By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee

Is Obama as smart as the leaders of Russia, China, Cuba, or any of the formerly communist Soviet Republics? Or, have the socialists and communists learned a lesson that Obama obviously has not?

Lesson #1 is Greece. If income redistribution works…if tax and spend is a model for America…why is Greece a bankrupt basket case threatening to bring down the entire European Union? A much more important question: Why is Greece, with a 45% income tax rate, a 23%

VAT tax (national sales tax) plus a host of other taxes, still hopelessly bankrupt? Greeks pay up to 70% to 80% of their income to the government. Yet Greece is insolvent. With all those heavy taxes, it took $160 billion to bail them out only one year ago. Now they need at least another $50 to 100 billion. Why would Obama want higher taxes for America, when Greece proves the model doesn’t work?

All those Greek voters elected socialist politicians because they promised fat pensions, free health care, and lavish early retirement. Now they face unimaginable poverty for years to come. So the lesson is that when politicians promise chocolate cake with no calories, they should be put in prison for fraud. Perhaps Obama should go to Greek’s socialist rulers and ask for advice before we wind up with our own Big Fat Greek Bankruptcy.

Lesson #2 is Cuba. Cuba has been a socialist state since before I was born. Their leader Raul Castro is a proud communist. Yet Cuba just passed the most sweeping reforms in history. Castro is slashing more than a million government jobs, cutting entitlements, encouraging more private sector entrepreneurship, giving more power to private companies, and reducing state spending.

One of the trademark features of Cuba’s socialist system- the universal monthly food ration- will be phased out. Castro said the ration given all Cubans since 1963 has become an “unsupportable burden” for Cuba’s bankrupt and crumbling government.

Wow! A Cuban communist leader is cutting a million government jobs, and eliminating Cuba’s version of food stamps. So, why is Obama desperately trying to raise taxes to socialist levels to keep our 21 million government employees all employed (with their bloated pensions) and maintain 45 million Americans on food stamps? Perhaps Professor Castro can give Obama a few pointers.

Lesson #3 is Russia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin seemed to be teaching a common fourth-grade history lesson on socialism when during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland he stated: “In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state role absolute…In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly.”

Putin and Castro have learned their lessons from experience. But Obama? Sounds like he needs to attend re-education camp. Or at least do the fourth grade over, since even fourth grade students know that socialism doesn’t work.

Obama’s stated game plan is to raise U.S. income tax rates to 40% (or higher), eliminate all deductions, take the cap off FICA (Social Security taxes), and of course he’s already passed a raft of new Obamacare taxes. A VAT tax may soon follow. Add it up. Under Obama, Americans could soon have a tax rate of 60% to 70% (after adding in state, local and property taxes).

Lesson #4 is found in ex-Communist countries around the world. Let’s contrast their tax rates with Obama’s stated goals in America:

• Russia     13% Flat Tax
• Bulgaria   10% Flat Tax
• Georgia    15% Flat Tax
• Romania    16% Flat Tax
• Czech Republic    15% Flat Tax
• Albania     10% Flat Tax
• Kazakhstan   10% Flat Tax
• Lithuania     15% Flat Tax
• Slovakia   19% Flat Tax
• Bosnia      10% Flat Tax
• Serbia      12% Flat Tax
• Hungry     16% Flat Tax
• Estonia      21% Flat Tax

So ask yourself again- Is Obama smarter than a communist? Looking at those tax rates, who would you think was the country with a socialist

tax system in place? Ask yourself what lessons those countries learned from socialism that turned them into Reagan-style capitalists?

Do you need more lessons? While Greece and many other high-tax, mixed economies in Europe are floundering, examine how the low tax model is performing around the world. Hong Kong, with its 16% flat tax and no capital gains tax, has 3.5% unemployment. Their economy is booming. Singapore has a tax of 3% to 20%, with unemployment at a remarkable 1.9%. Their economy is booming. Monaco and Cayman Islands both have income tax rates of 0%. Business has never been better.

Need more proof? The Index of Economic Freedom ranks Australia and New Zealand far above America under Obama. Australia’s unemployment rate is 4.9%, New Zealand’s 6.8%. Both are dramatically lower than America’s reported rate of 9.1%. It appears that crazy idea of economic freedom really works. Perhaps Obama should try it sometime.

In case you’re wondering…Greece’s unemployment rate is double digits. High taxes kill, not create jobs.

So ask the question again- Is Obama smarter than a communist? Perhaps Putin, Castro and some of the ex-communist leaders above should sit Comrade Obama down and give him an economics lesson. Fast. Before the U.S. economic collapse is beyond repair. Before the America we know and love is gone forever.

Wayne Allyn Root is a former libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as chairman of the Libertarian NationalCongressional Committee. He is the best-selling author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gold & Tax Cuts.” His website: ROOTforAmerica.com

The U.S. economy is crumbling. Businesses are collapsing in record numbers. Jobs have disappeared. Tax revenues are down dramatically. Coincidence?

Everything happening today under Obama resembles the storyline of Ayn Rand’s famous book, Atlas Shrugged, one of the most popular books of all time, selling over 7 million copies. Now, under President Obama, Atlas Shrugged has come to life. Rand prophesized a country dominated by socialists, Marxists and statists, where looters, free loaders and poverty promoters live off the productive class. To rationalize the fleecing of innovative business owners and job creators, the looter class demonized the wealthy, just as Obama and his socialist cabal are doing in real life today.

The central plot of Atlas Shrugged is that in response to being demonized, over-taxed, over-regulated, and punished for success, America’s business owners were disappearing — dropping off the grid, and refusing to work 16-hour days to support those unwilling to put in the same blood, sweat and tears. They were going on strike. Because of that the original proposed title of “Atlas Shrugged” was “The Strike.”

They were going on strike to teach that civilization cannot survive when people are slaves to government. That without a productive class of innovative business owners willing to risk their own money and work 16-hour days, weekends and holidays, there are no jobs and no taxes to pay for government.  If you punish the wealthy, the risk-takers, the innovators, you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. In Obama’s America, fiction is becoming fact.

The lesson of Atlas Shrugged is that without the $100,000+ earners paying into Social Security, there are no pensions for the poor and lower middle class. Without the wealthy owners of million-dollar mansions paying $25,000 and $50,000 annual property tax bills, there is no funding for public schools. Without the wealthy paying into Medicare, there is no “free” healthcare for the elderly. Without capitalists motivated by profit, there are no discoveries to eradicate polio or create miraculous cancer and AIDS drugs. Without capitalists motivated by profit, there are no jobs, period! That is what happens when the producers of society go on strike to protect themselves from the looters.

Ayn Rand was warning the looters that there are consequences to their overzealous actions. She was warning that if the productive classes felt used, demonized, ripped off, and taken for granted, they would go on strike — stop working, retire early, go underground, or move to places where achievement is celebrated and they feel appreciated.

The latest U.S. Census proves Ayn Rand right. Under Obama the wealthy are striking, voting with their feet. They are moving to low-tax red states in droves, escaping from high-tax blue states where they are being demonized and punished by the millions.

The Census proves that Obama’s tax and spend philosophy is a dismal failure, an economic disaster killing jobs.  It is no coincidence that 1.9 million FEWER Americans are working than before Obama’s stimulus. It is no coincidence that jobs are not returning to the private sector. It is no coincidence that tax revenues have dropped dramatically and cannot support Obama’s bloated Big Brother government. The innovators, risk-takers, and wealthy he demonized and punished are on strike.

The high tech revolution has killed the progressive-liberal tax-and-spend dream. Because of the Internet, email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Satellite TV, I-phones, I-pads, and cell phones, business owners are no longer prisoners of Big Brother. Take a look at states where the latest Census shows Americans moved during the past decade: Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alaska, Virginia — all low- or no-tax red states, states that lead the USA in economic freedom.

Now look at states they escaped from: New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan. Taxpayers, business owners, jobs creators, retirees with assets are fleeing the high tax, big spending, Big Brother states — the states being run like Obama is running the nation.

Progressives be afraid, be very afraid. If Obama is re-elected, these valuable producers will pick up and leave America altogether. There is a big world out there begging them to come. Places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Monte Carlo, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Bahamas, and Cayman Islands are low-tax havens that appreciate business owners and their sacrifices. They welcome wealthy ex-patriots. They celebrate individual achievement. They reward instead of punish business owners and financial risk-takers. They are wonderful places to live and are aggressively pursuing Americans.

I am just one small businessman, a third-party Libertarian political leader. Yet I personally have heard from thousands of fans, friends and supporters who have left America, are thinking of leaving America, are visiting other countries right now to decide where to go, or making preparations to leave in case Obama is re-elected. Just as Ayn Rand predicted, business owners are going on strike. Permanently.

The high tech revolution has freed them to run their businesses from anywhere in the world. The same high tech tools and toys that toppled a powerful and invincible 30-year dictator in Egypt and now threaten to topple powerful leaders throughout the Arab world, also offer mobility and freedom to U.S. taxpayers. Obama better learn the lesson of Mubarek before millions more business people decide they do not need to put up with looters, free loaders, and politicians who despise them.

Atlas is shrugging. Ayn Rand is saying “I told you so.”

And The Strike has begun.

Have you seen the movie Dinner for Schmucks? Now we have a sequel, Twitter for Schmucks starring Congressman Anthony Weiner. I’m a Libertarian. I don’t want government in my bedroom, or my boardroom, so I’m generally hands-off (excuse the pun) about what politicians do in their private time. But this is different. Weiner must resign. If this was just an affair…Okay. People have affairs every day. But what people- let alone Congressmen- don’t do every day is send photos of their penis to strangers. That’s far worse than an affair. It’s mental illness. Weiner is a pervert, an electronic, high-tech version of the naked man in the raincoat from yesteryear who walks up to pretty female strangers and opens his raincoat. Weiner is a schmuck- and for that he must go.

Here is what the case boils down to:

#1) Weiner thinks we’re the schmucks. Any man so sick he must send photos of his penis, bulging underpants, naked chest, and talk dirty over Twitter and Facebook with complete strangers has a deep-rooted sexual and mental illness. Since he claims he never had a physical affair, Weiner thinks he should be forgiven. I’d rather hear he’d slept with them. I can understand sex talk and photos between lovers. But a Congressman sending crotch shots over Twitter to complete strangers? This man is in dire need of mental help. He has an addiction or perhaps a deep-seated need to destroy his career. Either way, he’s too self destructive to be sitting in the United States Congress.

Remember, this is the Congressman who introduced a bill to loosen immigration requirements for foreign models. I can only assume his goal was more potential Weiner Twitter victims.

#2) Don’t be surprised if it comes out that Weiner’s weiner was used for a lot more than (as he called it) ”just innocent fun over Twitter.” I’m guessing, if he hasn’t already bought them off, there must be plenty of women ready to talk about Weiner’s sexual exploits. The most recent communication indicates Weiner was begging a Nevada blackjack dealer to meet him for sex. Excuse the pun…but I’m betting this scandal is much bigger than advertised.

#3) As far as I’m concerned, Congressman Weiner’s affairs are between him and Mrs. Weiner, a top aide to Hillary Clinton. But can you imagine the odds, to be involved in the biggest sex scandal of the year, and have Mrs. Clinton as your personal advisor? Now that’s hitting the lottery!

But, the affairs aren’t the issue. It’s Weiner’s arrogance, recklessness, and sickness. No one this reckless should be allowed anywhere near the Capitol. Any Congressman who after seeing what happened to Congressman Chris Lee after his shirtless photo was made public, still chose to send his own shirtless photo, and added crotch shots as the bonus, is reckless, dangerous, out of control, perverted, and dumb as a tree stump. No one like that has the right to pass bills that affect my life. Weiner is obviously a sick man dealing with a mental illness. He needs help. Intensive 24/7 help. He’ll only have the free time for that kind of help after being relieved of his job.

#3) We must remember that this man is the same Weiner (insert joke here) who went on a Joe McCarthy witch hunt against advertisers on Fox News, and in particular Glenn Beck. Weiner demanded Congressional and government investigations into fraud and false advertising by gold and precious metal companies. Why? Because he’s a raving, radical, leftist Kool-Aid drinker who didn’t like the fact that gold advertisers were paying tens of millions of dollars to Fox News and Glenn Beck. He attempted to intimidate and bankrupt these companies with investigations, threats and legal fees. I wonder if Weiner planned on a settlement that included these companies agreeing to spend equal money to advertise on the failing shows of MSNBC?

Weiner was acting the part of Mafia Don trying to extort and intimidate advertisers of his political opposition. This is as heinous an act as I can remember coming from any member of Congress.

Now picture this same political hack who enjoys witch hunts against political opponents, staring at his Twitter screen, sweating and shaking, with eyes and tongue (and other body parts) bulging out, as he sent strange photos to complete strangers, humiliating his wife, putting himself in a position to be black-mailed, while laughing at what schmucks the voters are who put him in office. Bingo. There’s the image all voters need to see.

Mr. Weiner, it’s time to go. Quickly.

Let this be a lesson to voters. Anthony Weiner is Exhibit A for why we should have a healthy distrust for all politicians. These are the power-hungry tyrants who want to control your life. Term limit them, keep tight reins on their spending, and limit the time they can spend in their seats planning new ways to steal our money and take control over our lives.

There are many more Weiners in Washington who simply haven’t been caught yet with their hand (or any other body part) in the nookie jar. We’ve got to watch out for all the Weiners of the world. Most of them aren’t perverts though. Their hands are in your pants to find…your wallet.

We have a serious problem in this country. It is not a tax problem. It is a spending problem. Government is addicted to spending. It doesn’t matter what the tax rate is. It doesn’t matter how high the incoming tax revenues. We could raise tax rates to 90 percent and government would still spend $1.40 for every dollar it takes in. So why are we blaming the victim – taxpayers – for the national debt? Government is a spending addict and needs rehab.

Yet President Obama claims we need to raise taxes. He is blaming the taxpayers for his spending-and-debt addiction. When a chief executive officer in the private sector lies to investors, it’s called fraud. You can go to prison for manipulating the facts. Yet Mr. Obama and his leftist cabal in Congress lie, omit and manipulate the facts about taxes every day. Shouldn’t that be considered a form of tax fraud?

Let’s examine the baldfaced lies from Mr. Obama and the left, who try to justify tax increases on “the rich” on a daily basis:

First, Mr. Obama quotes the dollars earned by the top 2 percent of income earners to prove that “the rich” are making too much and being taxed too little. That’s sleight of hand. Mr. Obama is lumping in small business owners like myself with billionaires who own yachts and private planes. Within that top 2 percent is Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, hedge fund managers who earn $500 million per year, Wall Street titans who earn $100 million per year, all mixed in with small business owners.

How can you use billion-dollar stock gains, $100 million hedge fund incomes or $20 million Wall Street bonuses to justify raising taxes on a small businessman who makes $250,000 to $500,000 per year by working 16 hours a day?

By courageously risking their own money, small business owners create 80 percent of the new jobs in the U.S. economy. Mr. Obama is comparing these individuals to billionaires who share the same tax bracket and whose incomes are made up primarily of stock gains and stock options – taxed at much lower rates. Mr. Obama uses “the average” to make claims that everyone in the top 2 percent tax bracket is making too much and paying too little in taxes. He’s playing a shell game; that’s tax fraud.

Second, Mr. Obama claims tax rates are currently among the lowest in history. Once again, the president is committing tax fraud to sell his scheme. He is purposely omitting the full picture. Separate from federal income tax rates, U.S. taxpayers now pay the highest Social Security and Medicare tax rates ever; the highest state, local and property taxes ever; the highest sales taxes ever; and the second-highest corporate taxes in the industrialized world. Add it all up and small business owners like myself are overburdened like never before in history.

Third, Obama is comparing apples to oranges when he compares tax rates. Rates are lower today than in the past because many valuable tax deductions were eliminated. And we now face caps, phase-outs and the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax. Therefore, quoting higher rates is a distortion of the truth. A tax rate of 70 percent from decades ago might actually be lower than today’s rates once you include these factors. As Ronald Reagan would have said about Mr. Obama’s dissembling, “There you go again.”

Fourth, Mr. Obama constantly reports that tax rates were once much higher. Another distortion. It is true that Franklin D. Roosevelt raised the top rate in 1935 to 79 percent. But what Mr. Obama doesn’t tell us is that it only applied to someone making the equivalent of $76 million per year. Only one man in the entire United States paid a penny at that rate in 1935: John D. Rockefeller. Mr. Obama wants much higher taxes for millions of small business owners making $250,000 and above. But he quotes “robber baron” rates to sell his bait-and-switch scheme. In the private sector, you face civil or criminal charges for misleading investors like that.

Finally, Mr. Obama purposely leaves out the important fact that only in the last 30 years have we moved away from a cash economy. Tax rates at 70 percent or higher didn’t matter prior to 1980 because most small businesses earned unreported cash. Today we have a computerized economy based on credit cards. Virtually every dollar that a business takes in is tracked and reported. So tax rates are immaterial – all of us are paying more in taxes than ever before. To not report that difference is deceptive.

So why is Mr. Obama committing this type of tax fraud? First, the government is heavily in debt and he needs to find targets of opportunity (i.e. victims) to pay the bills so America doesn’t go bankrupt on his watch. Second, Mr. Obama’s only chance at re-election is to redistribute billions of dollars to his voters and campaign contributors in the way of entitlements, welfare, food stamps and stimulus funds. Third, by targeting, demonizing and punishing small business and high-income earners – the people who make almost all the contributions to conservative causes and candidates – he can starve his political opposition.

This is the Obama plan.

Poor Obama. Despite all his efforts, or maybe because of them, the U.S. economy keeps crumbling.

But to be fair, government is a failure everywhere. Exhibit A is the Big Fat Greek Bankruptcy. Have you heard? The Greek tragedy is unfolding…again. Greece is bankrupt and insolvent…again. Government thinks it can save Greece with taxpayer money…again. And the more money poured into Greece by the EU, IMF and central bankers, the worse it gets. The Greek GDP is going in reverse. The economy is crumbling despite hundreds of billions loaned by government only a year ago. Now it’s time for Groundhog Day…again.

Does this story sound familiar? It plays on the news here in the USA nightly. Government pours trillions into the U.S. economy and things get worse by the day. Unemployment won’t budge. The dollar is vanishing. Debt is multiplying. Real Estate is collapsing. Inflation is raging. So Obama spends more. The vicious cycle continues.

When will we ever learn? Politicians, bureaucrats, and central bank chiefs the world over keep repeating the mantra of big government- “If only you’ll give us more time and money, this time we’ll fix the problem.” But as one of my heroes Ronald Reagan often said, “Government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.”

History proves that government ruins whatever it touches. The fact is, the economy will not improve until we stop government from interfering. Government may feel our pain…but that’s because they are the ones causing it.

But don’t take my word for it. The Congressional Effect Fund, a mutual fund on Wall Street, has studied the effects of Congress on the economy for decades. Since 1964- whenever Congress is in session, the U.S. stock market is up about 1% on an annualized basis. During that same period, while Congress is on vacation, the stock market is up 17%. Coincidence?

Still don’t believe government is a walking disaster?

How about the Veterans Administration? A federal appeals court recently ruled that the VA suffers from “unchecked incompetence.” That incompetence is killing our brave veterans. It turns out that 18 returning vets commit suicide per day. 85,000 vets are on waiting lists for care. Even severely depressed vets must wait eight weeks to see a psychiatrist. 1,500 vets die each year while waiting for care. If you deserve a disability check, you’ll be waiting as long as four years. Still want to serve your country? Still want government to run your healthcare?

The U.S. Postal Service– enforced by law– has no competition. Yet it loses $8 billion per year. No results like that have ever been produced in the history of the private sector.

The government-run school system is in shambles. Taxpayers spend the most per student, and get among the worst results in the world. The Dept of Education budget went from $30 billion to $60 billion under Bush. Anyone think results doubled? Under Obama we spent an extra $125 billion in stimulus on education. Anyone see any improvement?

My wife Debra and I home-schooled our daughter from birth to her acceptance at Harvard. The first classroom of her entire life was inside the hallowed halls of Harvard. She just got her Harvard report card. Straight A’s. Think it might be time to call government-run education a failure?

When Medicare was founded in the 1960’s, government “experts” estimated its cost at $12 BB per year by 1990. Instead it was $110 Billion.

When NASA started the Space Shuttle, their “experts” estimated its future cost at $10.7 million per trip. The actual cost has turned out to be $1.7 billion per trip.

Those kinds of mistakes drive companies in the private sector out of business. But this doesn’t present a problem for government employees. They just raise your taxes and retire on $100,000 pensions.

How about the Dept of Energy? It was founded in 1977 to solve our energy crisis. It now has 100,000 employees and spends $24 billion per year. On what? Anyone think we are less energy independent than in 1977? Why didn’t we just spend that entire budget on buying gas for the American people?

How about the Federal Reserve’s track record? The Fed was created in 1913 with one main goal- protect the U.S. dollar. Since the Fed’s creation our dollar has lost 94% of its value. Ninety-four percent. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Worst of all is the cost of the government employees themselves. The unfunded liability for the pensions of federal employees is now over $5 trillion dollars. On the state level it is estimated to be between $1 and $3 trillion. One state alone, California, has unfunded liabilities of as much as $500 billion.

All of this money is spent on government employees who have produced an annual deficit of $1.6 trillion, and a national debt of $14 trillion. With unfunded liabilities added in, the taxpayers owe an unimaginable $100 trillion, almost double world GDP. What do these 22 million employees do all day? Think up new ways to bankrupt the country?

Should any of this surprise you? This same federal government took over the most famous legal brothel in the history of Nevada, and bankrupted it in a year.

The moral to this story? If you can’t run a whorehouse and make a profit, you can’t run my healthcare. Or the VA. Or public schools. Or the post office. Or the war on drugs. Or the Dept of Energy. Or the economy. Or ANYTHING.

If you’re waiting for government to save you, or this economy, or Greece, get ready for a long wait. Eternity.