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Kudlow: Obama's War on Investors, Capitalism

February 27, 2009 RSS Feed Print

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Last October, I wrote the following.

if Barack Obama is elected president next week, 2009 may well bring a concerted and all-out effort by the Obama administration and a Democratically dominated Congress to turn the generally pro-Republican Investor Class into an endangered class by, among other tactics, raising investment taxes and ending the tax preferences for 401(k)'s, IRAs, and other retirement accounts.... if the Democrats control both the White House and Capitol Hill, look for them to move hard in the other direction, from an Ownership Society to a Government Owns It Society that would perhaps nudge America back to the left.

It appears I suffered from a lack of imagination. Here is Larry Kudlow:

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.

Me: Something is building here. The unified GOP against the stimulus bill. The post-election stock market plunge. The unpopular housing bailout. Geithner's bank rescue fumble.The Santelli Soliloquy. The trillion-dollar tax increase during a recession. The nationalization of healthcare, student loans and energy. And now this jaw-rattling uppercut by Kudlow, which may rank up there with Ronald Reagan's "Time for Choosing" speech as a meta-political inflection point. Hey, where are the Obamacans?

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Jeaccusia of AL 9:50PM April 07, 2010

Mr. Pethokoukis,
You and your small band of "free marketeers" are the ones who give the Investor Class a bad name. Just like Medicare pilfering surgeons who'll operate on anything for a buck, there are are a small band of intellectually elite but morally depraved bankers and financiers who got us into this financial crisis (and most financial crises of the past). But unlike modern medicine, there isn't a proper system to discourage, prevent, and punish financial malpractice.
The fact is, just as in medicine, finance is not a world of equally capable free will. It is a complex, risk and uncertainty filled realm. And the fact is, the general public are either uninformed, misinformed, or at worst, simply unable to make the necessary decisions to ensure their financial health. And so, just as physicians must be bound to an ethical ideal that favors the public well being above their own wealth, so must a new ethical standard be raised in the world of finance. And like any set of standards, there must be a framework on which it stands, with legal teeth to ensure that the rogue money-milkers that you support with your writing don't get off easy.
So this is Obama's war -- it's a war against the corrupt few who destroy the well being of the many. Of course you'll fight it by trying to convince people that lassez-faire economics is somehow tied to our political origins in this nation and that it's all about the good of freedom against the evil of communism. But your arguments are old, stale, and now, everyone knows that you're lying. Like Governor Jindal, you think you can use the public's ignorance to stuff your methods down their throats and win a few more years of public exploitation to fill your coffers. But what you didn't anticipate, is that what the public lacks in ability, they make up for in anger. Anger at where your methods have gotten them. Anger at your support for financial malpractice.

Sick of Financial Malpractice of NH 1:42PM March 01, 2009

Every time Obama or one of his "Obamacrats" opens their mouth,
things get worse. I knew it would be bad if the election went this way but I had no idea how bad, how fast. Everyone check the Sat front page spending graph on USA TODAY? Obama is mortgaging OUR future as a NATION on some BS college "experiment" in Obamanism. There must be a backlash from the Democratic voters to their Congressmen and Senators to show their disapproval if the US is to survive as a Free Nation.
Simplest terms: Times are tight in your own household.
What is the responsible thing to do? Spend smarter on the necessities. Cut OUT the unnecessary expenses and PAY DOWN YOUR DEBTS.
What is Obama/Pelosi doing? Is this responsible?
Ask yourself and call your Representatives!

Chris Petty of GA 7:42PM February 28, 2009