Obama Calls for Black Reparations

Ever since the conversation between "Joe the Plumber" and Barack Obama, people have been up in arms over the Illinois' Senator and his socialist leanings. Obama declared he wanted to "spread the wealth" and do so with the earnings of those with higher incomes.



Now, John McCain and his allies are looking for examples of Obama's socialistic leanings at every opportunity they can find and, unfortunately, missing an equally alarming and dangerous story. Currently, McCain supporters are referring to a 2001 radio interview in which the then Illinois state senator was discussing the civil rights movement. During the interview he pointed out that: "The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society… and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that."

The radio interview (click the image above) does make it clear that Obama supports the redistribution of wealth. He is a socialist. Socialism, unfortunately, has been a part of the liberal mantra for years. The list of Marxist sounding quotes by Obama's Democrat opponent, Hillary Clinton, is exhaustive in its own right. During her run for the Presidency, Clinton said:

• "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
• "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few..... And to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity."
• "(We) ....can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."
• "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own turf in order to create this common ground."
• "I certainly think the free-market has failed."
• "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."

Therefore, "socialism" has become a common Democrat agenda. Obama, in this interview, goes further. He is discussing the targeting of specific ethnic groups for payment to another ethnic group. He is a socialist that believes that the majority population today should be forced to pay for the treatment that black people received generations ago. This is ethnic and class warfare at its worst. In a culture that has become too comfortable with the redistribution of wealth, this largely missed story among the socialist rhetoric rampant today could actually make Americans think twice.

Kevin Price articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Obama, Wealth, Work, and Poverty

We should want a tax code that rewards wealth to create work. Not a tax code that rewards work, instead of wealth. The latter would “succeed” only if the government was the primary source of job creation. That describes societies with command economies, such as what we saw in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union before the fall of Communism and in struggling developing countries today that have yet to figure out why their economies haven’t worked. Such hostile views towards wealth creation should not be found in free market economies, such as the United States, but it is exactly what we saw and heard during the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Its funny, in my circle of friends, decrying the engines that create wealth is the equivalent of economic blasphemy. At the DNC, it was a virtue. The message of “we need a tax policy that rewards work, not wealth” wasn’t merely seen on the signs of delegates or alternates. It wasn’t the occasional mentioning of one of the many speakers that passed in front of the microphone. It came from the keynote address of the Party’s nominee for President. Barack Obama.

This sentiment of wanting to bite the hand that feeds the economy (wealth created by corporations and small businesses, not revenue confiscated by taxpayers) stood in contrast to the message heard by the candidate that I hoped would get the Republican nomination and who spoke at the his party’s Convention on behalf of Sen. John McCain, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee.

Thompson uses a Southern charm and has a disarming approach to speaking that made the logic of what he said perfectly clear, regardless of party affiliation or philosophy. Paraphrasing the Senator, Thompson pointed out that the Democrats only want to increase the taxes on a small group of people – the top 5 percent. This, we are told, has no effect on the common person. Unless you buy milk, bread, or any other consumer product at the store. Or if you have a job that is dependent on someone (or company) subject to that top five percent. The Democrats like to bemoan “trickle down economics” (where the government ostensibly benefits the wealthy, which in turn creates opportunities for others). But the trickle can be seen in more than one way. The trickle can be policies that hurt the rich and, out of simple self interest, they share the misery with everyone else. Thompson did an excellent job of warning us of that possibility.

According to economist Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, the US already has the second highest corporate tax rates of any developed country in the world after Japan. That, more than cheap wages, has led to the flight of jobs and manufacturing to other countries. Barack Obama promises to push us further in that direction through tax increases.

Ronald Reagan use to say that “you can’t help America’s poor by making America poor.” Obama disagrees. He intends to help America’s poor by making more people poor, so they will have more company. An Obama administration will be very interesting indeed. I doubt, however, we can afford it.

Kevin Price's articles are found daily in national publications such as USA Today, Chicago Sun Times, and Reuters. Subscribe to his newsletter here.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review.

Socialism in the Ballot Box

Daily I get some bizarre ideas across my desk for show topics and the latest I have found has taken the cake. There is a relatively new site out there called Votesizing.com. The thesis of the site is simple -- the value or power of a vote should be adjusted according to income level.

So if someone is poor, working class, and financially struggling, they would actually have a more "weighted" vote that those who are financially successful. The more you make, the less power you have.

This is a ridiculous proposition on so many levels, it is difficult to begin. The policy is, simply, anti-American. Our political system, built on concepts such as "equal justice under law" simply makes a policy such as this contrary to our core values.

Also, if the poor had more power, America would likely become more poor. They would continue to vote for politicians who would promote distributionist policies that would make the corporations that can fight poverty extinct. As Ronald Reagan liked to say, "the best social program is a job." Businesses create jobs, "Vote sizing' would destroy business

If anything, I get the impression that the most affluent may be under represented. Consider the following breakdown of who pays what in taxes:

* The top 5 percent of wage earners pay over 50 percent of the tax bill.

* The top 10 percent pay over 64 percent of the total tax bill.

* The top 50 percent pay over 96 percent of the tax bill.

That leaves 50 percent paying around 4 percent of the tax burden.

"Vote sizing" will simply make more Americans poor as politicians pander to that group. There are already "poverty pimps" whose political fortunes depend on people being poor and who promote excessive taxation, artificial wage increases, and other irresponsible policies that preserves poverty. "Vote sizing" will make it worse.

John Stuart Mill, the great classical economist, proposed a radical idea. He argued that the only way one could keep government fiscally responsible is to take the vote away from voters who receive government support -- be they rich corporations receiving subsidies or the poor. Now that is the kind of radical idea I would find interesting.

Best selling author Ken Blanchard recently revealed the secrets of entrepreneurship on a Houston Business Show. Receive a free copy of the complete program by emailing Info@HoustonBusinessShow.com.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Obama Gets Bad News on Economic Policies

Barack Obama has been heavily preaching the gospel of wealth distribution for years and has made it a central theme of his candidacy for President. Obama has been going around the country and telling them about how he was going to take from the rich and give to the poor. The devil, of course, is in the details.

For over two decades poverty has been in rapid decline and wealth has expanded in this country. More businesses have started in recent years than in any time in history and unemployment is remarkably low (even among recession concerns). So, although Obama has won the Democratic nomination with his "us against them" message, many are questioning whether that message will work in November. For example, if people make $227,000 or more a year, their taxes will go up by $23,000 in Obama's plan. Most people at this threshold do not consider themselves rich and under McCain, they would actually enjoy a 15,000 tax cut. Furthermore, there are many families below that financial bracket who aspire to reach the $227,000 threshold.

It reminds me of 1972 when George McGovern was performing well early in his race against Republican incumbent Richard Nixon. Then he started promoting the idea of "Demogrants,' which were subsidies that would go to people who make less than $15,000 a year. Instead of his support swelling, it actually popped his electoral bubble because there many members in this lower income bracket who knew that such programs were paid by those who made more than $15,000 a year and they believed they would be among those numbers. Americans are, by their very nature, positive and believe the best for themselves and future. They knew they could earn more and would.

Americans are the same today. According to a recent Gallup poll, 84 percent of all voters are opposed to redistributing wealth as a way of solving economic problems and only 13 percent support such a policy. Instead, the vast majority of the 84 percent support policies that encourage economic growth and job creation. They believe in free markets. Obama's redistribution policies remind me of a Ponzi Scheme that will encourage poverty rather prosperity and a game which all of us will lose.

Tired of the plain old business news? Ready for practical information to change your business and even your life? Visit HoustonBusinessReview.com and sign up for this important weekly ezine.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.