Obama is Destroying the Foundation of Wealth Creation

Published in The Epoch Times
(China) on 17 March 2009
by Yuan Xiao-Ming (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Kwok Wai-Yin. Edited by Katy Burtner.
A while after Obama took office, according to his words and deeds at the time (such as keeping the Bush administration's defense minister and refusal to raise taxes in times of economic recession and so on), I wrote an article claiming that Obama needs centrists’ support to accomplish his ambition, which is to get re-elected, and that’s why he should take a middle route and not completely rule in accordance with his own leftist beliefs. But now I want to take back my wrong judgment, given that Obama has already bypassed the centrists just after one month in office, revealing his true extreme leftist face.

David Brooks is a columnist at the New York Times and a moderate conservative. He expressed appreciation for Obama during the election process. He believed that Obama was not a far leftist and had high expectations for Obama’s administration. Brooks stated recently in his column that like many moderate conservatives and moderate liberals, he supports a lot of proposals made by Obama, such as investing in education and new energy, as well as reforming the American medical insurance system under the condition of reducing the costs. Nevertheless, according to the budget plan Obama has recently issued for the 2010 fiscal year, which counted 3.6 trillion dollars, the investment is not focused on those issues, but on the redistribution of wealth, and Obama has also massively expanded government functions and will generate an enormous government deficit of 1.75 trillion dollars, representing 12.3 percent of the U.S. GDP. That would create a deficit level that is larger than any since the end of World War II.

Jim Cramer presides over a stock program on the financial cable channel CNBC in the U.S. He was a socialist when he was young and later transformed into a liberal, now a key democrat. Cramer has stated a very harsh critique of the Bush administration in the past few years, and he certainly does not expect that Obama will be able to turn the tide right after taking office. Yet, he never expected that the Dow Jones would drastically drop 2500 points immediately following Obama’s presidency. Cramer understands that this is Wall Street’s expression towards Obama's economic policy stance; Wall Street has no confidence in Obama's economic policies. Cramer voiced great indignation in his program afterward with regard to Obama’s government.

Cramer said during a NBC interview that Obama’s deficit-oriented economic policy is ultra-leftist, and the Obama government is the greatest destructor of wealth that he has ever seen in his life. Today, the American stock market has accumulated most American’s wealth and destroying the stock market means destroying the majority of U.S. wealth. Cramer's remarks caused much noise; White House spokesman Robert Gibbs immediately responded by calling what Cramer said unfounded. Cramer then made a strong counterattack on his own program and his blog. He said Obama wants, under the present economic recession, to raise everyone's tax rate (including the income tax and energy consumption tax) and nationalize the medical insurance system (700 billion dollars worth of expenses, eliminating the current lucrative medical profession), and if this happens, the U.S. will no doubt annihilate the foundation of wealth creation by increasing government expenses by such a great amount. Cramer agrees with increasing the tax rate of the rich, but he believes that applies only under satisfying economic circumstances, not during an economic recession. On the contrary, taxes should be reduced at this time.

So, why did Obama go back on his promise by ruling completely in accordance with leftist ideas just one month after assuming office? The answer is that the falling of the stock index would give a bigger blow to investors in the U.S. In other words, that part of the Republican Party’s voting bloc would be damaged in order to help build the Democratic Party's power monopoly, and the current economic crisis provided Obama a unique opportunity. Thinking back, Roosevelt laid a power foundation for decades for the Democratic Party through a severe recession and implementation of new policies.

U.S News & World Report magazine columnist James Pethokoukis pointed out in an article entitled “Why the Democratic Party Cracked Down on Investors” that there are two things which will probably turn American voters to the Republican Party: firstly, marry and have children and secondly, invest in the stock market. He is reasonable, according to the opinion polls conducted after the election, in that the majority of single mothers and the unmarried voted for the Democratic Party while stock investors mainly voted for the Republican Party. It was interrelated that Bush won the presidential election twice with the support of U.S. investors in 2000 and 2004. At that time, American stock investors had greatly increased and there is no doubt it was extremely beneficial to the Republican Party and Bush.

A strategy of the Democratic Party is to prevent the increase of stock investors. Given that the stock market could crash today, more and more people are fleeing because of fear in the stock market, which undoubtedly creates a good opportunity for the Democratic Party. By cracking down on investors, more people will rely on the government, thus increasing the Democratic Party’s opportunity to be re-elected, and at the same time achieving facets of left-wing philosophy, such as the redistribution of wealth. Furthermore, that would also help the Democratic Party to consolidate their own power foundation, and how can the witty Obama let go of such an opportunity! He would become the biggest wealth destructor.

A black scholar of Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Mr. Steele, said something like this: Americans have built history by voting for a black president, but they will have to pay a heavy price. Steele put it right. If we estimate rationally how heavy the cost is, it would be at least five to ten trillion U.S. dollars, or perhaps even 15 trillion U.S. dollars, plus five or even ten difficult years ahead.


奧巴馬上台之初,根據當時他的一些言行,比如,他留任了布什政府的國防部長,宣稱在經濟衰退時不要加稅等,我曾撰文指出,奧巴馬為了實現連任的野心,他需要得到中間派的支持,因此他要走一些中間路線,不會完全按照自己的左派理念去執政。可現在我要收回這個錯誤判斷,因為奧巴馬在上任一個月後就已甩開了中間派,露出了他極左派的真實面目。
David Brooks是《紐約時報》的專欄作家,是溫和的保守派,在大選過程中對奧巴馬表示出欣賞的態度,他相信,奧巴馬不是一位極左派,對奧巴馬居中的執政有非常大的期望。但是近日 Brook在他的專欄文章中稱,他與許多溫和保守派、溫和自由派人一樣,對奧巴馬要做的許多事情都支持,比如,在教育、新能源上的投資、以及在減低成本的條件下改革美國醫療保險系統,但奧巴馬最近出台的3.6萬億美元的2010年會計年度預算,卻並非是在那些方面的投資,奧巴馬的預算最突出的顯示出財富重新分配,並且超大地擴展了政府職能,將要造成巨大政府赤字:1.75萬億,占美國國內生產總值的12.3%。第二次世界大戰以來,美國財政赤字還從來沒有這麼大。
Jim Cramer在美國財經有線頻道CNBC主持股票節目,他年輕時一度曾經是社會主義者,後來轉變為一位自由派,現在是鐵桿民主黨人。Cramer在過去幾年裡對布什政府有非常嚴厲的批評,他當然也並沒有期望奧巴馬上台後就能立即扭轉乾坤,可他怎麼也沒有料到奧巴馬上任後,道瓊斯指數會有2500點的狂瀉。 Cramer明白,這是華爾街對奧巴馬經濟政策的表態,華爾街對奧巴馬的經濟政策沒有信心。Cramer隨之在他的節目中對奧巴馬政府表示出極大的憤怒。
在接受美國國家廣播公司的採訪時,Cramer說,奧巴馬以赤字開支為主的經濟政策是一套極左經濟理念的政策,奧巴馬是他一生中所見到的政府對財富的最大毀壞者,如今的股市積累了美國人主要的財富,毀掉股市就是毀掉了美國的主要財富。Cramer的上述講話引起了極大的轟動,白宮發言人Gibbs馬上對Cramer做出了反應,稱Cramer 的說法沒有根據。Cramer立即在自己的節目和博客上做出了強烈反擊。Cramer說,在目前的經濟衰退之下,奧巴馬居然要提高所有人的稅率(包括所得稅和能源消費稅)、要國有化醫療保險系統(支出7000億美元,同時毀掉盈利的醫療行業)、要增加那麼多的政府開支,無疑將會毀掉美國創造財富的基礎。Cramer支持提高富人的稅率,但他相信那應該是在經濟好的情況下,而不是在經濟衰退的時候,相反,在經濟不好的時候,應該執行減稅的政策。
那麼,奧巴馬為什麼要違背自己的許諾,在上任後一個月就完全要按照他的左派理念去執政呢?答案是,股票指數下跌對美國投資者有更大的打擊,從而摧毀共和黨的一部份票倉,幫助民主黨建立起權力的壟斷,目前的經濟危機給奧巴馬提供了絕好機會。當年,羅斯福正是藉助大蕭條和新政為民主黨奠定了幾十年的權力基礎。
《美國新聞報導》雜誌的專欄作家James Pethokoukis 在一篇題為<為什麼民主黨要打擊投資者>專欄中指出,有兩件事可能將美國選民轉變成共和黨,結婚並生孩子、投資股市。他說得不無道理,根據選舉後的民意調查,單身母親、未結婚者多數投票給民主黨,股票投資者更多地投票給共和黨。在2000年和2004年,布什兩次贏得大選與美國投資階層的支持有極大關係。在此期間,美國股票投資者有極大的增加,無疑對共和黨和布什極為有利。
民主黨的一個策略就是要阻止股票投資者的增加,如今股市崩潰,越來越多的人因為恐懼逃離股市,這無疑給了民主黨一個好機會,同時,由於經濟惡化,更多的人會轉為依靠政府,那又給民主黨創造了另一個良機。一方面,打擊股票投資者;另一方面,讓更多的美國人依靠政府,從而增加自己的連任機會,並同時實現財富再分配等左派理念,還能幫助民主黨鞏固自身權力基礎,聰明過人的奧巴馬豈能放過這樣的機會!即便成為最大的財富摧毀者,似乎也是在所不惜。
斯坦福大學胡佛研究所的黑人學者斯狄爾曾說過大意是這樣的話,美國選民選出一名黑人總統,美國選民創造了歷史,但美國人要為此付出沉重的代價。斯狄爾說得沒錯,如果定量地估計那樣的代價有多沉重,那至少應該有5萬到10萬億美元,也許是1 5萬億美元,再加上5年,甚至是10年艱苦日子。

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  1. yes free market capitalism has worked so well for americans.

    privitized health care is bankrupting america.

    capitalism has lead to imperialism and our wars for profits.

    america is a failed state no amount of borrowed money will put it back together again.

    just keep loaning us money so we can pay you back with a devalued dollar and we will be fine.

    as long as the world currency is the dollar we can borrow and print as much as we want.

    you have a very bias view of america and its politics.