Obama and John Galt

To paraphrase John Upton's comment about rich New York Liberals, Warren Buffet is forever asking us to take more of his money but in the end, he manages to keep most of it. Buffet has spent a lifetime asking the government, “Please tax more, for I have sin,” but he still has his billions.

Obama’s war on wealth certainly has its effect, creating a nation of John Galts as capital stays on the sideline. Atlas Shrugged detailed the bureaucratization of America, and we are now living in Ayn Rand’s world, where bureaucrats have more impact than the entrepreneurs. This brings us to the ultimate flaw in Obamanomics, Obama's desire to equalize results have produced a recovery that limped along, and he may yet bring another recession. (It could be argued that we have continued to be in a recession and the stimulus masked the worse of it just as Aspirin helps masks the flu by reducing the fever that accompanies it.)

All of this could have been easily predicted, but politicians acted in haste and panic while Obama and his inner circle used the crisis to transform American through policies design to spread the wealth around. The result is what we see, an economy that has essentially stood still as business refuses to hire or invest, not knowing what new surprises await them.

The class war that Obama has declared is working as IRS reported millionaires declined in 2009; so we are actually seeing fewer rich folks and this has accounted for a loss of 130 billion dollars in tax revenues. As an editor for Wall Street Journal observed, maybe if Warren Buffet wants to reduce the budget deficits, policies to encourage growth and the rise of more millionaires will help. Besides, a few more millionaires might be able to invest in Berkshire Hathaway. (Of course, this will make Buffet wealthier and certainly this will only add to his guilt.)

Now that we have literally destroyed trillions of dollars in wealth as a result of Obamanomics, we can say the war on the rich is working. Now the problem, destroying the wealth of the rich has not made the middle class or the poor richer, but then it was never about helping the middle class or the poor but to destroy the wealthy. To paraphrase a famous quote, Obama so hates the rich that he is willing to destroy poor while warring with the rich.

The recent story that rich did indeed pay at a higher rate even with all their tax deductions simply shows the absurdity of Obama’s economic plan and as Rush Limbaugh would note, we are about to add more taxes on the wealthy due to the fact that 1400 rich folks found a way around the tax system. So Obama is going to ratchet up class warfare so he can tax those 1400 and make sure that they are duly punished. An easier solution would be a tax reform that reduces tax rates and reduces deductions in return; but just a solution would mean the end of class warfare, and it is not fair that some folks are rich.

The economy is beginning a slow dive back to negative ground and the sputtering of business is merely reflecting the real economy that just plain sucks. In America, fairness is not about results but opportunity, and that lesson is being lost. The economy is full of John Galts, simply sitting on the sideline and hoping that the nightmare ends in January of 2013. Until then, Atlas merely shrugs.