Rob,
There's a great article by Kevin Hasset in National Review called The Four Horseman of Barack Obama that explains this [and more] in great detail.

The Third Horseman is tax policy. While much of the political debate centered on Obama's plan to increase marginal tax rates on the "wealthy," a little-known footnote to his plan was a call to end the deferral of tax on the profits of U.S. multinational corporations. This is the most alarming of his many proposals.

American firms currently compete in the world economy with an enormous disadvantage. The U.S.'s nominal corporate tax rate, 35 percent, is the second-highest among OECD nations. The gap between our rate and our trading partners' has been growing sharply; the average corporate rate among non-U.S. OECD nations had fallen all the way to 25 percent by 2007.

A little-appreciated aspect of the tax code has proved the salvation of our multinationals during these high-tax times. If a company locates its profits in a subsidiary based in a low-tax country, it does not have to pay U.S. tax on those profits until the money is sent back to the United States.

So a subsidiary operating in Ireland, where the 2007 corporate tax rate was 12.5 percent, can sell its product in France and let the profit pile up in an Irish bank account indefinitely.

In this scenario, the disadvantage of the U.S. rate is reduced significantly. Democrats have raged against such deferral, arguing that it encourages firms to move their activity overseas. But deferral is necessary only because of the high tax, which is in and of itself a reason for businesses to go elsewhere.

If Obama successfully ends deferral, our multinationals will suddenly find that costs have dramatically shifted in their disfavor. They will lose business to competitors that operate in low-tax jurisdictions, and cut back employment both here and abroad.

Rodney Dangerfield? Eh?

I'm confused (not that there's anything unusual about that) but I somehow can't connect the piece above and anything Rodney did.

Help me.

Heh.

I think it was either him or Henny Youngman who said, "I asked my wife how come you never tell me when you have an orgasm and she said, you're never there!"

Not that's a good line.

Not exactly pirate related, though.

Correction:
Stock prices are falling faster than Randi Rhodes a$$.

Obama, being the Answer To Everything, would have stepped up at some point and made reassuring noises to calm the hyperventilating panic of investors and to slow the resulting sell off.

OK Pilgrim, here's what I think the deal may be.
Remember his voting record in the Senate? All these "Present" votes, when a simple yes, or no would have gone a lot further towards establishing if there was a backbone in the guy?
Makes "me" think, BO's a guy who knows when to keep his mouth shut. Not really dumb enough to think he could help things much, and has no real obligation to get in involved. Let's allow others take the current fall for the tanking economy.
"Present"!

Jerry may have hit the nail on the head.

Gman is correct!

Obama doesn't want any conncection to this fiasco at all… even though his probable policies are causing the current downfall of the market…

But his little toady has it all in his grasp, with the backing of "O-man" himself…. Emmanuel knows his role and will play it out at the end of O-man's leash….

Why was this "crisis" of such surprise to the politicians? It was contrived and the trap laid when the Dems took control of both houses.

What better way to discredit the prior government's political theology and methodology than to ALLOW financial disaster? Why else would they have, in effect, done NOTHING substantial in the last 2 years? Then run around like their hair was on fire when their Demmie plants [Paulson and Bernanke] come screaming to the administration that the wheels were falling off the wagon.

This crisis allows them to prey directly upon the emotions of the citizenry, because everyone is directly impacted and immediately defensive of their pocketbooks. Their boogeyman is the financial system, and their message becomes under-regulation.

How clever they become when it comes to attaining power for themselves and snatching money from the uninformed taxpayer………. yet cannot be bothered to accept the responsibility on their part in this financial situation…..

A cool cat indeed…… removed and unimpressed…. building his teflon coating before our own eyes…..

<img src='http://i35.tinypic.com/257n56o.jpg'&gt;

Before the 1994 Republican takeover, Democrats had sixty years of virtually unbroken power in Congress – with substantial majorities most of the time.

Can a group of smart people, studying issue after issue for years on end, with virtually unlimited resources at their command, not come up with a single policy that works? Why are they chronically incapable?

One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are complete idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit.

It's their religion, pure and simple.
robert108 on November 23, 2008 at 10:48 am

Affirmative !

Newsmax rounds out the picture:

Their strategy to create political, financial, and social chaos that would result in revolution blended Alinsky concepts with their more aggressive efforts at bringing about a change in U.S. government. To achieve their revolutionary change, Cloward and Piven sought to use a cadre of aggressive organizers assisted by friendly news media to force a re-distribution of the nation's wealth.

The voters who elected their president will now see what he can deliver. "Oh, now I don't have to worry about putting gas(oline) in my car." Typical comment. Don't hold your breath, BHO supporters.