Why the Superrich Really Hate Obama
Consider the two narratives on the campaign trail this week. In Colorado, Mr. Romney described those who make more than $250,000 a year with the Republican term of art — “job-creators.” And he warned that the president’s proposal to raise taxes at the top wasn’t bad just for the rich, it would hurt the whole country, too: “At the very time the American people are seeing fewer jobs created than we need, the president announces he’s going to make it harder for jobs to be created. I just don’t think this president understands how our economy works. Liberals have an entirely different view about what makes America the economic powerhouse it is.”
Mr. Obama, meanwhile, insisted that “we love folks getting rich.” But his focus is different: “I do want to make sure that everybody else gets that chance as well.” One way to do that is to tax the rich. As a new television ad for the president argued this week, Mr. Obama’s plan is to “ask the wealthy to pay a little more so the middle class pays less, eliminate oil subsidies and tax breaks for companies that outsource.”
This is more than a fight about taxes. It is a fight about whether 21st-century capitalism is working for the American middle class and who should pay to fix it. The Republicans are telling Ronald Reagan’s story of trickle-down economics — the winners in the capitalist contest are “job-creators” whose prosperity helps everyone else. The wealthier they are, the wealthier all Americans will be.
The Democrats are challenging that win-win story of American capitalism. Their contention is that the U.S. economy is failing the middle class. They argue that those at the top need to contribute “a little more” to help rebuild the American middle. Even more threateningly, they point out, as in their critique of Bain Capital, that some of the business strategies that have enriched the elite have actually hollowed out the middle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/us/13iht-letter13.html?_r=1
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