"The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich," Obama said in Sarasota, Florida, yesterday. "I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go for it. That�s the America dream, that�s the American way, that�s terrific.

"The point is, though, that -- and it�s not just charity, it�s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class -- it�s that when we actually make sure that everybody�s got a shot � when young people can all go to college, when everybody�s got decent health care, when everybody�s got a little more money at the end of the month � then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That�s what happened in the 1990s, that�s what we need to restore. And that�s what I�m gonna do as president of the United States of America.

"John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic," Obama continued. "You know I don�t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness."

Ed Morrissey adds video. Jake Tapper makes a comparison to Ayn Rand, which these quotes make apt:

The American businessmen, as a class, have demonstrated the greatest productive genius and the most spectacular achievements ever recorded in the economic history of mankind. What reward did they receive from our culture and its intellectuals? The position of a hated, persecuted minority. The position of a scapegoat for the evils of the bureaucrats.

Ayn Rand.

Businessmen are a cheerful, benevolent, optimistic, predominantly American phenomenon. The essence of their job is the constant struggle to improve human life, to satisfy human needs and desires - not to practice resignation, surrender, and worship of suffering. And here is the profound gulf between businessmen and altruism: businessmen do not sacrifice themselves to others-if they did, they would be out of business in a few months or days-they profit, they grow rich, they are rewarded, as they should be. This is what the altruist, the collectivist and the other sundry 'humanitarians' hate the businessmen for: that they pursue a personal goal and succeed at it. Do not fool yourself by thinking that altruists are motivated by compassion for suffering: they are motivated by hatred for the successful.

Rand, The Sanction of the Victims. ""I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich" to a point. Success begins at $250k, or less.

Labels: economics, Obama, politics