After Joe the Plumber came on the scene, it was only a matter of time before John McCain also threw the kitchen sink at us, clogged up, however, as only he can do so.
McCain's recent hyperbolic characterization of Barack Obama's economic and tax plans as "socialist" is not just a desperate move to instill uncertainty in the minds of voters in the final days of the Campaign -- it also completely undermines the vital consensus on economic policy which our country desperately needs right now.
Using the pejorative word "socialism" to describe an honorable progressive income tax is shameful in these difficult times -- and it is also just plain wrong. We have had a progressive income tax since America first enacted income taxes in 1913, and John McCain has conveniently forgotten his own strong opposition to President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in 2001 and again in 2003. And he sure as heck has forgotten his year 2000 statement to a group of college students that "when you reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."
But the worst part of this false accusation by McCain is what gets lost amidst the sturm und drang around it, which is the nationwide focus on turning around our now very sick, and very unfair, economy that we need right now. And as a career-long businessman, I can tell you that this is a combined effort we all need to make.
Senator Obama's economic policies, however you want to describe them, would be the very best thing right now for American businesses, American workers and the American economy. His particular economic prescription would give us back vibrant, thoughtfully regulated capitalism of the sort that we know with certainty promotes and fosters economic growth from the bottom up. Growth which will give us back full employment, a pathway to ending poverty, and progress toward solving the problems associated with our current health care, education, trade, taxation and ecology practices.
The very best thing for America -- workers and businesses alike -- is and has always been a vibrant middle class that grows from the bottom up. And Senator Obama reminds us of this in almost every speech.
From vigorously enforcing our domestic labor laws to enabling all workers to have an unrestricted ability to join a union, a President Obama would provide all workers, but especially lower-wage workers, with the opportunities and the tools and the policies they need to realize again the American Dreams that, lately, have been torn from their futures.
Barack Obama's economic policies have the needed incentives for American companies to create and retain high-quality jobs that can't be offshored -- jobs in industries such as renewable energy, clean technology, and biotech that will comprise the next frontier of American economic growth. He will end tax breaks for companies which ship jobs overseas. And his elimination of all capital gains taxes on start-ups and small businesses will further spur innovation and job creation.
When it comes to trade agreements, Senator Obama will implement policies that better open up foreign markets to American exports and that eliminate the illegal subsidies and currency manipulations which have benefited foreign companies and governments at the expense of American companies and workers. And he'll use our trade agreements to encourage strong labor and environmental standards around the globe.
And last but certainly not least as we try to restore our economy, are Senator Obama's progressive tax policies, which would bring immediate benefit to 95% of American taxpayers, on the order of $1,000 per working family and also by eliminating income taxes entirely for seniors making less than $50,000 per year. No individual making less than $200,000 and no family making less than $250,000 will see a nickel or a dime of tax increase, and even the wealthiest Americans will not see their taxes increase beyond Clinton-era levels.
Senator Obama's economic policies and his restoration of fairness and progressivity to the individual income tax are vital to getting our economy back on track and to getting back our own moral standing with American workers. And none of it, my dear friend Senator McCain, can or should ever be called "socialism", which you know is true, because when you really were "straight talking", you said so yourself.
Leo Hindery, Jr. chairs the Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation, and is managing partner of a New York-based media industry private equity fund. Previously, he was CEO of AT&T Broadband and its predecessor, Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI). He is the author of "It Takes a CEO: It's Time to Lead With Integrity" (Free Press, 2005).
Right now it is the red states that receive significantly more back in fed aid than they pay in taxes. Isn't this socialism? Isn't this an enormous redistribution of wealth?
And for what it's worth, I hope and pray that he does NOT do that, since the REASON that they get significantly more money in red than in blue is because they tend to be poorer, and need it to overcome the advantage that the blue states have!
I don't feel like giving my money away.
These days wanting to keep your own money is considered a crime by people like you.
I'm a cold hearted SOB when it comes to giving my hard earned to some joker politico so they can decide how it's split up.
No thanks and nuts to Obama and to you for supporting his nonsense.
I got mine, right? Great attitude.
Accumulation of wealth is the most addictive drug in the universe.
it's called Greed.
You are part of society. You benefit from society in an infinite number of ways, every moment of your life.
Grow up.
Why not just give ALL our money to the government and let them decide what it is we need in life.
By the way, you can be the greediest person on earth and it won't increase your bank account by one cent.
You still need to EARN money.
You go ahead and have faith in politicians to do the right thing with our cash but I remain skeptical.
Great to see a CEO clarify this.
Put our hand on the Bible and swear to be Loyal Right Wing Patriots, or lose our Constitutional Rights??? Liddy Dole tattooing 666 on our foreheads if WE don't comply... Only non 666's will be allowed to marry, or hold Administrative/ Supervisory Positions, Wealth and Property... Only certain kinds of Christianity will be the Official Government Recognized Tax Exempt Religion...
The Corporate MSM is no longer our watchdog of our Republic/ Constitution/ democracy... Thankfully, the Inernet is becoming the 4th Estate guarding Freedom... That too, will have to be Regulated under McCain/ Palin....
Millions of Tax dollars to pay firefighters to put out the fires in the WEALTHY MCMANSION fire prone areas, year after year, is acceptable.
Paying FEMA to clean up and rebuild wealthy hurricane prone beach front property to insure their property values, is acceptable.
Funding the clean up of toxic waste dumped by Big Corportations into our water supply and ground, is acceptable. Do I dare suggest REGULATION could save you and me a whole pile of collective TAXES?
Building the finest high quality infrastructure to benifit the new wealthy gated communites, and then raising EVERYONE'S TAXES to pay for it, is acceptable.
Those are just a few examples.
I never hear the rich republican right complaining that the GOVERNMENT COLLECTED TAXES for services or programs that THE wealthy benifits from is SOCIALISM, or that THEY should be on THEIR OWN to sink or swim.
Although we often said we lived in a free country (before 2000) we certainly didn't live in an unregulated country.
"The rule of law" served to regulate society, striving--albeit with varying degrees of success--to provide more freedom to more citizens. Citizens may have chafed at the regulations (laws) we were subjected to but we had the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" and lawmaking grew into a HUGE, expensive industry.
Imagine the freedom-hindering consequences of unregulated, lawless, chaotic society.
Unregulated = Chaotic
Unregulated Markets = The Bush Worldwide Depression
I always knew W was attempting to do to the country what his brother Neal did but on a much larger scale. I NEVER imagined he would finally be successful at anything, let alone so wildly successful that he would bring down the world's economy.
"Social Democracy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy
Capitalistic, market oriented, socially responsible, Social safety net, Democracy.
Look to the Swedes and their "middle Way"
For the GOP:
Anything that helps society is Socialism,
Anything that helps Community is Communist.
Roads, police, education....
The GOP says:
Privatize and Deregulate!
The rich do it every time , if we let them, the suck all the money out the system and crash the whole economy.
Industrialization and capitalism have built in exponential imbalances that, without progressive, redistributive , taxes, makes the rich richer and poor poorer, faster and faster. It happened before the Depression the same way. Taxes on top income got lowered to 25% in 1925 leading to market bubbles and crashes. think of it this way: 10 times the average income has WAY MORE THAN TEN TIMES THE POWER TO MAKE MORE MONEY.
Please read up on the Great Depression with this useful time line:
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/connections_n2/great_depression.html
Deregulation and Low taxes CAUSED the bubbles, then the crash.
We thrived with lot of regulations and a 74-92% top income tax rate from 1934 to 1962.
Government Public Works deficit spending is what ended the Depression.
I would not raise Capitol Gains or corporate tax very much. Nor should we impose large tariffs.
their own money?
Republicans have deserted ordinary people, whom they still claim to represent in the guise of Main Street, and aligned themselves with the richest few whose wealth is supposed to then trickle down to the rest of us. When?
Main Street will one day wake up to see they are voting against their economic interests when voting Republican. A great laboratory for Republican policies was the eight years of the Bush administration. Their policies failed miserably both with regard to foreign policy and domestically. What do they have left except for further attempts to divide us, which they do so well?
What we have in America is a type of fascism. Bush styled fascism. He socialized the system to serve those at the top. He handed it out to the upper tier rich.
http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com