The Republican rhetoric about President Obama and the private sector is so common, it no longer surprises: the White House has an "anti-business" agenda, the argument goes, which undermines private enterprise.
And yet, we continue to see new evidence all the time that Obama is the Worst Socialist Ever. The New York Times reported yesterday, "United States corporate profits reached a record high in the third quarter of this year, even adjusted for inflation, according to a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis." Here it is in chart form:
You'll notice in this image, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, that post-tax corporate profits collapsed when the economy crashed in 2008, but then sharply improved after Obama became president, reaching their highest point ever this fall.
It's against this backdrop that the right still complains bitterly that the president is a radical socialist who says mean things about "job creators." To ask slightly more of those enjoying record profits, Obama's detractors argue, is an outrage. Indeed, many of the business leaders who've benefited under the status quo invested heavily to defeat the president -- ostensibly because they've been so dissatisfied with the status quo.
Increasingly, their cries are literally unbelievable.