First, Let’s Kill All The Businessmen

The title of this essay would be a more accurate slogan for the Obama re-election campaign than “Forward,” the one selected.  Of course, this proposal is not to be taken literally.

Despite the carnage wreaked on business and industry by Obama surrogates, the intent is not to kill them off (with the possible exception of those who donate to the Romney campaign). They have been targeted because, as Willy Sutton once explained, “That’s where the money is.”  The more successful (read profitable) the more likely it is that the taxman cometh outfitted with a new pair of hobnail boots.

The administration wants to levy an “excess profits” tax (whatever that means) on oil companies. A 5/11/12 WSJ article entitled  “ObamaCare’s Killer Device Tax” is another example.

“Medical device manufacturing is one of the nation’s most dynamic and vibrant industries. The United States is the global leader in medical technology innovation, and it is one of the few major industries with a net trade surplus.”

In addition, the industry is a huge job producer making a great variety of devices used in patient care. The Obama administration has slapped an additional 2.3% excise tax on medical devices scheduled to take effect in the beginning of 2013. And it is assessed on sales, not profits. That means companies will be taxed on all the development, infrastructure and other production costs that are part of sale prices.

The president needs every dollar he can wrest from the productive sector to finance ObamaCare, other redistributionist programs and the hordes of bureaucrats needed to administer them.  The US already has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world.

His war on business is why unemployment remains mired around 9%. It’s why, as long as the long blades hover overhead, businesses are loath to invest or expand. Some say this administration doesn’t understand that its policies are prolonging the recession. Others say that income equality, not jobs, is Obama’s goal.

Another four years and his goal will be achieved.  Everyone will be equally impoverished.