sure killing business. How’s that agency down in FL doing JZ? Word is you ain’t suffering either.
I thought deregulation is what got us into the mess we’re in now? And Obamacare? that will be a huge boon to the private medical insurance industry. Obama is centrist right wing at best. He is not a socialist. Get a grip, and stop watching Fox news.
“The American people elected Obama three years ago based on his likability factor, not based on his record of demonstrated success in business…
Really JZ? So the American people elected Bush for his level of intellect which he demonstrated so well during his presidency, however they had such horrible judgment when electing Obama. Somehow in your mind, Obama’s “socialism” is worst than bringing this country into a recession and war…(which Obama inherited). From Bush’s first day in office to his last…what did he do for America? But you re-elected him. After making the mistake of voting for him again…what did America end up looking like?
It doesn’t matter what Obama does, he will always be wrong. Your problem is not with his business or political choices…you’re just anti-Obama.
Great post JZ. Right on the money. Could you imagine if he had a second term and no fear of another election? Hopefully our current situation is enough for America to wake up and see what this man is doing and more so, Wanting to do to our country as we know it.
I think you are just against Obama. Most of what has happened during his time in office was started or caused by others, yet HE is to blame. Really? As far as healthcare goes I think we made some great moves forward, in fact maybe not forward enough. Keeping insurance companies from canceling you when you get sick, preventing ceilings for care, canceling out pre-existing conditions, and making all people carry health insurance are all good things. This idea that the wealthy are untouchable gods that are the only ones responsible to make good things happen is a false idea that has never created much over the last 20 years. Funny how the best times the country has had in the last couple of decades had higher taxes, and more regulation while the economy boomed and the debt was reduced. Then the Republican Guard took over and erased it all. Then they have the gaul to blame Obama. I just don’t understand how anyone thinks this makes any sense.
Chuck: I am not against Obama. What I am against is over-government. I’m against mis-management. I’m against deception. It’s always easy to look back and blame others. However, Obama has had almost three years in office. Yes, he has made some healthcare improvements. BUT, at his current pace of spending, if he were to stay in office eight years he would spend $13.8 TRILLION, a debt we can’t pay. The role of government is to run the budget with a surplus – whether Democrat or Republican. I don’t know where you get the idea that “the wealthy are untouchable gods.” We are all created equal. Higher taxes don’t make better times. Look at Russia today. Russia has a flat tax. Everyone pays the same rate. Higher taxes create less discretionary dollars. Obama ran under the platform of “Change.” He made changes, alright. All for the worse. Chuck, our country was built on free enterprise. Our country was not built on handouts. I think it’s time you get a grip. In fact, all Americans need to get a grip. Our leaders need to run the country like it’s the greatest business in the world from now until the eternal end with a surplus budget only.
JZ,
Remember when A leather-bound copy of the 1999 Budget of the United States of America was published. A gift from President Clinton to the folks to the country, it was the first balanced budget in decades.
But it wasn’t supposed to be the last. Indeed, experts projected surpluses as far as the eye could see. $5.7 trillion in surpluses, to be exact. The surpluses were so strong that deep into the future—in 2009—the entire national debt was going to be zero. For the first time since Andy Jackson was president, the United States of America would not owe a dime.
It was instead a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican president who squandered the surplus. In full possession of the federal government for the first time since Eisenhower, the GOP—with, to be fair, some help from some very foolish Democrats—systematically dismantled the economic and fiscal policies that produced the strongest economy and largest budget surplus in our history.
Specifically, they did four things: cut taxes (with a heavy tilt toward the rich), waged two wars on the national credit card (one of which was against a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no serious threat to America), passed a prescription drug benefit with no pay-for (the first entitlement in American history without a revenue source), and deregulated Wall Street (which helped turn the American economy into a casino and touched off the Great Recession).
But it is striking how absent that history has been from the coverage of our current crisis. I can understand why the GOP doesn’t want to remind folks of how they screwed the pooch. Indeed, they have a competing myth—that Washington went on a spending binge; radical young President Barack Obama went crazy with the national credit card. That, of course, is nonsense.
I think we all need to “Get a Grip” as you say, a grip of the facts and a path to get us out that does not crush services, the environment, and middle class in it’s wake.
I think it is amazing that Obama was elected in the first place. Looking at his background a complete lack of managerial experience is it any wonder that he is experiencing problems?
Obama has been very clear that he would like to redistribute the wealth in America. When you look at the tax/earners it is clear that there are a number of americans are paying a disproportionate amount of tax. The top 1% of wage earners earn 20% of wages and pay 38% of federal taxes. I am sorry this is unfair. What is staggering to me is that the top 25% of wage earners earn 54% of total wages and pay 85+% of taxes. There are 50% of wage earners that pay 0 federal tax. Again this is fair??
Regarding corporations, I have to say the downturn may have been one of the biggest lessons to businesses in the last 20 years. Because of the economic severity of 2008/2009 businesses cut their overheads in order to cope with their loss of revenues. Businesses got smarter and much more efficient because they needed to!! As a result of all of this businesses have been more profitable.
With this said, however, shareholder value has dropped much of this due to the severe market declines in the U.S. stock market. I am truly amazed the president keeps saying businesses are not hiring despite considerable cash in the bank. Duh, have you forgotten market caps are depleted and cash becomes king. His constant critism regarding businesses regarding cash just shows how ignorant he is about the real world. Again he simply has no experience.
Lastly, Obama has been extraordinarily critical of CEO pay/compensation. Funny, has he been critical of basketball players for their salaries? Has he been critical of hollywood for their salaries. Businesses provide jobs, services and goods. And basketball players provide what??
Obama is simply an experienced manager thrown far above his head. The results have been clear –he is simply not qualified to have the job.