Will Obama Be The Depression President?
Ricarda Santiago | 19.10.2008 05:56 | Analysis | Workers' Movements | World
U.S. recessions have destroyed jobs and peoples’ economic security. Past U.S. recessions ended once consumer confidence and spending returned, followed by increased business productivity that employed more workers. Banks between 1972 and 1995 helped fight at least three recessions by increasing credit card limits and lowering interest rates charged consumers. The difference in 2008: millions of Americans have lost or run out of credit; a million jobs have been lost due to the Sub-prime mortgage/real estate collapse; millions of homeowners have mortgages larger than what they can sell their property.
Obama states that if elected president, he will ask Congress to spend billions of Taxpayer Dollars on a multitude of social programs for the poor. Isn’t America broke? One must wonder if the Obama Government plans to PRINT money to support these programs? What will happen to the U.S. should its economy continue to falter and Obama is spending billions of taxpayer dollars to grow what might be a quasi- welfare state? Could once free market retailers and other businesses become increasingly dependent on an Obama Government spending money on the poor and social programs to sell their products? No doubt corporate lobbyists will be working hard to gain those government accounts. Historically hasn’t this kind of large social program spending by a government caused inflation, injuring—low-income workers and individuals on fixed incomes?
Obama repeatedly states that to pay in part for his programs, he wants to increase income taxes against some corporations and higher income Americans. When has raising income taxes against high-income Americans and business job providers ever inspired businesses to hire more workers? How can giving $billions of taxpayer dollars to social programs strengthen or create jobs in a U.S. Free Market based economy?
Obama wants to reduce or eliminate investor tax incentives that many businesses are dependent on to attract new investors to expand their business. How will Obama’s elimination of investor tax breaks help businesses expand to hire more workers? Ironically some labor groups that support Obama and hope in the future to seek higher wages from corporations might have to forgo those aspirations after corporations are forced to lay off workers to pay for Obama’s increased income taxes.
Ricarda Santiago