Last week in an interview with The Weekend Australian, Rupert Murdoch warned that a win by Obama in next week’s US election could worsen the world economy.
Here are some excerpts from his interview
- If the Democrats implemented protectionist policies it would be “a real setback for globalisation”
- An increase in protectionism in the US as suggested by some Democrats in Congress, would risk retaliation from China and could threaten world trade.
- For the past three or four years, some Democrats have been threatening to do things like put on extra tariffs (against Chinese imports) if they don’t change their currency. If it happened, it could set off retaliatory action which would certainly damage the world economy seriously
He also criticized Obama’s proposed tax policies which include granting rebates to most US workers:
Forty percent (of the US population) don’t pay taxes, so how can he give them a tax cut? But you can give them a welfare check which he has promised — a grant of 500 dollars — which will disappear very fast. It’s not going to turn the economy around at all.
Ted Murphy, CEO of Social Media Marketing firm Izea also has some serious issues with Obama’s tax plan. You can view his analysis here. Murphy’s frustration with Obama’s lack of information and clarity is evident after he entered $200,000 to $250,000 as an income level:
What happened? Instead of seeing what this person or married couple would lose under Obama (or gain under McCain) I get a message saying “You will probably not get a tax cut under Obama-Bidenâ€. I don’t know the actual number (that is what I was hoping to understand) but I feel this is shady at best. To say that someone filing with these numbers probably won’t get a cut is just wrong. The reality is these people will get taxed more.. I know that. I may be cool with that, I just want to understand how much. I want to be able to make an informed decision, but stuff like this really bothers me. I dug and dug and all I could find was this before I gave up and decided to leave.
Another correlation that I find interesting were the ups and down in the stock market over the last couple of weeks and the presidential polls. The more that Obama was separating himself from McCain, the more the stock market plunged. And last week as the polls tightened the market began to rise.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence; or maybe … just maybe some investors and financial institutions are really afraid of the Obama presidency.Â
Tags: Rupert Murdoch, Ted Murphy, Izea, Obama Tax Plan, economy, financial crisis



