There are positive and negative aspects of Barack Obama's new economic plan. Some parts of the plan should help us out as internet marketers. There are other parts that might hurt us. First, let's start with the best news...we internet marketers are a resourceful bunch and we'll probably make sure that everything goes well for our future no matter what.

That reminds me...before I go on, I will stick my opinion where it may or may not belong. Both candidates said "The American people are innocent victims of this financial disaster"...um, are you kidding me? I can't think of a more dangerous thing to say. No one had guns to their heads when they signed those home loans! When American citizens completely stop taking responsibility for their own actions, as the candidates encouraged, then America loses its advantage as the superpower in the world. I know they were trying to win votes, but that's just irresponsible.

My audience — internet marketers and entrepreneurs — will take care of themselves. They don't WANT the government to take care of them. That's how it should be and it's that very attitude that makes them successful and independent to begin with. If everyone thought like an entrepreneur, we, er, the country wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

Okay, back to economic policy. The most exciting thing for internet marketers in Obama's new economic plan is the deployment of what politicians are calling Next-Generation Broadband. With this plan, Obama wants to bring broadband to every community in America. Overall, this should eventually bring the costs of broadband internet down across the nation. Also, the internet users that are still on dial-up will likely switch over to faster internet, meaning more chances for them to stay on your site instead of clicking away because your graphics are taking too long to load. This happens with flash sites. Overall, with this plan implemented, more of America should spend even more time online, meaning more chances for you to make a sale.

There are a couple of other parts of Obama's economic plan that could turn into positives depending on your market niche. Part of the Obama plan is to issue an emergency energy rebate for $1,000. This rebate is said to be a type of "down payment" for Obama's long-term plan to give middle-class families at least $1,000 per year in tax savings. I'm sure you have heard this statistic: The personal savings rate here in the United States is the lowest that it has been since the Great Depression. We've turned into a society of instant gratification. As much as we would love many for Americans to put this extra $1,000 towards savings or debt, I believe most everyone will continue to spend this extra income on whatever they want. So that means there's an extra $1,000 each year that families could use to make even more online purchases.

Another positive in Obama's plan is the tax relief for small businesses and start-up companies. Obama wants to eliminate all capital gains taxes for these businesses in order to encourage the creation of more jobs. Since we work online, most of us don't owe capital gains taxes, but some of us might. A better positive for most all internet marketers is the proposed "Making Work Pay" tax credit which promises a $500 credit to almost every worker in America, which looks like it will include self-employed small business owners.

O.K., now for the negative aspects of Obama's plan: All through the debates you have heard Obama say that nobody making less than $250,000 per year will see a tax increase. He has even been quoted saying that these people should all see a tax cut. Well, what if you are making more than $250,000 per year? What tax increases will we see? Not all of us internet marketers are making $250,000 per year, but the ones that have turned the internet into a career rather than just a side job or hobby usually do pretty well. The sad thing is that we usually worked daunting schedules for years in order to enjoy a little of this "getting ahead". Now this group of superachievers is being targeted as a cash machine. Obama has said on camera "It's time for folks who make over $250K to pay their fair share". It makes me want to throw up.

Lucky for us, there hasn't been a politician in all of history that kept all of his or her promises.

Now, there is one last part of Obama's plan that I see as a potential negative for internet marketers. He wants to "simplify tax filings for middle class Americans." With this plan, Obama wants to make it so that millions of Americans can get their taxes done in less than five minute. They want to have the IRS use the info it gets from employers and the banks in order to give taxpayers the option of simple pre-filled tax forms that they can simply verify, sign, and return. As internet marketers, we know that there are a lot of tax benefits that come from being self-employed. Some of us work very hard in order to find as many tax deductions that we can. And others pay CPAs big money in order to find even bigger deductions.

If middle class Americans are given the option of getting pre-filled tax forms, I believe a huge majority of them will take it out of laziness, and a large number of these Americans will miss out on tons of legal tax breaks that they could receive for their families. Obama says that this plan can save Americans up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees. But I sit here and think to myself about how much some people save when they do have professionals file their taxes. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I think that this could be construed as a perfect plan for the government to issue a lot less refund checks to American citizens. And my main point of negative for this part of Obama's plan is less money for middle class American to spend at your site.


So, what will Obama's economic plan do overall for your business? Well, I believe we could see some spikes in sales, but then again, we see spikes in sales all the time, anyway. It seems to me that overall there are really less positives than negatives with Obama's plan, but regardless, I blieve sales should remain normal during the Obama regime.

There will always be a small percentage of entrepreneurs in America, and the economy will be fine in the long run and we will figure out for ourselves how to thrive in the short run, in a good or a bad economic climate. Real business minds always rise above the zeitgeist.

Normally, Dan Dimit gives great techniques for getting free traffic to your website, instead of opinionated political rants.
2 fresh posts daily: http://www.thefreetrafficformula.com/blog
If you'd like to learn how to earn enough online to pay more taxes, jump into this free training http://www.thefreetrafficformula.com Copyright (c) 2008 Dan Dimit

Dan Dimit writes: Wow, I'm glad that so many are willing to participate in this discussion. Give yourselves a pat on the back!

I'm not at all the rich snob that I'm being portrayed as by some of the comments. I'm just a guy, no college education, no high IQ... I'm just working with the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has.

The difference is that I chose to forego marriage, kids, cars, housing, etc. for later in order to bust my tail bringing value to people that could use my products and services. I worked 12-15 hours per day for years. Now that I've done all that, I'm more secure with the finer things like marriage, kids, great relationships, etc.

This is all I'm asking others to do before asking me to pay even more in taxes than I already do. Like I said: "We all have the same 24 hours in a day..."

If more people had done what I did, there would be no financial crisis right now. I didn't cause it, nor do I use the monetary value of government resources (not even close) that I pay for in taxes. And you want me to pay MORE??

I love America and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I'm just asking people to live by the principles of those who created this great country to be the way it is. I'm pretty sure that the founding fathers would be appalled at how people here now think they're "entitled" to live like kings (and we DO, compared to other countries), and it's because of people who busted their butts(not those who asked for handouts and bailouts)that America is great today...

If the majority continues like this, America will not be the greatest country in the world, sorry.

I love charity and helping others, but for only those who don't have all the oppportunities as in America. I don't hold a high regard for those that have all of this freedom and opportunity...and waste it by watching football and old Seinfeld reruns....and then try to come beg me for a dollar.

20:38:30 Wed Nov 19 2008 CST


Christina writes: Vic, great response, thank you for putting into words principles that people need to think about.

I know for myself I need to 'invest in America' more, and I'm not talking about financial investment necessarily. But maybe every American who loves his/her country, loves living here in the land of the free, needs to think about how that can be done, on an individual basis, in each person's situation and, as you say, pony up.

10:40:04 Sun Nov 16 2008 CST


Pedro writes: "Obama has said on camera "It's time for folks who make over $250K to pay their fair share". It makes me want to throw up."

Trouble is, that's the attitude of so many rich-guys in the US; all for me, and sod the rest. The US is pretty well the least fair of all developed countries, and it's the money-grubbing of folks like Dan that have got the US economy, and the world with it, into the current mess. The wealth of our wealthiest is often based not on any real value, but on exploiting the rest, selling them junk they don't want, or need, or things they can't afford. And as a nation, we're in debt up to the eyeballs - the hugest national deficit of any country in the world. If you think this recession is bad, wait till the real day of reckoning comes, when the USA is so much in debt to the rest of the world, that it can only default on payment, and file for bankruptcy (like the poorest countries). Warning: unless we change our system radically, at some time in the next thirty years (your lifetime, probably), there'll be a mega economic metldown that makes the 2008 preview look like a tea party. Hopefully, Obama will take the nation in the right direction - however much the Dimits and their like may howl in protest.

7:16:01 Sat Nov 15 2008 CST


Vic writes: Here it goes already, Obama-bashing. He hasn't even gotten in office yet, and he has a horrific task ahead of him to even begin the process of healing, never mind "fixing" (like it's that easy).

Greed, basic lack of ethics, and loving money more than life itself is what led the bankers and lenders to take advantage of the ignorance of the people who signed on for "adjustable mortgages" like most of us would never do. Maybe those people were short-sighted and believed in the American Dream that somehow it would work out. The big point here is that not just one nation but the world of humanity has got to give up the blind reckless worship of money.

If you have a warm shelter and a full belly every night, you are a wealthy person. There are billions of people all over the world who do not have that, have never had that, and can barely even hope to ever have that. If you are making a quarter of a million dollars a year, that's great. You worked hard for it, and you deserve it. But you have a responsibility as a human being to do your share.

The taxes in this country have always been carried on the backs of the middle- and lower-middle-class. People who work just as hard as you, and you probably were one of not so long ago. I'm not talking about welfare, and programs that pay people to do nothing. I'm talking about the small-business people who are the real economic future of the U.S. and the employees who are willing to work their way up.

The Big Boys on Wall St. have showed us they are not so hot at business, but because of their republican connections, they were able to make us pay for it again and again. They unfunded the job-training programs and created a whole new, now recognized career-path called "homeless" who are now clogging our hospitals and ERs and shutting them down because there's no way to pay for it all. This is bigger than e-commerce, it involves all of us. There is a huge amount of work to do, and one man can't do it all for us. We need to get off our righteous laurels, pitch in, and pony up.

14:52:14 Tue Nov 11 2008 CST


Christina writes: Since I am not actually marketing any goods on my site, just information & opinion, my comment is not so much on that aspect of this article. What resonates w/me is "My audience — internet marketers and entrepreneurs — will take care of themselves. They don't WANT the government to take care of them" I so much agree with that approach! I cannot understand how a person even thinks that the government SHOULD...help is one thing, but still, I believe it is wise not to count on it, or be dependent on it.

13:44:40 Tue Nov 11 2008 CST


Andrea writes: I have no insight to give, just a compliment on how I enjoyed reading your article. It was very inspiring and insightful, excellent work! Thank you for sharing that with us!

11:32:06 Tue Nov 11 2008 CST


Ann writes: I totally agree with everything you said. Let's just hope he doesn't eliminate the writeoffs that everyone uses to keep under $250,000, and if Don thinks the economy is going to improve because the rich have to pay more, he is crazy. I think Karel has a better idea by taxing on line gaming.
I am also with mindy on trying to be positive about my President, but just as with all Presidents, he will surely make some people unhappy.

6:52:52 Tue Nov 11 2008 CST


Tim writes: I like how you said "Obama Regime" (since he's a marxist and a communist) = I always say it doesn't matter who the president is, it's all about who is in congress. Right now the Dems (aka commies) have control. We'll need to shelter as much of our income offshore as we can. The rich will get richer, the poor will get WAY, WAY Poorer... Change is coming allright, all you'll have left (unless you're in business for yourself) is the change in your pockets.

22:40:35 Mon Nov 10 2008 CST


Hilda writes: You make 250.000 a year? Gosh.. that\'s a lot. How do you do it? Are you earning this money by promoting smaller businesses? That makes me think not to promot my business with you, lol. You are already earning enough. :) The comment by Den, is excellent! Den YOU ARE GREAT! I wish everyone would be so inteligent as you are and less people so nerrow minded as the one who posted this article.

15:13:20 Mon Nov 10 2008 CST


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