The Obama campaign’s economic policy is centered on the creation of jobs for the middle class and the redistribution of wealth via increased taxes for the upper class. In order to create jobs Obama proposes the institution of a plan to invest $150 billion over the next ten years in an effort to produce new “green collar jobs.” A side from these jobs Obama intends on producing infrastructure jobs by creating the National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, by creating jobs in the sciences by doubling government funding for research, and y implementing several other government incentives involving tax brakes or government programs. The tax policy that Obama has created will increase taxes for those Americans who make more than $250,000 while decreasing taxes for all middle class Americans. These two policies will be implemented supposedly to bring the Unites States back to its place at cornice of the world economy, but when compared with similar economic policy of prior administrations the economic policy of the Obama administration becomes questionable.
All of these policies are remarkably similar to those set out in the new deal created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As the United States economy pitches its way through the turbulence created by the burst Greenspan’s housing bubble and Bernanke’s commodity bubble the government’s push to save us form our foundering economy, which they created, may sound appealing. However, it is very important to understand that the New deal of the FDR era was not created to grow the economy, but instead to force it to stagnate as this condition was preferable to the possibility of the spiraling economy reaching zero (Barone New New deal).
When employment reached the double digits in the during the end of the Hoover administration and the Roosevelt administration use of government funds to create jobs would most likely appear to be an attempt to jump start the economy, but was intended only to hold the united state economy in place. This policy is coverable to the Obama campaign’s $150 billion plan to create five million new Jobs, or one of the other systems for employment that senator Obama has proposed. Implementing this system would obviously produce jobs, but would not necessarily improve the economy beyond the jobs directly produced by this action.
Obama’s redistribution tax policy is also comparable to the Hoover Roosevelt tax policies that were intend to use the wealth of those people to worked high income jobs to fund welfare. While Obama does not intend on producing a welfare state, his plan is to increase upper class income taxes and provide government programs with the increased revenue. It should of course be noted that Senator Obama once declared that the held so strongly to the Ideal government involvement in the redistribution of wealth that he would increase capital gains taxes even if it decreased government revenue (Barone New New deal).
The economic policy of Barrack Obama is not what it appears to be, and should be regarded not as a economic savior, but a vehicle for social manipulation. The plunges and leaps of the Unites States economy, the DOW was up over one thousand points last week, but down just over one thousand points for the last month, does not constitute a decimation of the United States economy, and doe not justify a government implemented economic ice age. In the sate o the economy Barack Obama’s plan does not imply that he intends on growing the economy, instituting greater government control and forcing the economy to stagnate as he Implements more social control.
Works Cited
Barone, Michael. "New New Deal No Better Than the Old One." New New Deal No Better Than the Old One By Michale Barone on National Review Online. 29 Oct. 2008. The National Review. 30 Oct. 2008
Obama For America. "Economy." Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need Econemy. Obama for America. 3 Nov. 2008
Obama For America. "Responsible Tax Cuts for Ordinary Americans." Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need Taxes. Obama for America. 3 Nov. 2008
2 comments:
I agree, and its important to remember that it was government policy that created the great depression in the first place. After the crash in '29 congress, in hopes of protecting american industry, passed the smoot Hawley Tariff act, which raised tariffs on imports "many countries retaliated with their own increased tariffs on U.S. goods"(wikipedia) and this completely decimated international trade. Combine that with raised taxes and an overly tightfisted monetary policy, oh and all sorts of market manipulation by FDR and you get our grand depression. Its also important to note the government doesn't really create jobs by 'investing' in infrastructure or the like, it merely redistributes wealth. The jobs it does create are artificial, once the government spigot goes back off these jobs disappear. And of course there is something lost in all this redistribution, the governments 100 billion dollar stimulus package came at the cost of 130 billon dollars raised in taxes. Flash forward to today, the government has now taken to forcing banks that dont want a government "investment" to accept it anyway, in some cases depressing their stock price. Why we dont just use this 700 billon dollars to cut taxes I'll never know.
I have read the Barone article, and I find it highly partisan with a clear biased against Obama. It creates a falsified version of history and presents FDR (and Obama by association) as a dark, brooding figure with an insatiable appetite for power. Few (if any) legitimate historians would condemn FDR and the New Deal; indeed, the New Deal saved the economy of the United States during a very turbulent time, though WWII restored it at the cost of trapping the economy in a dependency on the military-industrial complex, which Eisenhower warned against in his farewell address. The point is, don't blame FDR and the New Deal for today's lousy economy, blame every (mostly Republican) President that came after FDR (excluding Truman, as he was still fighting WWII, as well as JFK, as he was assassinated before completing his first term) for failing to return our economy from a wartime economy driven by the need to build tanks, guns, and bombs to normalcy. In fact, feel free to thank FDR that you aren't living in the Communist States of America right now.
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