Why America Screwed Up

I know why you voted for Barack Obama. I'm as tired with the Republicans as anyone. I think George W. Bush has been a complete embarrassment...and we voted him in twice! I also understand that Obama's message is compelling. When all you want is something different, and you have a person on TV delivering a message of change, and he speaks eloquently, you'll vote for him. Here is where we went wrong.

Making rich people poorer does not make poor people richer. Robert Samuelson, of Newsweek, does an excellent job explaining this concept in this article. Obama has repeatedly used the line "we need to spread the wealth". Neither he nor his supporters are comfortable calling this what it really is - Wealth Redistribution. I'll set aside the philosophical conundrums of wealth redistribution - like, punishing the diligent and rewarding the lazy. The real issue is that wealth redistribution has its foundation in a false premise: that to be rich means that you are taking money from someone else.

Starting with this premise presupposes two concepts, both of which are false. The first is that there is a finite pool of income that we, as a nation, can attain - one giant income pie. Therefore, if person A gets $100, that means that person B must forfeit $100. The reality is that rich people don't take a larger portion of the pie - they make their own pie. Bill Gates isn't rich because he found a way to get a larger piece. Bill Gates is rich because he invented a tool to increase global productivity. Steve Jobs is rich because he invented new ways to entertain and new avenues of media. They aren't taking money from anyone, they are creating their own economies. As Samuelson so eloquently puts it, rich people are rich because of what they do. If they stop doing it, the money doesn't reallocate, it evaporates.

The second fallacy is that a wage gap is a bad thing. The people at the top of the income tree are there because they create jobs for others. If someone found a way for you to have a job that paid $30,000, would you be willing for them to earn $3,000 for finding you that job? The $3,000 doesn't come out of your pocket, and you wouldn't be making $30,000 if it weren't for this person, so the rational answer is yes, you would be willing. Multiply this by 40,000 people making $30,000 a year and you'll understand a CEO that can do this is really worth $120,000,000, so a $40 million salary is undervaluing the job that they do.

Electing a person on their rhetoric instead of their record will end in disaster. Everyone fell in love with Obama's ideas. I admit, I appreciate, and even support, several of them. My problem, he hasn't demonstrated an ability to accomplish any of them. Can you name one significant piece of legislation he has authored or even sponsored? Even he can't. We're electing a person on potential, and not on substance. Do you want a brain surgeon who appears to have everything necessary to be successful, or one who has actually performed a few successful surgeries? Well, we've just elected a rookie, so cross your fingers.

You can judge the quality of a man by the company he keeps. Nothing highlighted this truism like G W Bush. From Karl Rove, to Dick Cheney, to the Saudi royal family, George W Bush's associations with self-serving, mediocre, war mongers resulted in an horrific final four years. Obama spent 20 years in the church of a man who spewed hatred against white America. He worked closely with a convicted terrorist during his "neighborhood activism" days in Chicago. His own wife said she used to not be proud of America. We should have learned from the Bush administration - a man always remembers who got him where he is.

I know intelligent people voted for Obama. I'm still disappointed by this, but I understand why they did it, and it doesn't make them stupid, it makes them frustrated. However, I truly believe the more common Barack Obama supporter shares the same mindset as the woman getting all the soundbites on talk radio. The one saying "now I don't have to worry about paying for gas, my mortgage, or health insurance. I took care of Obama and he'll take care of me." So much for the American spirit of self-sufficiency.

I really hope Obama does well. Difficult times require great leadership. I am also pessimistic that Obama has what it takes. I believe in the very near future we will all be referring to a Robert Frost poem when we speak of Obama's administration, specifically "...I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep".