Video now below.

The Barack Obama Infomercial video and transcript are below just as soon as the 1/2 hour commercial is shown on network television on October 29th 2008. An advanced copy will be posted as available, so check back below, and we will have a live-feed video as available. The infomercial airs at 8pm in all timezones on MSNBC, NBC, Fox, and CBS at $1 million a pop. CNN, ABC, and FoxNews refused to carry it, with the CNN network labeling it inappropriate propaganda for a news network.

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Barack Obama Infomercial on Economics Plan


Meanwhile, we have some information on the contents of Obama’s “infomercial” below which touts his economics plan. Consider this an open live-blogging opportunity to share your thoughts about the epic commercial, hear blogger reactions, and better understand the Obama economics plan that is presented. The “Obama half-hour” has delayed the World Series for 30 minutes, a prospect openly mocked by Senator John McCain. But the Obama TV show must go on, as they say.

In the ad, Obama makes the case for his economic “redistribution” plan, a term he decided this week to embrace rather than shun. At the core of the commercial is the largest recession era tax increase since Herbert Hoover.

Obama plays to voters in the infomercial by calling it a tax decrease to most voters plus a tax increase to the fatcats on top. The net result is one of the largest tax increases on the American economy in history, and the first tax increase attempted during a recession in 76 years.

In 1932, Herbert Hoover pushed through a tax increase in the heart of the depression on “rich” taxpayers, in the “Economic Recovery Act” of that year. At that time the median household income was $1,000 annually. Like Obama’s economics plan, Hoover’s tax increase applied to only the top brackets making more than $4,000 per year, or roughly 4x the median income. This would be equivalent today to an Obama’s tax increase affecting only households making $200,000 and above, or 4x the national median.

What happened then is now something that all economists agree upon. The increase was a disaster that served to deepen the depression into a new phase of despair. The few companies that were making money laid off even more workers. Unemployment rose. Incomes fell. The economic disaster was deepened and prolonged.

Somebody should have told Obama before he aired an ill-fated infomercial / commercial that proposes throwing oil on fire. You do not raise aggregate taxes during a recession, and then call it a tax decrease for 95% of Americans. Obama’s proposed tax decrease to lower income Americans does nobody any good when they are laid off from work.

As an aside, there is perhaps some irony to a presidential candidate championing Robin Hood virtues while rolling in money himself. Meanwhile ABCNews, which decided not to air the Obama TV spot, wonders if anyone will be watching.

Nevermind the socialist implications of Obama’s infomercial which argues that moving incomes from one worker to another is patriotic. That is an entirely different discussion which Marxists and Capitalists have conducted for a hundred years. Economists had considered the argument over, but now we have a candidate running on a platform of heretofore unspecified “change.” Now that we know specifics, the economics policy and tax proposal seems socialist and radical to many.

So join us for live-blogging the Obama infomercial, which begins at the 8pm time. See the live-feed below, video and transcript as available on October 29th, and join the discussion. All viewpoints welcome.


Obama Infomercial (Video)

Transcript: (Partial Closing Remarks)

OBAMA: “We’ve seen over the last eight years how decisions by a president can have a profound effect on the course of history and on American lives; much that’s wrong with our country goes back even farther than that. We’ve been talking about the same problems for decades and nothing is ever done to solve them. For the past 20 months, I’ve traveled the length of this country, and Michelle and I have met so many Americans who are looking for real and lasting change that makes a difference in their lives.”

Full transcript will be provided on Wednesday.