{"id":1617,"date":"2009-03-06T15:31:44","date_gmt":"2009-03-06T20:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2010-01-12T12:59:20","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T17:59:20","slug":"is-obama-intentionally-destroying-our-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/06\/is-obama-intentionally-destroying-our-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Obama Intentionally Destroying Our Economy???"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Never assume malice where incompetence will suffice.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last few days I&#8217;ve been hearing various theories that essentially say&#8230; The Obama administration is deliberately damaging the economy and gutting the stock market on the theory that doing so will make it easier for them to argue &#8220;the free market has failed&#8221; and pave the way for a far-left regime.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/directorblue.blogspot.com\/2009\/03\/mission-accomplished-obama.html\" target=\"_blank\">Doug Ross<\/a> makes the argument:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Consider that, in the teeth of a devastating recession, Obama has:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Raised taxes on small businesses, the engines of entrepreneurship and job growth<\/li>\n<li>Raised the capital gains tax<\/li>\n<li>Lied about &#8220;tax cuts for 95% of Americans&#8221;, offering instead $13 a week, achieved not through tax cuts, but by changing the federal withholding tables!<\/li>\n<li>Destroyed charitable giving by axing the tax breaks for 26% of all giving (or $81 billion in 2006)<\/li>\n<li>Proposed a carbon cap-and-trading scheme designed to punish oil companies and further tax consumers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Why would Obama inflict these destructive policies while the economy is collapsing? Simple. Each step strengthens the role of government in people&#8217;s lives.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Squelching the stock market kills its attractiveness as a parking lot for private capital. Combined with an increase in the capital gains tax, investors will swarm to bonds &#8212; tax-free vehicles like municipal bonds, which benefit the growth of state and local government. And unions, of course.<\/li>\n<li>Carbon cap-and-tax will raise taxes on all Americans as the cost of goods and services will increase to address a non-existent threat.<\/li>\n<li> True tax cuts would grow the economy, which is why, of course, Obama shuns them. The last major recession was Jimmy Carter&#8217;s malaise. It consisted of of double-digit inflation and unemployment. It was finally licked by across-the-board tax cuts for everyone (even the despised rich), which touched off a twenty-plus year run of prosperity.<\/li>\n<li> Charities reduce the role of government assistance for those in need. That, in Obama&#8217;s world, can not be tolerated. That is why charities must be choked off and allowed to die. Especially faith-based institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The only plausible explanation is that Obama&#8217;s destruction of the economy is intentional.<\/p>\n<p>It is based on a failed ideology that has a track record of Mugabe-esque disaster.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ll admit it&#8217;s an intriguing theory but personally, I&#8217;m not buying it&#8230; I don&#8217;t believe any President would deliberately set out to damage this country in the pursuit of his agenda. I think incompetence, or at least inexperience is the more likely explanation&#8230; Particularly when you view his handling of the economy in conjunction with his administrations other stumbles&#8230; Among them their troubles vetting cabinet appointees, his spokesman Robert Gibbs snipping back at critics like Rush Limbaugh, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer and the ham fisted <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/article-1159627\/To-special-friend-Gordon-25-DVDs-Obama-gives-Brown-set-classic-movies-Lets-hope-likes-Wizard-Oz.html\" target=\"_blank\">exchange of gifts<\/a> with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It all points to inexperience or worse incompetence rather than malice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Never assume malice where incompetence will suffice. Over the last few days I&#8217;ve been hearing various theories that essentially say&#8230; The Obama administration is deliberately damaging the economy and gutting the stock market on the theory that doing so will make it easier for them to argue &#8220;the free market has failed&#8221; and pave the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26,7],"tags":[57,1363],"class_list":["post-1617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-economy","category-politics","tag-barack-obama","tag-economy","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-q5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5245,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/24\/video-50-years-ago-democrats-believed-in-tax-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":0},"title":"Video: 50 Years Ago Democrats Believed in Tax Cuts","author":"Jeff","date":"August 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One things for sure, today's Democrats are not your fathers or grandfathers Democrats... I can't imaging any of them arguing for tax cuts the way John F. Kennedy does during this interview with David Brinkley and Chet Huntley 50 years: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7ZFL4Ho-fxo Sadly I think we're past the point were the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/7ZFL4Ho-fxo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1039,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/22\/newt-lets-have-a-real-middle-class-tax-cut\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":1},"title":"Newt: Let&#8217;s Have a Real Middle-Class Tax Cut","author":"Jeff","date":"November 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a little out of pocket over the last couple of days so guess you could say I'm playing a bit of catchup with this post. I suspect most of you read Newt Gingrich's Wall Street Journal Op Ed on middle class tax cuts: Let's Have a Real Middle-Class\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4158,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/13\/the-fallacy-of-the-101-mix-of-spending-cuts-and-tax-hikes-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":2},"title":"The fallacy of the 10:1 Mix of Spending Cuts and Tax Hikes Question","author":"Jeff","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I suspect most of you have seen or heard about this exchange during the Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa last Thursday night: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ASQNITVweLo&feature=player_embedded It was a bullshit question, first of all unless those spending cuts are immediate they'll never materialize... particularly when the baseline for negotiations is that the taxes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ASQNITVweLo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1406,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/28\/wsj-you-wont-believe-whats-in-that-stimulus-bill\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":3},"title":"WSJ: You Won&#8217;t Believe What&#8217;s in That Stimulus Bill","author":"Jeff","date":"January 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Stimulus plan my ass: In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make \"dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy.\" Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/08\/100-economists-warn-that-barck-obamas-tax-proposals-could-throw-the-us-economy-into-recession\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":4},"title":"100 Economists Warn That Barack Obama&#8217;s Tax Proposals Could Throw the US Economy into Recession","author":"Jeff","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been debating whether to post this all day... Yes, it's from the McCain campaign but ultimately I think it would be foolish to dismiss the opinion of a group of experienced economists out of hand. Economists Statement On Barack Obama's Risky Economic Proposals 100 ECONOMISTS WARN THAT WITH CURRENT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2340,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/12\/bloomberg-com-house-health-care-bill-to-include-600-billion-in-tax-increases\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":5},"title":"Bloomberg.com: House Health-Care Bill to Include $600 Billion in Tax Increases","author":"Jeff","date":"June 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Bloomberg.com is reporting that the health care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid: June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}