The man lives in a world of mirrors.
"...the combination of globalization and technology and automation all weaken the position of workers," Barack Obama tells WSJ in an interview.
But, Obama wants to take corporate tax money and have the government invest it in technology:
You might undoubtedly get to a point where the capital gain and dividend taxes are so high that they distort investment decisions and you're weaker economically. But you know if you've got a sensible policy that says, we're going to capture some of the nation's economic growth … and reinvest it in things we know have to be done, like science and technology research or fixing our energy policy, and then that is actually going to be a spur to productivity and not an inhibitor.
Then he just disses free markets and comes out in favor of controlling the investment stream himself by adopting, get this, the "CIA model":
I have identified one gap that I think has to be filled, and that is the step between discovery and commercialization. You have this point in time where things haven't quite taken off yet and still entail huge risks. A lot of ventures may not want to get involved in that middle stage. They like the early stage, but if it doesn't take off right away, then oftentimes, innovation stalls. The model I'm looking at the model the CIA put into place in Quintella. But it basically partnered with the private sector to help subsidize investment in socially productive activities, but with an aim towards commercialization as well.
Obama's desire to subsidize private sector operations in "socially productive activities" is simply and indication that Obama does not understand how free markets work, but, further, his willingness to seek out new technologies seems to fly in the face of his statement that "technology weakens the position of workers." If this is so, why does Obama want to subsidize technological innovation? Me thinks, Obama go round'n circles.
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