Obama Better Show Some Hand

Alright, Obama made it to the White House -- truly a historic achievement, but it looks like he will have no time to rest on his laurels. Already there are challenges to his authority as President and its not even two days since the election.

Internationally, the Russians have thrown down the gauntlet, threatening to put missiles in on the border if Poland if the U.S. moves forward with its missile defense plans. More ominously for Obama and his hopes to implement his domestic agenda, Nancy Pelosi is acting like she won the election, making plans for billions in new stimulus spending and meeting with auto industry management to hammer out terms for a massive government financed bail out.

Obama better show some hand and make it clear who is in charge. The spector of Jimmy Carter looms large.

Obama Dad!

My kids understand the injustice of socialist tax policy – do you?

Like many parents, my wife and I have long searched for the right motivational tool to inspire outstanding academic achievement by our children. This fall we embarked on a bold new motivational experiment – pay for academic performance.

The rules were simple. Dad's Bank would pay out $20 for every A earned in 'core' subjects (e.g. Math, Science, Reading, etc.). This would give each child the opportunity to earn up to $160. As an extra incentive (and to better reflect the winner take all reality of our Cowboy Capitalist system) we offered an extra motivational kicker – $500 for straight A's.

Well let me tell you, Dad did not anticipate how well the program would work. By the end of the first quarter, all three of our boys (our preschool aged daughter was ineligible due to lack of letter grades) delivered their academic personal best:

Paul, 4^th Grade: Straight As $500

Thomas, 2^th Grade: 7 A's (1 B) $140

Patrick, 6^nd Grade: 6 A's (2 Bs) $120

GRAND TOTAL $760

You can imagine my horror – with the prospect of nearly an $800 payout, Dad's Bank was facing serious threat to Tier 1 capital!

Then I remembered Obama's tax plan and decided it was time to teach the kids about the patriotic duties of the American Tax Payer!

Obama laid it all out for me. From Paul, the highest achieving and wealthiest child, I would take 60%, or $300. From Thomas and Patrick (the merely hard working and affluent) I would take 39.9%, for a combined total of $104. To ensure consistency with Obama's vision, I told the boys I would 'spread the wealth around' by giving $80 to their little sister Mallory in the form of 'academic tax credits'. This would leave Dad with $320. I assured the kids this money would be used to stimulate the broader family economy via the acquisition of an equity stake in the troubled 'Dad's Night Out Insurance Company'.

Needless to say I had a riot on my hands. Paul declared his intent to escape my unfair tax regime by going offshore for a "Semester at Sea". Patrick and Thomas threatened to go on academic strike. My daughter Mallory announced that she would never leave pre-school so she could hold on to her 'academic tax credits'. All hell was breaking lose.

Finally my wife stepped in. Taking a page from the Hank Paulson playbook, she nationalized Dad's bank (despite my strong appeal to family social justice) and made good on all the promised payouts.

If Obama's tax policies won't work for even single night in an average American household, how are they going to work for the next four years for our entire nation?

Nationalization is not a joke

If only your last post could be taken as a joke. Here is a list of financial institutions already nationalized in what has become the greatest power grab in government history:

#1 Northern Rock
#2 Bear Stearns
#3 ANB Financial
#4 First Integrity Bank
#5 Roskilde Bank
#6 IndyMac
#7 First Heritage Bank
#8 First National Bank of Nevada
#9 IKB (basically insolvent after gov't intervention)
#10 Silver State
#11 Fannie Mae
#12 Freddie Mac
#13 Lehman Brothers
#14 AIG
#15 Washington Mutual

... and as far as I know, the WNBA has already been nationalized.

Reasons to vote for B.O.?

Have you seen his jump shot?

You can bet that when the NBA is nationalized due to the misappropriation of funds, the 2 year national basketball league tour that every young adult must complete will be a ton of fun.

That's a sure postup outside J-shot to the oval office.

A Man at War with Himself?

Most excellent post! But do you have any reasons to vote for Obama? You seem like a man, a man torn in two by his inability to choose.

Fuel shortage in the engine room of the Protestant work ethic

In a speech given on October 11th in Pennsylvania, Obama more clearly than ever sounded the unsettling battle call to the proletariat. In a campaign theoretically designed to cut across political boundaries, he has gone out of his way to define and reinforce the walls of class boundaries. This would not be so unsettling if these class boundaries were not being drawn in such a way as to demonize the upper middle-class (200K-250K/year). The fact that these earners are being labeled as affluent creates a fervent proletariat unity while creating a divisive us-versus-them class structure.

What's the end goal of all of this?

You can be sure that the reason Obama drew enthusiastic cheers when he asked who earned less than 250K/yr was not because the crowd felt that a new generation of opportunity was about to befall them; rather it was because Obama was going to allow them to dip their hands into the pockets of those who, in practical terms, earn marginally more. Who doesn't want free money?

Let's consider what effect Obama's definition of wealth and the associated system of wealth distribution could mean for the average US citizen....

People are successful for one of three reasons: 1) they are great people that will be successful regardless of the environment 2) they are average people who are provided an environment designed to motivate them to pursue success 3) they are lucky

Obama's plan for wealth distribution takes direct aim at the benefits of success for the overwhelming majority of economic agents, people of type 2. One can imagine this leading to a world where the dominant strategy for success is to strive for mediocrity. As a mediocre performer you put yourself on the sweet side of the wealth re-distribution and taxation curves, you maximize your income and life-style without having to give too much up. This would eventually lead to a gradual decline in the average quality of life as the wealthy class atrophies leaving less and less money to subsidize the bloated mediocre class.

One of the great side-effects of capitalism was the avoidance of this outcome. But the engine that legitimized capitalism post WWII is running out of fuel. The work-ethic that drove US capitalism was founded on religion and thus was perceived to be righteous, the pursuit of wealth and success was the fulfillment of God's will. The idea of a divine grand scheme helped to keep the dark side of capitalism in check and made the average citizen admire success and wealth, not despise it. A healthy equilibrium was achieved, the successful could be proud of their wealth and the poor could righteously pursue wealth.

As the Protestant work-ethic runs out of steam in the US this equilibrium is upset. Obama is tapping into the sentiment that the pursuit of wealth is no longer God's will, but an act of unscrupulous selfishness; an act that should be punished through the seizing of assets and subsequent re-distribution to the proletariat.

John McCain's plan to use tax dollars to reset the value of failed mortgages acheives the exact same goal as Obama's...perhaps we'll discuss that next time.

One Man's Decent into Darkness

The purpose of this blog is quite simple ladies and gentleman. It is here, on these virtual pages, that we will chronicle my own brother's slide from truth and reason into darkness and chaos. You will see, first hand, one man's decent from principled capitalist to socialist whore.

Ask him, if you dare, ask him about his views on the issues that are shaping our tomorrow!

Tell us brother, tell us about who you think Obama's redistributionist tax policies?