Barack Obama's Class Warfare Politics By Mike Volpe

Source: http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2008/08/barack-obamas-class-warfare-politics.html

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Class warfare is a tried and true political tool perfected by one Karl Marx. It's a tool that I believe the entire Democratic party has perfected. Yet, it appears that Barack Obama will use it as the center piece of his political strategy. The problem with class warfare is that while it may or may not be a good political strategy, it isn't rooted in any good policy. That's because pitting one class against another has no policy motivations. It is strictly a tool of politics. Here are the places where we can expect Obama to use class warfare as part of his campaign

1) Mortgages. On this issue Obama perfected it and has been using it since the beginning. Here are some examples.

There is a reason why this has happened. Over the past several years, while predatory lenders were driving low-income families into financial ruin, 10 of the country’s largest mortgage lenders were spending more than $185m lobbying Washington to let them get away with it. So if we really want to make sure this never happens again, we need to end the lobbyist-driven politics that made it possible.

and...

Here, in Nevada, we see how so many people are fighting for their American Dream. Because in so many ways, Felicitas and Francisco have lived the American Dream. Their story is not one of great wealth or privilege. Instead, it embodies the steady pursuit of simple dreams that has built this country from the bottom up

....

Yet a predatory loan has turned this source of stability into an anchor of insecurity. Because a lender went for the easy buck, they are left struggling with ballooning interest rates and monthly mortgage payments. Because Washington has failed working people in this country, they are facing foreclosure, and the American Dream they sought for decades risks slipping away

....

The foreclosure crisis has played out in painfully steady but predictable motion.While lenders were taking advantage of folks like Felicitas and Francisco, they were also spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Washington to stay on the sidelines. For President Bush, the answer was to do nothing until the pain out on Main Street trickled up to Wall Street.

Then, a few months ago, he rolled out a plan that was too little, too late. Instead of offering meaningful relief, he warned against doing too much. His main proposal for an economy that is leaving working people behind is to give more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, even though they don’t need them and didn’t ask for them.

The strategy is clear. Big powerful banks and mortgage brokers took advantage of poor helpless borrowers. This is classic class warfare strategy. You pit the powerful against the weak and put yourself on the side of the weak. Here, he takes it another step further. He even goes as far as putting his opponents, the Republicans, as being on the side of the powerful. Naturally, what follows is a solution that benefits the weak.

To stabilize our housing market and to bring this crisis to an end, I’m a strong supporter of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank’s proposal to create a new FHA Housing Security Program. This will provide meaningful incentives for lenders to buy or refinance existing mortgages, and to convert them into stable 30-year fixed mortgages. This is not a windfall for borrowers – as they have to share any capital gain. It’s not a bailout for lenders or investors who gambled recklessly – as they will take losses. It asks both sides to sacrifice. It offers a responsible and fair way to help Americans who are facing foreclosure to keep their homes at rates they can afford.

The Dodd/Frank is a bill I have talked about a lot. It is a $350 billion BAILOUT for borrowers that can't afford to make their payments on time. It is also one that I believe will eventually destroy our economy. That's because while it's billed as one to help the little guy, what it really does is help out the irresponsible at the expense of the responsible. That's because all of these folks who can't afford their mortgage will get a brand new loan they don't deserve. They'll do it because the bill will be paid by everyone else. That's the irony of the mortgage class warfare played by Obama. While he makes out to be the little guy against the powerful, the real effect is to reward the irresponsible at the expense of the responsibe.

2) Health care.

On health care, Obama takes a similar approach. Here, he also pits the powerful against the weak. In this case, it is the powerful medical industry (insurance companies, drug companies, doctors, etc) against the weak, the uninsured.

There have been over 400 health care mergers in the last 10 years, and just two companies dominate a full third of the national market

....In the interview, for example, he argued that his proposals on health care and the economy, which call for a stronger government role and more regulation, were really about what works.

So, as Barack Obama sees it, powerful companies create mergers and that hurts the little guy. His proposal to fix this is universal health care which will make sure that even the little guy has health care. That's because all the free health care will be paid by those that already have it.

3) Gas prices.

Here he again pits the powerful against the weak. In this case, the powerful is the oil companies and the weak are all the middle class folks that have to pay higher gas prices.

Of course, the irony is that his proposal will not pit the powerful health care industry against the little guy. It will actually pit those with means to get their own health care against those that can't. In one ads, Obama achieves everything any perpetrator of class warfare can ask.



He blames big oil for high gas prices. He puts his opponent on the side of big oil, and he makes sure to punish big oil and reward the little guy. This ad is in fact class warfare 101. Never mind of course, that windfall profits failed already when Carter tried them. Never mind, furthermore, that a windfall profits tax violates the spirit if not the letter of the 14th amendment which says all Americans are to be treated equally. Like I said earlier, class warfare is not a tool of policy, but politics. This ad is class warfare perfected.

4) Taxes

Here is the most obvious example of Barack Obama's class warfare. In fact, taxes are ripe for classic class warfare.

Barack Obama offered a plan to cut income taxes by $80 billion for workers, seniors and homeowners by boosting the take from wealthier Americans.

"It's time for policies from Washington that put a little wind at the backs of the American people," the Democratic presidential hopeful said in a speech to the Tax Policy Center here.

Obama said the current system is skewed toward the benefit of the rich at the expense of the working middle class. The tax code is "too complicated for ordinary folks to understand, but just complicated enough to work for someone who knows how to work the system," he said.

Pledging to restore fundamental fairness to America's tax policies, Obama proposed a raft of reforms but didn't fully spell out how to pay for them.

So, once again, he achieved everything a perpetrator of class warfare could hope for all at once. He pitted the powerful against the weak, the rich against the poor and middle class. He attacked his opponent as being for the powerful by pointing out the current system is skewed to the wealthy. Finally, he proposed a system that would be more "fair".

What is fair. He will give a $1000 tax break to those making $75,000 and less. He will cut all taxes for seniors making $50,000 and less. At the same time, he would increase corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, inheritence taxes, and taxes for the top two income tax brackets. Of course, this tool of class warfare that Obama calls fairness goes by another name, income redistribution.

Income redistribution refers to a political policy intended to even the amount of income individuals are permitted to earn.[ citation needed ]The basic premise of the redistribution of income is that money should be distributed to benefit the poorer members of society, and that the rich should be obliged to assist the poor.[ citation
needed ] Thus, money should be redistributed from the rich to the poor, creating a more financially egalitarian society.[ citation needed ] Proponents of redistribution often claim that the rich exploit the poor or otherwise gain unfair benefits. Therefore, redistributive practices are justified in order to redress the balance.[ citation
needed ]This differs slightly from wealth redistribution or property redistribution, a policy which takes assets from the current owners and gives them to other individuals or groups

Income redistribution is classic Marx. It has never been shown to be anything but a failure as policy, but as a political tool it has all sorts of political benefits. Those two concurrent themes could be applied to much of Barack Obama's class warfare politics.