January 25, 2012--Obama the Class Warrior

I have a good friend here who continues to condemn Barack Obama as a class warrior. This in spite of the evidence that he led the fight to save the American auto industry and our major financial institutions and did so in a way to make money for taxpayers (collecting interest on the loans we made to these companies) and by relinquishing government control of them as soon as our loans were repaid.

No real socialist or class warrior would have done either of these things--it would have been the opportunity of his ideological lifetime to nationalize these industries.

Now there is more evidence that Obama is a friend of capitalism.

While he continues to be excoriated for having forced "Obamacare" down our unwilling throats, the claim that it is socialized medicine by those who have no idea what the Affordable Health Care Act actually includes and requires is, in the face of the facts, false.

Buried in the news last week while we were attempting to figure out the political consequences of Newt Gingrich's serial relationships and desire for an open marriage (no consequences), UnitedHealth, the nation's largest provider of private heath care insurance announced record profits.

Compared with 2010, net income for 2011 rose by 21 percent to $1.26 billion as compared with $1.04 billion the year before.

This amounts to earnings of $1.17 a share with the company projecting that 2013 will be even better. Much better--its stock is projected to soar to $4.75 a share.

When asked to explain all the corporate good news, according to Bloomberg, UnitedHealth has had an uninterrupted string of increasing profits beginning the first full year after President Obama signed the health care overhaul. They saw dramatic increases in the number of individuals and businesses buying insurance from them and, again thanks to the new law, significant savings in medical costs.

This is not my favorite way to expand health care services (I still would prefer the single-payer, Medicare model), but Obamacare ain't socialized medicine and is turning out to be hugely profitable for the private insurers.

Also lost in the shuffle of Newt news were the reports about increases in U.S. exports.

Two years ago when in his State of the Union address Barack Obama declared that it was his intention to spur American exports--doubling them in five years--even as they applauded his aspiration, economists and trade experts were skeptical. For example, at the time, Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Affairs, said, "How will he perform this? It really is a mystery."

There is in fact no mystery nor sleight of hand. Almost half way into that five-year effort, the export numbers show that we are on track to reach Obama's ambitious goal. His administration's practices have also pressured China to increase the value of its currency (you can ignore the Republican candidates' demagoging this issue) and open its markets to American businesses (ditto). And it has worked successfully with American companies looking to sell good and services throughout the world.

None of these numbers lie. Too bad we cannot say the same for the hyper-partisan critics.