Obama's Dwindling Credit Line

There are many reasons I voted for Obama. I want reinstated regulations that protect the public from unsound and risky fianancial practices. I want new regulations that protect shareholders from being robbed blind by management, with the collusion of management-friendly Boards of Directors. I want fair rules by which to play the capitalist game. I want a more liberal attitude towards social issues and rigorous separation between Church and State. I want a reduction in waste and a health care net for all that will not bankrupt the country for the benefit pharmaceutical and health insurance companies. I realise that all this cannot be attained without some tax increases and I am prepared to pay my share. What i did not bargain for, what would stop my support and what would sink the Obama presidency is an attempt to redistribute income substantially. We are, have been and wish to go on being a capitalist country, not a socialist one and, already, we tax the wealthiest among us more and the poorest among us less than most Western countries. We are one of few countries with a staggering death tax and crippling state and city income taxes on top of the federal one. We may consider whoever earns annually $250,000 as rich, rich enough to be overtaxed. This, however, depends on where one lives. While in Podunk it may represent a fortune, in New York City for example, where State and City taxes take another 14% slice and where the cost of living is much higher, it is barely enough to make ends meet. The one thing Obama got right is taxing hedge funds and other such income as ordinary, rather than as capital gain. If one is in the hedge fund business whatever he earns is and should be taxed as ordinary income and the annual income of those guys is $250,000 with two, three, or even four zeros added at the end. But  my rediness to pay additional taxes goes hand in hand with Obama's promise of fiscal responsibility and the curbing of earmarks. I am not willing to see the additional taxes I pay go to finance bridges to nowhere in countless counties and states.  If Obama wants to keep my support, and that of most other moderates, he will have to use his authority and popularity to put an immediate stop to earmarks and defuse the impression that he is, after all, a classic left-wing democratic demagogue whose goals are big government and income redistribution. Most of his goals seem to be worthwhile and admirable; unfortunately, in today's economic environment, in spite of their urgency, they cannot be attained all at the same time. The Republicans failed because they deregulated recklessly and with too much haste, without fully considering the consequences. If Obama will try to do all, and pay for all, at once he shall fail as well. With the Republicans in disarray, he has the opportunity to set the stage for a prolongued Democratic hegemony but, if he goes too far left, the stage he will set will be for an overwhelming Republican victory in 2012.