Do You Prefer Your Trickle Down at the Top or the Middle? Ob

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Posted by Hilton T. Young at 9/23/2008 1:32 AM and is filed under Politics As a lower class citizen, I emailed Barack Obama asking what kind of help would I be given directly through his economic plan. I explained that I only make around $16-19,000 a year and am puzzled that a man who gets so much support from lower class blacks, always touts plans to give a tax cut to middle class Americans. His tax cuts seem to only go to the so called middle class (those making $75,000), yet middle class is upper class to most people in my area, which has a large black population. So for me, if McCain plans a tax rebate similar to the one I got earlier this year, and Obama plans to give me nothing, then McCain's plan is the best for me. Obama seems to have forgotten I exist because I don't make enough money and don't have my own family.

Impact of the Obama Tax Plan - From http://origin.barackobama.com/taxes/

WHO   TAX CUT Married Couple Making $75,000 with two children, one of whom is in college $3,700
[includes $1,000 Making Work Pay; $500 universal mortgage credit; and $4,000 college credit net of current college credits]   Single Parent making $40,000 with two young children and childcare expenses. $2,100
[includes $500 making work pay; $500 universal mortgage credit, and $1,100 from Obama expansion of the child care tax credit] Married Couple making $90,000 $1,000 70-Year Old Widow Making $35,000 $1,900
Source: Calculations based on IRS Statistics of Income. Tax savings is conservative; does not account for up to $500 in savings from expanded Savers Credit and the $2,500 in savings per family from the Obama healthcare plan

I expected Mr. Obama, or his representatives, to respond with some specifics for how his plans would help the lower class, but I was shocked to be given an email which seemed to just point to the website, and Obama's plans to cut taxes for the middle class.
Email from Obama
Dear Friend, Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about our economy. We are in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in generations. Everywhere you look, the economic news is troubling. But for so many Americans, it isn't really news at all. Our economy is failing too many hard-working families - the 600,000 Americans who have lost their jobs since January, many more who have seen the value of their homes decline, and others who are wondering if they are next all know this. Fighting for working families is the fight of my life. I have a plan to bring real change to our economy, and I hope you'll click here to view it: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/economyplan The situation facing many parts of the country for some time now isn�€™t so different from the one that brought me to Chicago in 1985. The old steel factories had shut down and the neighborhoods were dying. The schools weren�€™t preparing the children for the few new jobs that were being created. So I came to Chicago to be a community organizer. I learned about the neighborhood by listening to anybody who would talk to me �€“ laid-off workers and teachers, priests and pastors, small business owners and retirees. And then I fought alongside them. I organized with them to create the changes the community wanted and needed. As we work to stabilize our financial system, America needs a president right now who sees eye to eye with workers. You can�€™t look out for workers and fix our broken trade laws if you�€™re taking money from Washington lobbyists and special interests, and you�€™ve promoted trade deals that hurt American workers. And you can�€™t take on the establishment in Washington if seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists are running your campaign. I have developed a detailed legislative agenda to refocus government on the needs of the middle class, and I hope you�€™ll take a look at it by clicking here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/Obama_Keeping_Americas_Promise.pdf Or for an overview, please click here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/ These plans build on laws I�€™ve passed in over a decade as a legislator. Together, they provide a path to financial security for every American family by stimulating the economy, restoring fairness to the tax code, protecting home ownership, strengthening workers�€™ rights, and renegotiating trade deals like NAFTA to make them work for American workers. America�€™s economy is changing rapidly. We can no longer provide every member of our workforce the security of lifelong employment, but we can ensure that every American has lifelong employability. I hope you will join me in that fight. Sincerely, Barack Obama
He seemed to both empathize with me by going back to his days helping the poor in Chicago, and insult my intelligence by referring my question about his support for the poor to his plan for the not so poor (middle class). I was extremely disappointed in the afro-messiah.

Allowing a few hours to clear my mind, I returned and read the email and his plans and realized that although Obama talks change, his economic policies are based on the same ones that Republicans have followed since Reagan. Republicans believe that by helping the people with money (in a capitalist society in which power is based on how much money you have), the rich will have more money, thus more profits, and be able to stimulate the economy more, since they influence the economy the greatest. Thus, as Ronald Reagan stated, saving the rich money will help their economy, and thus trickle down until the poorest of poor has a better economy. For example, save Wal-Mart a few billion, they have more money, they hire and then ruin the lives of more poor people.

Obama's policies are based on helping the middle class out, which would then promote them prospering, thus helping the economy, and trickling down to helping the poor, or me.  So basically, the decision comes down to who you believe is right. Do you believe in helping the not so poor, to help the masses, or helping the rich to help the masses. Economically, they should both be solid plans since you're just chosing tax cuts meaning a lot of money for a few people or a little money for a lot of people.

It all falls on who's beliefs you share. In my case, I'm torn between believing in Obama, who has some excellent, albeit rather impossible plans, to McCain, who supports my belief in the elite. Personally, I'm a libertarian. I believe the government should stay out of my pocket as much as possible, and regulate my life with laws as little as possible. I also believe that I'd rather work hard, educate and improve myself, and earn a position among the rich, rather than settle on being poor (as I am now), and take government handouts of other people's money. Rather than hope Obama can help me out, I'd rather hope to one day be rich enough to not need his help. At that point, I'd rather have the government giving me tax cuts than assuming that I want to give poor people my money.

So basically, this could be perfect timing for my existence. Democrats can't run campaigns unless the Republicans do such a bad job that people vote Democrat to spite them. So in my case, as a poor person, I'd like to have Obama around for a few years to give me government handouts, and pass social policies that advance me to the upper class, at which point, I'd like the Republicans to take over again and start giving me tax cuts. Barack says that under Bush its every man for himself, and I'm fine with that.  If he's gonna give me other people's money in the short term, I'll take it. I just don't want to give it back when I prosper, because like he said, it's every man for himself. If you're lazy and settle for less, they you deserve less. If you work hard, you deserve to benefit. I guess this is similar to how as a supervisor, I hated lazy people, but I let hard workers get away with things. I couldn't rely on the lazy(poor) for help, but I had to keep the hard workers (the rich) happy.