As I have said previously I am not an economist. This is a blessing I am incredibly thankful for. So for people smarter than me reading this, cut my ignorance a little slack. My concern today is the Barack Obama economic plan, at least as I understand it.

First we have the “tax cut” in which Obama plans to take money from people in the top tax bracket and re-distribute it to the 95% below them. A fair portion of this tax cut will go to the large portion of wage earners who don’t pay taxes. This is one those circumstances in which my ignorance hangs me up. I simply cannot understand how you can give a tax cut to someone who does not pay taxes. In short, the plan is to increase the top income tax rate and increase capital gains taxes. But then he’s such a cool guy, who am I to question this?

Then we have increased spending. Oops I’m sorry, I forgot that we call it “investing in America” now. It’s so hard to keep up with all of these euphemisms. I guess if he’s elected I’ll have to see if there’s a book or something. From what I’ve heard, Obama intends to “invest” in socialized health care, clean energy, global warming, housing, foreign aid, among others. Not sure where he’s going to get the money, with a personality like his you don’t have to answer such pedestrian questions.

He’s going to tax gasoline. He hasn’t specifically said it yet but I believe in my heart that he will. We have already had members of Congress push to double the national fuel tax, and this is in an election year, before the election. What will be the increase when they control Congress and the Presidency? Also, when gas prices were above $4 a gallon Obama himself said that the prices weren’t too high, they just went up too fast for people to adjust. Remember, Democrats want high gas prices so we will stop driving our SUV’s and bike to the collective farm. He will give fuel prices an additional hit with increased taxes on the industry. With his Oneness though, how could I dare ask about this? This may be a case of ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’.

So, while I’m embarrassed to even question the Obamessiah, I have to wonder in this depressed economy when investors are skittish and in short supply, why are we going to:

-Take money away from the people who invest in our economy and give it to people who do not

-Punish those who do dare invest by taxing the money they have left over from their income tax that they then use to invest by making them pay increased capital gain taxes

-Take money out of the economy to spend it on foreign economies (he has proposed bail out help for foreign governments)

-Redistribute the wealth to items such as free and inefficient government-run health care, housing for people who make bad decisions, and ambiguous and likely wasteful programs such as global warming and clean energy

-Giving the economy a disastrous hit with increased fuel prices. This is an economy wide drain that does not get it’s proper respect. Increased fuel prices not only take money out of the pockets of consumers at the pump but every time we go to the store, pay our school taxes, health care costs, any services, deliveries, etc. There are very few, if any, aspects of our lives that are untouched by increased fuel costs. It is a problem that is compounded too because every step of the way through the economy are business that are not only paying higher fuel costs that they have to pass on to the consumer but also are paying higher costs from other business and services that are paying higher fuel costs which also have to be passed on to the consumer and so on and so on.

So if there is anyone out there smarter than me that can explain this, give it to me. I’m just a dumb working stiff.

I am not an economist, I am the first to admit that I do not fully understand the current economic crisis in the US. What scares me more though is that I feel like people that are supposed to understand it don’t seem to either.

What has stood out for me though is just how much in debt this country is. I’m not just talking about the official US government but also the citizens and business owners.

The debt of ordinary citizens has been well documented. Credit card debt is out of control. Way too many people have taken out mortgages they can’t afford. Consumer debt is hurting our economy.

The thing that amazed me the most though is how much debt businesses routinely operate in. I’ve heard numerous stories in which businesses do not have cash to pay their employees, etc. They borrow money to meet these debts. So in other words, they borrow money overnight to meet payroll the next day or to pay for the load of steel.

Now, as I said, I am not an economist or business owner, so I am a little ignorant. Maybe this is how businesses routinely work and maybe it’s how they should.

The question is, am I the only one that this terrifies. If we did have a scenario in which credit froze and the flow of funds stopped, it would not be unthinkable that our entire economy could collapse.

Let’s use General Motors as an example, to be fair I don’t know that they use this practice, they’re just an easy company to use as an example. Because of the fiscal crisis, lenders freeze funds and GM can’t get their loan. They can’t pay their employees. This is a major hit to the economy, but we’re not done yet. They can’t pay Delphi, a parts supplier for them. Delphi can’t pay their employees and they can’t pay their suppliers, companies that supply them with components, steel, etc. These companies can’t pay their employees and suppliers and so on.

In a very few days the ripple is felt by retailers, the restaurant industry, the service industry because of the payrolls not being met at the manufacturers. These companies in turn cannot pay their employees and suppliers.

I realize that this is a far fetched scenario but with some of the events lately, I think it’s a conversation we need to be having. No matter how remote the chance, if the above were to happen, it would quickly damage our economy far beyond anything we have seen so far and it would do fairly long standing damage.