Heath's Random Thoughts

Palin's Socialism

Kelly sent me something this morning that I thought was worth mentioning on here. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin have been pushing the concept that Obama is a socialist lately because of a comment he made while talking to a plumber in Ohio, where he said he wants to increase taxes on businesses that make more than 250,000 a year and spread the wealth to those in the lower income bracket. Now I am not here to make an argument on whether what Obama is suggesting is "socialism," but I do think it is worth pointing out something Gov. Palin said during an interview with the New Yorker just before she was selected to the Vice President candidacy. The article said the following:

The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.

This, to me, doesn't seem much different than what Obama is proposing. Taking money from high earning corporations and redistributing it to the masses. So it surprises me that she is working so hard to vilify him for what amounts to the same set-up that she has in Alaska. Food for thought.

Labels: elections, politics

posted by Heath @ 9:47 AM