I read today that President-elect Obama is considering delaying his tax increase on the wealthiest Americans. [1]
At this time I am not in an income bracket where I would be affected by Mr. Obama’s tax on the rich: I’m in the “95%” who would allegedly benefit.
But why would I, or any other honest person with an understanding and appreciation for earned wealth, want to live in a country where the best economic producers are penalized for, well, simply being the best?
If you were a star college wide receiver with lightening speed would you want to play in the NFL if they penalized the fastest 5% of wide receivers by making them play with ankle weights every Sunday?
Of course not.
When it comes to sports, Americans intuitively recognize that people have different skills sets and have, either through natural talent and/or practice, achieved different degrees of mastery in those skill sets.
We accept as standard fare that athletes’ should be rewarded on the basis of how well they use their talents playing the sport of their choice: the top-performers are acknowledged as such and no one would ever dream of penalizing the best because they are they best.
So why do we have so much trouble accepting these facts when they bear on economic production?
Just because we are all born equal under the law does not mean we are all the same and frankly, that is a good thing: without a multiplicity of skill sets at various levels of excellence our division of labor-based economy would crumble.
So good job Mr. President-elect.
Faced with an economic crisis, your actions prove you realize there is in fact a valid reason the top-earners in our economy are making all that money: they produce.
And the quickest way to ensure a long and severe recession is to increase taxes on the best producers just when the economy needs them the most.
On top of that President-elect Obama is now talking about budget reform and showing fiscal restraint. [2]
Of course first he wants to spend hundreds of billions of dollars of money we don’t have to “jumpstart” the economy.
Maybe he’s a conservative after all.
