Obama's Shameful "Windfall" Tax On Oil Companies

Here is the Obama campaign's explanation of Obama's proposed windfall tax.

Barack Obama will require oil companies to take a reasonable share of their record-breaking windfall profits and use it to provide direct relief worth $500 for an individual and $1,000 for a married couple. The relief would be delivered as quickly as possible to help families cope with the rising price of gasoline, food and other necessities. The rebates would be fully paid for with five years of a windfall profits tax on record oil company profits. This relief would be a down payment on Obama’s long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief. The Obama energy rebates will: offset the entire increase in gas prices for a working family over the next four months; or pay for the entire increase in winter heating bills for a typical family in a cold-weather state. In addition, Obama has proposed setting aside a portion of a second round of fiscal stimulus to ensure sufficient funding for home heating and weatherization assistance as we move into the fall and winter months.

Hugo Chavez would be proud. Obama is using populist rhetoric to villanize oil companies in order to justify seizing their profits and using those profits to purchase votes. As Mark Perry points out on his blog, Oil Companies already pay more taxes than all the lower 50% of income earners combined and Exxon alone has paid over $20 billion in taxes in the first half of 2008. Where does it end?

Jesse Jackson Paved The Way For Osama bin Laden?

Okay, this is a little off topic for this blog, however, I think this is interesting and it is getting surprisingly little publicity. Drudge hasn't even picked it up.  In this clip, Dan Rather refers to Barack Obama as Osama bin Laden and ends up saying that Jesse Jackson paved the way for Osama bin Laden. Funny stuff. But the irony is that had a Republican or a Conservative made this gaffe it would be all over the news with the worst intentions gratuitously inferred. As it is, there is not a peep in the media. Watch how the hosts of the show don't even flinch as Rather says "Osama bin Laden" instead of "Barack Obama." Are they covering up or did they just not notice?

What Has Obama Ever Accomplished Anyway?

Arthur Laffer on Clinton's Economic Policies

Arthur Laffer, the economist who contributed greatly to Ronald Reagen's supply-side economic polices and views, did an interview with Time-Blog recently and had this to say about Bill Clinton's economic policies.

He lost the House, he lost the Senate, he lost the governorships, he lost the state legislatures. And then he became more Reagan than Reagan: He got Nafta through Congress, against the unions, against his own party. He reappointed Reagan's Fed chairman twice. He signed welfare reform, that you actually have to look for a job to get welfare. He cut government spending as a share of GDP by 3.5 percentage points. No president ever has come anywhere near him on that. He had the biggest capital gains tax cut in our nation's history in '97. He got rid of the retirement test on Social Security. This guy was a great president and I voted for him twice.

Although I would decline to say that Clinton was a great president, I think his economic record was highly underrated. It is interesting to see none other than Arthur Laffer giving Clinton so much praise.  It is difficult to know how much of Clinton's financial policy success was due to a Republican congress that was elected specifically to enact smaller budgets, lower taxes, and less welfare.  It leaves some hope that if Hillary gets elected we will see more of Clinton's "more Reagan than Reagen" economic policies.  Here is what Laffer had to say about Hillary's chief rival, Barack Obama,

I love Obama and I think he's a hell of a neat guy and a smart guy. But he'll destroy the economy if he puts in what he says.

Check out the rest of the interview here.