Once again The Anointed One plays to his ill apprised followers in an attempt to make them think he’s punishing the evil rich with tax reform. Little do his ill informed minions know this showboating has nothing to do with tax reform and the negative impact it will have on the evil rich who sign most American’s paychecks. Obama’s plan is nothing more than political theater and a downright revenue grabber at the expense of the American worker. Without a doubt, Obama is proving to be an economic illiterate.

If you’re interested in learning why Obama’s plan is bad, The Wall Street Journal has an excellent Op-ed today titled Obama’s Global Tax Raid. Here’s an excerpt from that essay:

But the Netherlands won’t be the only country hurt. The explicit goal of this plan is to reduce the incentive for U.S. companies to invest abroad, which Mr. Obama derisively calls “shipping jobs overseas.” Foreign companies may relish the loss of U.S. corporate competitiveness that his proposal will bring in the short term. But in the long term, reducing U.S. investment globally will hurt everyone. And that investment is a two-way street — the Netherlands is also the fourth-largest foreign investor in the U.S.

Some of Mr. Obama’s advisers understand all this, but then their real goal isn’t tax reform or U.S. competitiveness. It’s a revenue grab, one made easier by the fact that overseas tax “avoidance” is easily demagogued. To that political end, Mr. Obama conflates tax deferral with the offshoring of jobs — hence the sly reference to Bangalore, India. With trillions of dollars of new spending, the White House and Treasury are desperate for new tax sources to pay for it all.

But even as a revenue raiser, this is likely to fail. Fewer companies will keep their headquarters in the U.S., especially small or mid-sized firms that can slip away without becoming a political target. Those companies that can’t flee will sooner or later demand relief from Congress, which will be happy to create even more loopholes.

If Mr. Obama’s proposal has a silver lining, it is that he has embraced the principle that tax rates matter to investment decisions. If his new and short-sighted proposal becomes law, he and all Americans will discover just how much.