What are your thoughts about an Obama Presidency? Will he lean all the way to the left or will he move to the center and lean just slightly to the left? What really bothers me is his tax plan. I make less than $200,000 but just because someone makes tons of money doesn't mean they should be penalized for it. Same with large corporations. I'm just afraid that if Obama implements his tax plan, corporations will pick up shop and leave the country.

The tax scheme worries me a bit.

We already know that the top earners pay more than 50% of the tax burden, but President-Elect Obama wants to cut taxes on the lower portion thereby increasing the burden on the top portion. The result would be that the top earners would end up paying an even higher percentage of the tax burden.

Simple math, assume President-Elect Obama wants to spread the wealth around to the tune of $500 for everyone who makes less than $250,000 (pretty sure this is a number that was floated around). For simplicity, let's assume that there are 200 million taxpayers (children aren't being counted here). Further lets assume that 5% of them (10 Million) are making more than $250,000 (this includes the small businesses who file as individuals as well as the wealthy). So somehwere, we need to come up with 95 Billion dollars ($500 * 190 Million people). That means we are going to have to tax the 10 Million who make more than $250,000 an additional $9500 per year on average.

Questions:
1) Is $500 more a year going to significantly change anyone's life? Is that going to be enough to send a child to college? Is it going to be enough to buy a car? How about a home?
2) Is $9,500 per year (about $800/month) less to a person who makes $250,000 per year going to be a significant impact? Will this prevent them from being able to send a child to college? Will it prevent the purchase of a new home? Will it prevent the hiring of housekeepers, nannies, gardeners, etc. Will it prompt them to wait an extra year to purchase a new car?

The fact is that even wealthy people live at their means. This is good for the economy because they are putting the money back into the economy which in turn is used to create jobs. If they are living at their means, however, then they will have to cut discretionary spending. Each of these choices for the wealthy will have a much bigger impact on the economy than a less wealthy person suddenly being able to buy a Blu-Ray player. When the wealthy hire nannies, housekeepers, gardners, etc. They provide jobs for those who are less wealthy. For example, if a few wealthy people hire from a housekeeping service, that service can then justify hiring a new housekeeper. For every two taxpayers who no longer have the discretionary $9,500 to spend, there is an $19,000/year job that will go away. If we look at $95 Billion divided by $19,000, that is 5 Million jobs, or if we say that $19,000 isn't much, consider that the same amount is 2.5 Million jobs at $38,000 per year that will disappear from the economy, and remember, this is without any increase in spending, just the same tax amount collected, simply shifted to the top.

Other than that, I am concerned about foreign relations. Look at the threat from Russia just hours after the election was decided.

There is likely going to be some social changes as well. I don't imagine sweeping changes in the first term, but I do expect attacks on traditional values to increase. I expect we'll find that home school and private school will be placed under pressure to meet with standards that they don't currently have to comply with. I expect that medicine will be socialized for more than half of the citizens in the country (which may drive the best and brightest doctors to other fields).

Not that all of this is bad. Socialized medicine, in a limited implementation, can be a great boon for those who are uninsured. Most cities have state funded hospitals and doctors that treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. These free services are either paid by the state or by collecting higher fees from those who can afford the services. Unfortunately, as the state expands its socialization of medicine, there are fewer who can offset the expenses and a system of ever-expanding cost increases takes over (see Medicare). The end result is a total socialization of Medicine with fixed salaries for doctors. The problem with that is that becoming a doctor won't be as appealing if one cannot become wealthy and thus those best and brightest who might choose medicine will instead choose another career where they can be rewarded for their efforts.

Certainly, I hope that President-Elect Obama succeeds in his Presidency. I hope that this nation will flourish and that things will be better for all. I wish him the utmost success in running this nation. I also hope that at the end of his presidency that I am more free than I am now, that innovation and self-determination are still rewarded, that an individual can build a great empire, as so many have, and not have it taxed away or socialized away. And these are the same hopes I would have if Senator McCain had been elected.

-- Jeff

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"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan

Thanks Jeff for sharing all this over here.There are lot of expectations from new President. As for now there is no spark as such. We as common people just have to wait and watch.