A Taxing U-Turn

Posted by LK on 11/19/08 • Categorized as Featured, Politics, The Economy and Markets

If President-elect Obama wants to pick up the reins that W dropped, he’d announce that he plans to temporarily postpone the tax hikes he promised for the top 5% of American earners. Let the left of left wing bloggers howl all they want. He’ll be lauded for acknowledging that these extraordinarily dire economic times call for nimble and flexible thinking.

If he’s attuned to dramatic timing he’ll make his announcement by this coming Monday or Tuesday, in time for the markets to rally sharply preceding both the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday, the day of retail reckoning.

And if he’s attuned to impactful timing he’ll make his announcement before Georgia’s December 2nd Senate run-off election in South Carolina between Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D), in an attempt to help paint the seat blue. I just checked Rasmussen and Pollster.com; Martin’s currently down 3-5 percentage points. Obama’s move to the middle might narrow a margin that’s now close to, if not within, the margin of error.

Then, if Al Franken, who can’t help but make a better Senator than radio host (if only because he was, without doubt, an, ahem, less than sterling on-air personality) wins the Minnesota race following the recount there, the Georgia seat becomes sweet 60. It’s the anti-filibuster force field the Dems are craving, although the checks and balances crowd will have massive and concurrent heart attacks.

Will Obama do it? I might put some money where my mouth is on Monday morning.