Obama’s predictably pointless tax plan

by Rossputin | 5:59 am, September 20, 2011 | Comments Off

Let’s keep a few things in mind when considering President Obama’s proposed $1.5 trillion dollar tax hike as part of a claimed $3 trillion deficit reduction plan:

First, according to the NY Times, $1.1 trillion of the total amount is claimed savings from winding down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That does NOT represent real spending cuts, and thus has much less long-term impact than reducing spending from government programs that will continue beyond the wars. Apparently most of the rest of the spending side comes from cost controls of entitlement programs but without actually reforming them. This means rationing and quotas, fully in step with the Obamacare drive toward truly socialized medicine in the US.  I’m all for cutting the cost of Medicare and Medicaid, but it should be by increasing competition and the discipline of market forces into the programs, not simply by rationing care.

Second, half of Obama’s plan is raising taxes on the rich, including allowing the Bush tax cut for the highest tax bracket to expire as well as eliminating deductions for upper income earners. This has zero chance of passing the House of Representatives and probably couldn’t pass the Senate either. I wonder if even most Democrats think that someone should lose his mortgage interest deduction just because he makes a lot of money.

Let’s remember two things here, straight from the Dear Leader’s own mouth:

First, he said that we should not raise taxes during a recession, and while we may not be technically in a recession today, we’re damn close to tipping back into one, which his tax plan would surely do. Second, he said that he had never proposed a tax hike which would go into effect during a recession, but how did he know that then and how does he know it now?

Here’s Obama himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aufAtuTwKlE

Second, this is not about revenue for Obama despite his words today. He must know that his proposal won’t raise nearly the revenue he suggests; tax hikes have NEVER raised the expected revenue, particularly capital gains tax hikes. Instead, this is about redistribution, also known as “fairness.” Remember this ABC debate in 2008?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpSDBu35K-8

It’s all about class warfare, and it’s all about ginning up hatred for the “rich” as a campaign strategy.

It’s a question of whether the broader electorate will be fooled by this or whether the GOP will fall into the trap that Obama is setting for them. He will run against Congress, blaming Republicans for obstruction, where what the GOP is obstructing are policies which are acid poured on the foundation of our economy.

Obama’s message today shows that the Super Committee has no chance of reaching agreement and that we are in for more than another year of bickering and finger-pointing as each side tries to use the issue to partisan advantage. The Republicans are in the right, but the media will work hard to defend Obama, in whom they have so much invested.

The good news is that the public is awake and that the Internet and even Fox News offer them more information, and more balanced information, than they would have if the major broadcast networks were still the only real source of news. The bad news is that so many young adults get their “news” from Jon Stewart who, despite his protestations, is a partisan liberal Democrat.

It’s also worth noting that in the NY-9 special election, the victorious Republican was outraised 2-to-1 by the Democrat, and that nearly 90% of the outside groups’ spending on the race was on behalf of the Democrat. Nevertheless, a Catholic Republican won against a Jewish Democrat in a district that is 3-to-1 Democrats by registration. Yes, it’s not the most common demographic mix in America, but the facts remain and imply that President Obama is simply not believed anymore when it comes to economic issues.

Just like his “jobs speech” before a joint session of congress, Obama’s “Buffett rule” plan is nothing more than campaign strategy by a campaign that is remarkably out of touch with the American people.

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