Obama Explains 'Spread the Wealth' Comment
By Mark Impomeni
Oct 22nd 2008 11:00PM Filed Under:eBarack Obama, Economy, 2008 President, Taxes
At a press conference in Virginia today, Sen. Barack Obama tried to
explain what
he really meant when he told Joe Wurzelbacher, the now famous "Joe the Plumber," that Obama's tax plan was designed to,
"spread the wealth around."
Obama now says that he was not implying that he wanted to spread the wealth around when he said he wanted to "spread the wealth around." Obama says that he meant to say
"spread the opportunity."
"The simple point I was making was that even assuming he's at a point that he wants to buy a business that he hopes will generate more than $250,000, the point I was making was that ten years ago or five years ago or even a year ago when he was making a lot less than that, he was having a tough time. ... We don't mind people getting enormously wealthy because of their skills and their talents and their drive. But we always want to make sure that the playing field is such where everybody who's got a good idea has a chance to succeed. Everybody's got a chance to get financing. Everybody who works hard is able to raise their family. Everybody has an opportunity if they act responsibly to send their kids to college and retire with dignity and respect. And in that sense, that does involve us spreading around opportunity."
But the explanation is far more confusing than the original statement. When Obama encountered Wurzelbacher, he did mention opportunity for those "behind you" economically. But Wurzelbacher's question was about Obama's plan to raise taxes on families and small businesses that make more than $250,000 per year. It was not a question about opportunity. It was about money. And clearly, Sen. Obama told Wurzelbacher that he was going to take more money from his business, so that others could have more opportunity.
"I just want you to be clear – it's not that I want to punish your success – I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you – that they've got a chance at success too.
"My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody. If you've got a plumbing business, you're gonna be better off if you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Left unanswered is how raising taxes on small business makes the economy any better. Tax increases kill jobs. And, increasing taxes causes businesses and individuals to make decisions that expose them to less tax liability, leading to decreasing revenues to the Treasury.
Since nobody wins when the government imposes heavy tax burdens, it remains a mystery as to just where all the "opportunity" Sen. Obama wants to spread around is going to come from.