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This Is Why America Is Not Creating New Jobs

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  October 4th, 2011 at 07:50 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

George Stephanoupolos asked Barack Obama about banks and their new fees. Of course, Obama could not accept any responsibility for that at all. And along the way he said something pretty damn amazing.

This:

“You don’t have some inherent right just to– you know, get a certain amount of profit.

Actually, in the free market, on the supply and demand curve, you do have an inherent right to get a certain amount of profit — that certain amount of profit that you derive from your business practices that draw in the maximum amount of profit possible before customers decide you are charging too much or they are not getting value enough to justify their continued business with you.

Barack Obama has spent three years as President punishing those who take risks and taking from those whose risk leads to reward.

In this one quote we see everything wrong with Barack Obama’s world view and how it has broken the American job creation engine.

By the way, pretty much every major critic of the Dodd-Frank legislation predicted the banks would do just what they are doing with this debit card charge. Banks aren’t making money off of lending or anything else. They’ll find a way to make money. And yet again consumers get hurt.

Obama’s solution? It is not to scale back the law so banks have incentive to scale back the service charge. Instead he wants more government.

He’s not just a political loser, he seems more and more an economic dolt.

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COMMENTS

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  • conservativecurmudgeon

    Of Capitalist-Sponsored Academic Marxism. He is no dolt. He is a thoroughly indoctrinated Useful Idiot.

    In his realm, “profits” are Bad, pure and simple. The Marxist lexicon and dogma pour out of his mouth because his mouth is ideologically incapable of forming other words, and his brain is incapable of forming other thoughts.

    He is completely Alien to the American Ideal: America has no “classes”: The rich can become poor, and the poor can become rich. Warren Buffet, if he ever has any income, would pay the same rate on the same amount as his stupid secretary, and his secretary, if she ever has any capital gains (say, on the sale of some stock in Bershire-Hathaway) would pay the same amount of Capital Gains Tax as Mr. Buffet.

    But, in the ersatz and strange world of twisted, sick, evil Marxism, Mr. Buffet is the reason to storm the Bastille, and the reason for all of this antipathy and rage is because of “profit”. This is what you get when you have a President that was marinated in the fever-swamps of the Capitalist-Sponsored Ivy-League Marxism. He cannot be educated, he cannot be trusted. The only thing he can be is defeated. Thoroughly.

  • throwback59

    and wasn’t going to allow people to keep money that they don’t need now says you don’t have an “inherit right…of profit.”
    People wonder why we label him a Marxist & Socialist. We are just going by what he himself says.

  • crapgame13

    In his realm, ?profits? are Bad, pure and simple.

    Well, yes and no.

    Profits aren’t bad, they just go to the wrong people. They go to the people who own rather than the people who work, and in his view, the people who own have the money .

    Never mind the risk involved with hiring

  • dajeeps

    The huge problem with the financial system is that government involvement in the financial sector goes well beyond the nature of just regulatory oversight. The institutions themselves have very little control over what they do or how much money they can make, and that’s the way it’s been since 1933. That arrangement might have been palatable as long as the relationship was managed prudently, but it has not been for some amount of years, leading us exactly to the current economic debacle. Dodd-Frank is just the latest manifestation of ill-advised government management of the financial system.

    Congress can go back and tell the banks they cannot charge for debt access. And why not? We have the Federal Reserve recapitalizing them, paying them to hold onto excess reserves, all the while holding down interest rates to lower the spreads of overnight lending. They are being coddled by the money monopoly at our expense with negligible upside, while we get abused in other ways.

    Of course, that is not my vision of the ideal world. In my ideal world, banks would have to attract depositors and prudently manage their own assets, without having the backstops manufactured by the monetary authority. They would be allowed to rise and fall according to merit, set their own prices, and make profit based on the market. The profit would be theirs as well as the risk.

    But that world doesn’t exist.

  • conservativecurmudgeon

    The profits Obama and his chosen band of fellow travelers enjoy really aren’t profits: They are “indulgences”…

  • Wayne

    isn’t creating jobs and I wouldn’t necessarily hang it all on BO. Both parties are going to have to take their fair share of responsibility for that. Certainly anyone attempting to actually stay informed knows there is an ideologic divide between those of the Van Jones Ilk and that of the Tea Party.

    Another key factor may be that as this recession wares on, former “job creators” are remembering what it was like not to have employees and to actually be productive. Large corporations are not going to make a dent in the employment numbers and the small business enterprise thinks twice before considering hiring. We’d love to be making more money but do not look forward to employing people again. The only reason to hire employees is the hope that one will be able to make a profit and unfortunately, the American work force today leaves much to be desired for any would be employee.

    I wrote a short response to related post here: http://www.redstate.com/scipio62/2011/10/02/democrat-lies-on-what-ails-small-business/#comment-833

    I apologize in advance if that link doesn’t work. The diary was entitled “Democrat Lies on what Ails Small Business” by Scipio62. If anyone is interested.

    It’s early and I’ve got to head to the office. Yesterday, I mopped the floor and cleaned the bathroom before I started working, today I’ll take out the trash. To think I’m depriving someone the pleasure of doing that work. Oh, the horror, the horror…

    Regards to all,

  • Wayne

    No ability to edit posts has its downside.

  • Common_Cents

    But rather pursuing his “transformation” of America intentionally?

    The guy is not stupid.

    He thoroughly understands the free market and capitalism. He just doesn’t want it.

    A stupid person could be capable of learning new information and changing their mind. A brainwashed person like zero can not.

  • benko

    Obama made the spread the wealth around quote to Joe and Plummer and still got elected last time. Since there is still a danger of him being re-elected has anyone ever thought of of taking all these quotes of his and reminding the public of them some time close to the next election? e.g. large ads in papers?

    Not sure if this is a stupid question.

  • jaykali

    They’re either supportive of it or numb to that line of thinking which is why we are all screwed.

  • http://www.trommetter.com/log/ Jason

    Back in 2008 after Obama got the nomination I tried to warn my friends about Obama. I knew he was a Socialist/Marxist after his run in with Joe the Plumber, but nobody believed me. Now he’s showing his true colors. I normally hate to say, “I told you so,” but in this case I’ll say it loudly. “TOLD YOU SO!”

  • Bill S

    That thought struck me after reading this this morning…may have to have a go at that.

  • acat

    Similar to this one* would be … if the site hosting it didn’t get taken down and/or hacked… pretty cool.

    Mew

    * I know where my stapler is, do you?

  • acat

    like this one but .. that doesn’t have several of the (cough) “money quotes”.

    Mew

  • benko

    Full page ad in many major paper near next exection:

    ECONOMY TERRIBLE BECAUSE OBAMA DOESN”T BELIEVE IN CAPITALISM and then some choice quotes/list of his actions?

  • keysconservative

    Embracing political and economic models that are proven failures IS stupid. How many millions of people suffered under Marxism in the 20th century? To embrace it now is the epitome of stupid. Or crazy. Take your pick.

  • berkeleygirl

    Totally agree with Common_Cents.

    Obama is doing exactly what he said he would do five days before the 2008 election, i.e., “we’re five days away from TRANSFORMING America.”

    Obama is plainly and simply a Marxist. His mother and father were Communists as was his grandmother. His mentor in Hawaii was a Communist. He sat in the racist,anti-American church of Jeremiah Wright for 20 years. He “hung out” with the terrorist Bill Ayers.

    He will continue his onslaught against our capitalist system until every American is subservient to the all-powerful government. God willing, he won’t be successful.

  • jeffperren

    “In this one quote we see everything wrong with Barack Obama?s world view and how it has broken the American job creation engine.”

    True. Egalitarian hatred for anyone who has more than someone else is a core feature of Progressivism. But they offer a tiny loophole. If you dedicate your life, and your profits, to helping those “in need” you will be allowed into the inner circle where government will help you generate some ill-gained ‘profits’.

    The Progressive philosophy is evil at its root; it isn’t just an economic disaster, it is a moral abomination.

  • runner12

    Anyone who does not believe that Obama is a neo-socialist by now is either lying or competely ignorant. Everything he says and does screams ” I AM A SOCIALIST.”

  • Wayne

    know anything about Marxism? You are too optimistic and are giving them more credit (in my experience) than they deserve.

    Even if they did know what Marxism was, they’d think it was a good thing…

  • mitch77

    Could someone please make a comprehensive list of all the blatantly marxist comments from BO!?! PLEASE.
    I am so tired of conservative writers and commentators passing him off as some inept boob.
    All 3 parents who abandoned him, the 2 grand parents who took him in, the mentors and heroes he names in his books…ALL MARXISTS
    And there are many more I haven’t touched on.
    He is not (IMHO) precisely a “useful idiot” as this implies the compliance of one who does not really comprehend the end game of the left. BO does and is following the Cloward/Piven/Alinsky guidance to get the US there.

  • gunsrus

    in support of Hank William jrs right to free speech.

  • The_Gadfly

    where he goes wrong is in having no concept of the framework within which they hyper-technical point is correct. You don’t have a right to certain amount of profit, you have a right to level of profit the impartial hand of the market allows. But you do have that right, and he is wholly ignorant of this.

    On some level, I don’t even have a problem with the government limiting the hidden costs of the using debit and credit cards, thus forcing banks to make them explicit so consumers can rationally decide the best way to handle their transactions. Where I do have a problem is with government thinking it can dictate the amount of profit someone or something can make when providing a service. And what is clear from their legislation and their reaction to the consequences of their legislation, is that controlling what someone makes is precisely the point of their legislation.

    One last semi-related point: If this were a sane congress, little Dicky Durbin would have been summarily removed from his position as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee yesterday. No federal official, no matter how much he has been baited by a corporation, should be allowed to call for a run on a bank when that run could very well destabilize not only the bank, but our still fragile and recovering financial system.

  • evas

    that was well said.

  • daniel22

    then he is not responsible. It is not his fault that the economy tanked. It is not his fault that immigration policy is not followed. It is not his fault that Obamacare is a fiasco. It is not his fault the US debt is as high as it is. It is not his fault that he only knows how to spend money. It is not his fault that you want to keep his tax money. It is not his fault that the DOJ is not doing its job. It is not his fault that crony capitalism does not work. It is not his fault that we are going into a double dip recession.
    I guess that like in the past when it comes to money troubles that socialists know it is not their fault. There is always someone to blame and point fingers at. As long as the smoke and mirrors of blameshifting works on the masses keep it up.

  • johnt

    I love the vague phrase “a certain amount of profit”. Kind of leaves the door open, doesn’t it.

  • richp89

    but not in the way he means it. Just because the invisible hand sets the equilibrium price and quantity no one has a right to a certain profit. A person could run up their costs to the extent that they exceed their revenues. Additionally the government could set a price floor that would prevent revenues from exceeding costs.

    Just as an individual has no right to health care an individual has no right to a certain profit. They have a right to pursue a certain profit or whatever other things that contributes to their happiness or security. There is nothing saying you have a right to x profit or x% profit margin, but you certainly have a right to pursue those amounts. But you must jump through all of the government hoops to get the right licenses and such.

    The real issue here and where O is really going is how involved should government be in the process? The Constitution clearly outlines this but these slick legal types do what they do best and twist these limits around to mean what they want it to mean ie. birth right citizenship, commerce clause, general welfare clause, neccesary and proper and supermacy clause.

  • ice2

    This man and his admin. are out to do what all foreign powers have been unable to do. Destroy this nation and bring the people into total control, for a complete world governess. Naturally BO and his group want to be at the top. His EGO has no bounds.
    Just watch what he does. Everything is to destroy not build. This on all fronts. Stand back and look. He is magnificent at smoke and mirrors.
    Besides he’s just EVIL.

  • ontime

    this administration is swinging a double edged sword as it cuts a swath thru the heart of America and felling it’s ability to recover. On the foward swing it is claiming that it is doing only what is right to keep all America on a level field and then on the backswing it is cutting the very legs of democracy and freedom from beneath the nations body. it slices thru the economy, torments the financial sector, mocks the traditions and the very foundations of this Constitution and blatantl lies as it prepares to take even more swings to wound and deny as it promises to falsely help.

    This administration is based on falsehood, marxism and intentional harm, it is past time to replace it before this cancer goes any further and remove the damage the double edged sword has done.

  • Common_Cents

    Because you know the reason is to control/limit profit levels for private enterprise.

    This is like giving Jeffrey Dahmer credit because he helped his victims cross the street.

  • richp89

    Even a blind squirrel can can find a nut. I even stated that his intent is for government control. I am just saying that in actuality it is not a right. Just like it is not a right to have health care. While prices are set by other forces it is up to the individual to do what is right with their business to make a profit. Even in the sense of subsidies a company does not have a right to a profit. Just look at Solyndra. They got all of that money and still failed. Of course I am sure much of it found it’s way back to corrupt politicians.

  • mspector

    Asked about BofA raising its debit card fees, Newt said simply: “customers should go to another bank.” No big campaign for new federal laws and regulations, let the market decide.

  • wisconsinnorm

    Do you need yet another example of how government runs things. They had their way for a long, long time. So did private enterprise. Side by side until government lost. Let the USPS go please! Private enterprise ultimately created the better job and apparently product.

  • ihateliberals

    the number of people just like the ones protesting Wall Street believe in this philosophy and will vote him in again. The people that suffer the most from the Democratic polices are the very same that keep voting them into office to continue generating the same problems over and over.

    The banks are way too big but the regulation of them doesn’t help the consumers. They need to be broken down like “Ma Bell” was. Deregulate and sponsor competition. It is amazing what competition can do for consumers and actually the companies themselves.

  • sktpk

    **Gag** Obama is right – you don’t have a right to a “certain” amount of profits in a free market system, or even to the certainty of a profit at all.
    In the case of government regulated monopolies, such as utilities, you are guaranteed a certain amount of profit – no more, no less. In a free market, you have the right to make as much profit as you can – no “certain” amount – and if you can’t, you have the right to go bust.
    (Again, unless the gov’t steps in, as with GM or too-big-to-fail banks.)

  • chbroussard

    …way back when O was a candidate. Now that most of them see the light, I’m not quite as classy as you. I ask them, “And just what bodily orifice was your head in when I tried to tell you what this man was?”

    All people had to do was spend less than 30 minutes doing just a little bit of research on this fraud to see the ilk of the people he surrounded himself with and his family background.

    If I had voted for O, I would be kicking myself every day knowing that I had helped elect someone who wanted to bring this county to its knees.

  • The_Gadfly

    contingent that wants a run on a bank that will destabilize our still shaky financial markets.

    No, there is actual blame here and it belongs on the Democrats and RINOs who think they are smarter/fairer than the invisible hand is. Or maybe you didn’t notice Citibank has started the PR machine to prep their customers for the inevitable results of a bad piece of legislation. They are only the first, the rest, even my precious federal credit union will have to follow suit.

  • funwithknives

    it physically hurts me to read same. But Truth is what we seek and once found,cannot be denied.
    Between Public Education’s failures to teach critical thought, to Politics being considered ‘too dirty’ to touch, to most working their rears off just to keep slightly ahead,one way or another we have seen created a generation of *reactors, not *engagers.
    A 1990′s constitutionalist I know named Carl Miller taught me and many others that part of a Constitutional Republic was the contract’s beneficiaries staying in touch and knowing what was occuring around them. Call it :Your Responsibllity,to You. Too many emulate Congress’ actions of delegating authority/responsibility and think just going to the polls is enough.
    Well, WE all see the fallacy of That, don’t We?? But we are not a majority, & more’s the pity. It got away from us slowly, bit by bit. The Dialectic works, time after time and history proves this True. Which is where I came in.
    This struggle is Never Over, and neither is our responsibility, to Move The Promise along. Some reading this {if any are} will never witness the turning of attitude,so needed currently. Now is the time , and this is the fight we have.
    Thanks to R S, for the box to shout from. It IS appreciated.