-
Dick Morris’ Bad Entitlements Advice
April 1, 2013 | 41 comments
-
Will Welker Walk?
March 11, 2013 | 273 comments
-
Not Yet Elite, But Pretty Neat
February 5, 2013 | 8 comments
-
The Harbaugh Bowl
January 22, 2013 | 33 comments
-
Tom Terrific
January 14, 2013 | 55 comments
Political Hay
Eat the Rich
Or dare congressional Republicans not to.
President Obama unveiled deficit-reduction proposals in February, in response to his party’s electoral shellacking, and in April, in response to being shown up by Paul Ryan. Perhaps his latest grand budget bargain should be called “Deficit Reduction Part Three: This Time I’m Serious.”
Except he isn’t. The spending cuts seem mostly to be the work of Medicare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), an unproven entity soon to bring its magical rationing powers and King Solomon-like decision-making to health care near you. But the tax increases are easily identifiable enough.
The Bush tax cuts, extended by Obama late last year, go bye-bye for upper-income taxpayers. Those earning more than $250,000 a year will see their taxes go up further still as various loopholes are closed and tax breaks are phased out. (This won’t be tax simplification, however, since this package has been cooked up partly to offset proposed new credits cluttering the tax code for people who earn an Obama-approved amount of money and do what he says.)
Throw in the “Buffett Rule,” which is effectively another alternative minimum tax designed to ensure that millionaires pay their fair share. It is ostensibly named after Warren Buffett, but Jimmy Buffett may be more appropriate. When it eventually grows to ensnare middle-class taxpayers — as did the original alternative minimum tax, also billed as targeting the super-rich — Americans will sing, “It’s a real beauty… How it got here, I haven’t a clue.”
All told, we are talking about $1.6 trillion in tax increases to fund not just deficit reduction, but also tax cuts and spending increases for others. That’s because tax cuts create jobs, except tax cuts for people and businesses that earn enough money to hire people. This is apparently another new Buffett Rule, so fix yourself another plate.
Proposing tax increases of this magnitude at a time of 9 percent unemployment can only mean one of two things: either a new era of economic theory is upon us or the administration wants to dare Republicans to vote against a millionaires’ tax being levied to pay for jobs for the rest of us.
If revenue were the real issue, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for everyone would theoretically raise far more. Doubling taxes on millionaires, for instance, may only yield $19 billion in additional revenues. But that would also be politically and economically self-defeating. So it is better to be only economically self-defeating.
It’s not clear that this will even raise the anticipated revenues. As the Cato Institute’s Daniel J. Mitchell points out, the rich have far greater control of the timing and composition of their income than the rest of us do. IRS data show that people with an adjusted gross income of at least $1 million rely on salary and wages for just 33 percent of their income. People making more than $10 million get only 19 percent of their income from salary and wages.
It stands to reason that many of these millionaires will find perfectly legal ways not to pay these taxes. And when they don’t, the administration can continue clamoring for the closing of more loopholes and chase after the capital from which the rich do earn most of their income. But capital is important for job and wage growth for the non-rich.
Will this work politically? It’s hard to say. When Bill Clinton pretended to raise taxes only on the “top 1 percent” while advertising his expansion of the earned income tax credit as a tax cut for millions of others, few people believed him. The tax hike was a big reason Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994. But Clinton was re-elected two years later and the subsequent Internet boom is often used to vindicate tax increases as sound fiscal policy. (He ultimately signed some broad-based Republican tax cuts into law.)
Higher taxes for the wealthy poll well. That is why Obama frequently emphasized it as part of his “balanced” resolution for the debt ceiling debate and why he is proposing such taxes now. But presidential proposals containing such tax increases have not always polled well themselves.
The cathartic value of higher taxes on the rich is also limited when the economy remains in a shambles afterward. This was one of the lessons of George H.W. Bush’s 1990 budget agreement. That’s why this gambit may work best for the president if the Republicans thwart him and he is allowed to do his Huey Long impression without any real-world evidence to contradict his politics.
Some people claim that there’s a Republican to blame. But according to the Buffett Rule, we know who’s damn fault it is.
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (116) | Leave a comment
More Articles by W. James Antle, III
More Articles From Political Hay
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/09/20/eat-the-rich
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Zbigniew Mazurak| 9.20.11 @ 6:21AM
Taxing the rich will not work. They will just take their money and leave the US.
Intelligent Design| 9.20.11 @ 7:15AM
The highest income groups in the U.S. already pay the lion's share of taxes. For example, the bottom 50% of earners pay nothing. The top 10% of earners pay about 75% of all income taxes. Higher taxes on the rich will result in very modest revenue increases, if any. The same higher taxes will slow the economy and increase unemployment. Tax revenues ultimately are a function of GDP, not rates. If the economy grows, so do tax revenues; if the economy declines, so does tax revenue. All the ideological, demagogic speeches that Obama and others make will not change these economic facts. As Winston Churchill said (to paraphrase), trying to increase tax revenue by increasing rates is like trying to lift a bucket while standing in it. It doesn't work.
Obama is beyond failure. He is irrelevant.
David C| 9.20.11 @ 12:00PM
Not really the case. Factor in all taxes and the higher rates are on lower earners. SS tax, gas tax, excise tax, etc. Most people spend all they make every year, taxes hit them harder. This talking point is repeated daily on all conservative channels.
The difference between Greece and the US is we can print the money. Another tax to be sure but no default.
There is no way out. Demographic trends that mirror Japan's last twenty years are heading down the tunnel at us. 4,100 on the Dow, 25% unemployment straight ahead. What to do?
I say it is fun to watch Obama flail about like a carp trying to be the savior again. Obama surely feels like a victim. Most people do not have an Ivy League education so we could not ever really understand that we need to be led by these academics. Wounded like Cater roaming the earth looking for his flock, saving the planet. “The oceans will stop rising” Obama is an amazing piece of history.
Obama is the best thing to happen to conservatives since Carter.
Intelligent Design| 9.20.11 @ 1:23PM
First, the topic is federal income tax, not all other taxes.
But since you bring it up, those who earn more, have more assets, and spend more also pay higher Social Security taxes, more Medicare taxes, higher sales taxes, higher property taxes, etc.
David C| 9.20.11 @ 1:55PM
more taxes yes...lower % though....
your points are good, no offense meant...
Milton Friedman| 9.20.11 @ 2:27PM
Which is why my campaign slogan would be:
TAX THE POOR
Why not? Don't we routinely adopt tax policies to influence behavior? When you tax a behavior, you get less of it - so, hell, why not tax poverty? You want to pay a lower marginal tax rate? Good - get out their and bust your ass and you'll be rewarded with a lower tax rate. Win/win - make more, keep more.
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 7:39AM
So, is it any different than they have done previously? At least the taxed money will stay here in the States
oldfart| 9.20.11 @ 8:26AM
I don't think the money will stay here. It will be given to GE who will use it to create more jobs in India.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 4:58PM
"Obama is the best thing to happen to conservatives since Carter."
McCain was the best thing to happen to the Dems since Bush.
Ground Control| 9.20.11 @ 6:49PM
And the two together are the WORST thing to happen the American Taxpayer since George III.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:56PM
No, since Jefferson Davis and his grand dragons.
Ground Control| 9.20.11 @ 10:34PM
They weren't Davis' dragons. They were General Forrest's Dragons, and he disavowed them. Plus, the KKK was almost exclusively Democrat. Even up until the 1960's. Plus, the War between the States was a drain on PEOPLE far more than it was on tax revenue. A completely unnecessary war, with the blood of 600,000 people on Lincoln's hands.
Alan Brooks| 9.21.11 @ 7:27PM
If you're a white rightist in the south, you have to write that.
Ground Control| 9.22.11 @ 10:49AM
Excuse me?! I don't "have" to write anything at all. You are one sick puppy, Brooks. And I am NOT "in the South." Nor am I FROM the South. In fact, I have never LIVED in the South. But I have respect for PEOPLE and for the LAW, including the Supreme Law of the Land, the US Constitution. Clearly, you are a leftist crackpot with no respect and no decency.
shipley130| 9.20.11 @ 6:59PM
I think the rich are leaving the sinking USA ship.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:15PM
then we will replace them with Asians.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:17PM
"I think the rich are leaving.."
don't tell us what you think; tell us what you know:
write "I know the rich are leaving the sinking USA ship."
Be a man of decision, shipley.
Asian| 9.20.11 @ 8:03PM
I not gonna reave China and rive in communist country rike USA.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 8:52PM
Because you can't spell.
Tim B | 9.22.11 @ 2:24PM
I don't think they did that during the Clinton years, when taxes on them were higher than they are now. In fact I seem to remember a lot of jobs getting created during those years.
Timothy L. Pennell| 9.20.11 @ 6:51AM
Deficit Reduction Part 3. This time I mean it.
I like it. He can put it right up there with: I'm Focused Like A Laser Beam, on Jobs. This time I mean it.
$500 Billion for Shovel Ready Infrastructure Jobs. This time I mean it.
I will VETO any Bill that adds to the deficit. This time I mean it.
This will all be paid for. This time I mean it.
If you pass this Bill, now, hundreds of thousands of Construction Jobs will be created, right away. This time I mean it.
I'm not a Muslim. I never heard any of those things in Jeremiah Wright's Church. Bill Ayers is just a guy who lives in my neighborhood. I will take Public Funding for my Campaign. All Legislation will be put on the Internet, for 72 Hours, before it's signed. I'm NOT an Ideologue. I'm not.
This time I mean it.
GOD help us.
Teaghan| 9.20.11 @ 6:58AM
Goodm post Tim!
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 7:44AM
Hey Tim: Lets keep to the subject, economics and quit with the Obama baiting. All of us who read American Spectator are familar with your anti-Obama jibes. Say something different and give us alternatives to Obama policies. Quit the race baiting
Redstateboy| 9.20.11 @ 9:05AM
so criticism of Das Messiah to you is race baiting?
He's an incompetent, by his words and deeds a closet Socialist but any legitimate criticism is racist. And you blather... give US something different??!?
Warrior | 9.20.11 @ 9:19PM
Calling him a Socialist is very generous. W and his father were closet Socialists, Obama is a flat out Marxist.
Timothy L. Pennell| 9.20.11 @ 9:33AM
Tell ya what. As soon as this MARXIST POS is gone, I'll write something different.
Until then, nobody cares what you think. Go back to reading Alan Brooks.
Lizard King| 9.20.11 @ 11:12AM
Yea Verily!!!!
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 11:55AM
Of course his comments have logic
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:21PM
"Tell ya what. As soon as this MARXIST POS is gone, I'll write something different.
Until then, nobody cares what you think. Go back to reading Alan Brooks."
So Tim-bo, we are safer now that 10 years ago?
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:56PM
für diese können wir danken Cheney
Drunken Sailor| 9.20.11 @ 10:28AM
Your showing your colors. Tim was Ideology baiting, not race baiting. Just because Obama is black (technically half) and someone disagrees with him it doesn't mean they are racist. Where all the black liberals that bashed Bush racist as well?
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 11:57AM
Well matey, reading Tim's comments over a period of time, it seems to this reader he dwells quite a bit on Obama's race
Clint| 9.20.11 @ 12:00PM
Perhaps but not on that post.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:24PM
So we are better off economically than 10 years ago, and our total fortifications in the Mideast are safer now?
In a pig's ear!
Bartender| 9.20.11 @ 6:53PM
"So we are better off economically than 10 years ago...?" We WERE until President Bozo took office!
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:58PM
It started in the autumn of 2008, four months before Obama took the oath of office.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:07PM
... just you watch, someone will write it began with Pelosi in 2007. You guys can't make up your minds whether it started because of the Pelosi Congress, or with Obama two years later.
Ask PostAmerican, he'll reply it began when:
"Frank-lying Die-lano Rosenfeldt recalled gold from circulation. And when did FDR become president?: why, in 1933 of course! 1933! now we know! they're comink to take me avey HaHa..."
Riff Raff| 9.20.11 @ 7:20PM
It actually started with Federal Housing policies years earlier, policies which caused the housing market collapse.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:38PM
So then it wasn't Obama after all.
BTW, will you admit Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac make America more socialistic tnan Europe? that only our 'Defense' assistance to Europe makes us one-up on them?
Riff Raff| 9.20.11 @ 10:39PM
OK, but it really does not matter who is "more socialist." The point is, socialism is the problem. Socialism kills economies and it kills people too. Millions of them. Try socializing farm production and see what happens. Oops, that's been done already. And MILLIONS OF PEOPLE STARVED TO DEATH!!! Socialism, by any objective measure, is a crime against humanity.
Alan Brooks| 9.21.11 @ 7:31PM
Then we need abortion to lower the population. Either way, we end up offing people somewhere along the way.
No easy way out of Darwinism to sat the very least..
Riff Raff| 9.22.11 @ 10:52AM
This is a sick comment from an obviously sick person. You need to call the psychiatric hotline, fast!
Ground Control| 9.20.11 @ 11:27AM
Yo! da monk! You don't pay attention very well. There are repeated alternatives to Obama's policies all over the AmSpec, both in articles and posts by readers. The alternatives are real and very simple: CUT TAXES! For EVERYONE! Cut spending! Eliminate make-work government jobs and programs. None of these actually work. Get rid of them. Simplify the tax code. Stop federal subsidies and bailouts, which are unconstitutional anyway. And, no one is race baiting except you, Bozo.
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 12:01PM
Ground control you ruin any arguement you have by resorting to invective (see Bozo) in your statement. Other than the usual "cut taxes" "cut spending, eliminate, so called "make-work government jobs and program" What new do you have to present to alleviate our problems?
Ground Control| 9.20.11 @ 3:49PM
If you had any inkling about how economics works, you would know that cutting taxes puts money where it can do the most good: in the hands of people who will invest/spend it. THIS is true stimulus,, not mjore federal spending, which is wasteful and non-productive.
And, I'll stop calling you Bozo when you stop race baiting. Being opposed to Obama's stupid policies has absolutely nothing to do with race.
Lastly, what do YOU offer to alleviate our problems? Obama's "solutions" are the core of the problem and you only offer more of the same failure.
Ground Control| 9.20.11 @ 3:52PM
By the way, I don't consider my remarks to be "invective." "Vituperation" would be a better description.
Rmm| 9.20.11 @ 11:58AM
Does the truth hurt so badly, that you have come down with the dreaded foot-n-mouth disease, dm ?
MacDaddy| 9.20.11 @ 12:19PM
And.....THERE off! It's not a true AMSPEC thread until some Liberal smacks down the race card... always because they have no other card to play.
Monk-ey boy....Obama's flaming incompetence has NOTHING whatever to do with his race. It does, however, have MUCH to do with his past associations and his (claimed) education....
oldfart| 9.20.11 @ 7:51AM
The following has been attributed to various sources from a Chinese Proverb to Albert Einstein: Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. How many times and how many people will suffer because people believe in Marxist economics? It just does not work in the real world. The Soviet Union fell apart, Cuba only survived because others – such as the Soviet Union pumped trillions of rubles to keep the economy going. Chavez is is now finding out the same thing. Money is not free. Money that flies off of the printing presses is worthless and no one will accept it. Humans are not ants or bees. That model of a society of humans just does not work. So how much suffering is required before the Marxist/Alinsky/Aires/Obama types get it that they are being suckered by the mega rich of the world?
Oldefarte| 9.20.11 @ 9:42PM
It amazes me that people are so very, very STUPID. There is simply no substantial discussion of GOVERNMENTAL EXPENSE REDUCTIONS. Quit talking about taxes-revenue, and start taking about expenses. Where are the suggestions/discussions of WHAT GOVERNMENTAL PROGRAMS/AGENCIES need to be eliminated and/or cut substantially? Where? Does anyone have the GUTS/COURAGE to suggest/demand same of these politicians [Republicans only, since Democrats are so far in the tank of STEALING OTHERS' WEALTH that they won't even listen to same]. Demand that the Education, Energy, Commerce, Interior Depts, all foreign aid, OBAMA-WELFARECARE, excessive military hardware, farm aid, Solendra type political payoffs that are useless/wasteful, etc be eliminated [or severly reduced]. IT'S THE GD DEMOCRATS, STUPIDS [and the governmental expenses besides]!!!!!!!!
POST American| 9.20.11 @ 7:00AM
--'90's Show' capstone FAKE die--ALL--ek--tic
DIS--traction and 'CALM--place--n--see'
------------------------ALERT!----------------------------
AS that agenda 'friendly' FUKSIHIMA fallout
mixes with the usual HAARP enabling CHEM-trails
for the 7th month, we steadfastly remind
those NON-collation therapy 'innies' of the
Rock--F--L--O fake front press -----it's the
Globalist RED China sellout and TREASON OP!
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:37PM
Die al ech tick
Kidney Die- al-ice-is
Diazepam
Deprenyl
Alzheimers
Nursing home
Funeral parlor
Burial plot.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:39PM
"CALM--place--n--see"
Calm place in the nursing home to drink Ensure immediately before dinner.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:44PM
"CALM--place--n--see"
Calm place in the mortuary the night before the funeral service.
Brian Mc| 9.20.11 @ 7:03AM
Do you really want to make liberalism go away? Help repeal the sixteenth amendment; the festering boil on the face of the Constitution.
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 7:47AM
And Brian, what will that do? What are you suggesting?
Frekki| 9.20.11 @ 9:24AM
Why don't you google it dumbo? The 16th allows the Feds to tax income, ie: income tax.
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 12:05PM
Frekki: I am well aware of the 16th amedment. what will repeal accomplish? Can you give me a clue.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 6:31PM
"Frekki: I am well aware of the 16th amedment. what will repeal accomplish? Can you give me a clue."
Rightwing placebo:
repeal the 16th;
return prayer to the schools;
ban gay marriage;
permit assault rifles;
eat more meat;
donate funds to the GOP;
all of it Feel Good.
Riff Raff| 9.20.11 @ 6:59PM
Left wing Placebo:
More Taxes!
Ban free exercise of religion by judicial fiat.
CREATE "gay" marriage.
Ban private ownership of firearms
Become vegan.
Have the TAXPAYERS subsidize the Democrat Party so you can keep your welfare check!
All of it "feel-good". (Except if you're a taxpayer).
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:13PM
There you go: politics is little more than warm 'n' fuzzy.
Whatever feels good.
Riff Raff| 9.20.11 @ 7:21PM
But I'm a taxpayer. And it doesn't feel good to have my money taken and wasted by incompetents in government.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:30PM
When the Bush family were in the saddle, 12 years, I paid tens of thousands in total taxes. All poured down the drain so the Bushes could go through the motions of compassionate [not] conservatism; No [countless] Child left Behind. The Bushes could write their memoirs and say "well, we took care of our own people."
They COULD say that, but not anymore.
One has to admire their unflappability.
Riff Raff| 9.20.11 @ 10:47PM
Gee. I bleed for you. For 8 years of Clinton I watched my rights piss away and my country being sold out to the Communist Chinese. For 4 years of Carter, well it's too painful to think about. Then there was Johnson and the "Great Society" welfare state. More money wasted. More votes bought with taxpayer money. Not to mention FDR, Hoover, and Woodrow Wilson (before my time).
The worst string of Presidents one can imagine is Bush (I), Clinton, Bush (II), and Obama. These fools have pissed away prosperity and security. And now we are at the brink on economic collapse and our national security is at great risk from Mediaeval Muslim lunatics, Chinese opportunists, and global socialists. We are no longer governed by our peers, but ruled by idiots.
Drunken Sailor| 9.20.11 @ 10:30AM
If the 16th is repealed how do you propose paying for national defense or any of the others duties the goverment is Constitutionally obligated to preform? Just trying to understand your argument.
W| 9.20.11 @ 11:15AM
Without the 16th you would have to do a national sales tax. If you want to have a flat income tax you still need the 16th. The 16th was passed because of WWI, and Woodrow Wilson.
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 12:06PM
And a national sales tax will effect the middle class more than those who are in the upper class.
W| 9.20.11 @ 8:08PM
The advantage of a sales tax is that the underground cash economy will be taxed when the money is spent. Now the states tax it at 6 or 7%, but a national sales tax would get more out of the untaxed economy. Another advantage is the elimination of IRS with its extensive and abusive powers to ask you any question and make you produce any document. Even with a so called simplified income tax you still have the monster IRS.
The middle class will not be hurt if you exempt food and clothing.
The upper class buys expensive toys such as boats and cars and they will pay the tax on these, plus restaurants, hotels, and others services.
Al Adab| 9.20.11 @ 11:24AM
Hi DS:
It really is on the spending side that the problem lies. General revenues from excise and import taxes would be enough to cover mandated costs IF it were not for all the redistributionist programs and "social programs" and "aid to states" the federal government is involved in.
That said we are probably so used to an income tax that eliminating it would be unlikely. However, in keeping with the 14th amendment and equal protection, no persons income should be treated any differently than anothers. That means no progressive tax rates, no "tax the rich" propoganda.
I would question how it is that so many taxpayers got more refunded than theylost from witholding. Something is seriously wrong with the tax system when it is used for some sort of social engineering by the central authority.
Drunken Sailor| 9.20.11 @ 11:38AM
Thanks AL, That makes sense. A flat tax I can get behind because like you, I do not see the income tax every going away. The tax refund thing has always bugged me. How can somone who paid no taxed get a refund? It is so simple even the liberals should see it, but that would not fit their paradigm. I have friends who just dont see anything wrong with it. Then again these are the same people that just can not understand why I keep my returns to a bare minimum and would rather pay a small amount each year then give the goverment a intrest free loan. A dram of mental lubricant didn't even help.
Al Adab| 9.20.11 @ 2:15PM
Some good questions we have in common. Maybe one evening we could discuss them over a bit of Laphroigh.
Clint| 9.20.11 @ 2:36PM
Never had it but always open to new spirits. Similiar to Bushmills Black Bush? It and their 10 year are probably the closest I have tried. Unless you count Johnnie Walker Black
Drunken Sailor| 9.20.11 @ 2:36PM
That was me Al, just giving Clint a hard time.
Al Adab| 9.20.11 @ 3:07PM
LOL :)
You know, it might do Clint a world of good.
Butch| 9.20.11 @ 7:42PM
Al, Sailor, you two see the world about the same way I do. I'd like to have a drink with both of you. I'll bet Al and I can convert ole Sailor to single-malt, in addition to his affection for JD, of course. PS: flat tax is the way to go, but it has to be locked in so it's not that easy to increase.
Al Adab| 9.20.11 @ 8:53PM
Butch:
We all needto encourage AmSpec to have a bloggers convention somewhere relatively equidistant for everyone. It would be a great, and educational, pleasure to meet all face to face.
BTW, I don't mind a JD now and then myself.
Lawrence Boccardi| 9.20.11 @ 7:05AM
And, the most amusing part, is when "they" reference a poll that claims most Americans favor a tax hike on the rich. Would this be the same most Americans that pay NO income tax?
Clint| 9.20.11 @ 7:16AM
Obama Is One More Socialist Big Government Taxer.
"A Wall Street Journal story suggests the Buffet tax would have hit just 22,000 people in 2009, those households making more than $1 million annually and paying less than 15 percent of income in federal income taxes. According to the Tax Policy Center, doubling the tax burden of those 22,000 would raise just $19 billion a year. How silly is this?
And let’s also not forget that over the past four decades the evidence is absolutely clear that a lower capital-gains tax produces huge gains in revenues. Raising the cap-gains tax lowers revenues."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
John Daniel| 9.20.11 @ 7:30AM
First line that should come out of every Republican's mouth: "It's not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem."
Pecos Pete| 9.20.11 @ 12:21PM
John: Exactly! In one sentence you surround the democrats, and King O, with undeniable logic.
PAUL| 9.20.11 @ 8:11AM
This is the end for him, playing to his base. The independents, many who are "the wealthy" will not go for class warfare. Nor will many of the middle class unemployed. When you need a job you are not looking for someone to blame, you are looking for a job.
tsd| 9.20.11 @ 8:12AM
We do not need to increase tax's you moron, we need to cut spending. When this administration says tax the rich, they mean tax anyone with any money left to tax. The only ones left with anything will be the ruling elite... period. This is the most evil group of thief's and tyrants you could imagine. KICK THEM OUT NOW!!
JP| 9.20.11 @ 8:14AM
So this is the legacy of the Anointed One: ObamaCare higher taxes on the rich, and +10% unemployment.
Intelligent Design| 9.20.11 @ 8:34AM
Americans are frustrated and angry about loss of jobs, loss of homes, declining investments, and unpredictable taxes. Obama is trying to deflect the blame from himself and direct it to "the rich". After this baseless demagoguery fails to rescue Obama, who will he blame? Perhaps he will follow the path of Hitler and the Muslim terrorists, by blaming the Jews. I think he is low enough and dumb enough to try it.
da monk| 9.20.11 @ 12:11PM
Intelligent Design: You last two sentences prove you are not really intelligent, but a demegogue portraying Obama as a Nazi
Skippy| 9.20.11 @ 7:20PM
Well, if the jackboot fits...
Nazi| 9.20.11 @ 8:07PM
Please, Obama's way too much of a pussy to be one of us...
Bartender| 9.20.11 @ 10:49PM
Just from a historical perspective, Obama is politically more similar to the Nazis than you think. This is an objective observation. Look up what the Nazis really were (which is far worse than the cliches) and learn something.
Siegfried X| 9.20.11 @ 12:17PM
I was thinking the same thing and it reminded me of something a refugee from Nazi Germany wrote. Today's version would be:
Obama came for the "rich" and I said nothing
The Democrats came for the drug companies and I said nothing
Obama came for the banking industry and I said nothing
Then Obama came after me. I cried for help but there was no one left to save me.
Alan Brooks| 9.20.11 @ 7:22PM
Zey are commen to take me a-vay HAHA
Bartender| 9.20.11 @ 10:50PM
They already took you away. They just gave you internet access (at taxpayers' expense).
Indy| 9.20.11 @ 8:40AM
Eat the Rich - remember this video from Bill Little which illustrates that point -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ
Louis Jenkins| 9.20.11 @ 8:59AM
Pretty soon the other guys money will run out, then who ya' gonna eat Mr. Obama? This will be Obama's last stand just like Custer's. Fortunately, the Conservatives are standing pat on their promise not to raise taxes, and if they back peddle, they too will be toast. The working population is fed up with taxation. Get real Mr. Obama, cut spending, cut it dramatically, then we will see truth in your madness. Otherwise, try to raise taxes, and we will say "good bye."
k962| 9.20.11 @ 9:51AM
there is no difference from Obama and the leftists on Wall street this past weekend. The message is the same!
k962| 9.20.11 @ 9:51AM
there is no difference from Obama and the leftists on Wall street this past weekend. The message is the same!
no hussein 2012| 9.20.11 @ 10:09AM
Unless of course the "wealthy" are employed by government and,or handsomely contribute to progs.
Siegfried X| 9.20.11 @ 10:37AM
The worst thing about Obama's proposal is his looting of American corporations. It is confiscation, not taxation. Obama's money grab from banks and drug companies, among other businesses, is a plain and simple money grab, like dictator Chavez in Venezeula confiscating corporate funds in the name of "The People". It's no surprise that the US unemployment rate is so high, given this war on business. I wonder if those jobs will ever come back.
tsd| 9.20.11 @ 11:35AM
Very good analogy. Obama and his cronies are just using a different and more sinister/sneaky process to subvert our wealth than Chavez. Same crook different disguise.
Siegfried X| 9.20.11 @ 10:40AM
Which rich people is Obama after? Nancy Pelosi, one of the richest members of Congress? George Soros? Democrats who got rich by evading taxes like Tom Daschle and Treasury Secretary Geithner?
George S| 9.20.11 @ 11:19AM
Why are we still paying attention to Obama is a mystery to me. Deficit reduction? Then:
Why isn't Obama touting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? This alone is supposed to cut the deficit half a trillion dollars over the next ten years. Obama said so, as did OMB, but now he's keeping quiet. I don't understand.
Why did Obama allow the "Bush Tax Cuts" to continue unmolested? Because the economy couldn't take the hit? But now it can? What has changed since January?
Did the Stimulus fail? If not, then why do we need the latest proposal of tax hikes and spending? If it did fail then why more of the same?
How can an economy rebound and grow, picking up sales and factory orders, get housing started, start employing people, and have incomes steadily rise without the free market creating rich people? Aren't the rich the problem to begin with? How would creating more of them solve our problems?
Mr Boehner, why are you the only one who still wants to work with this guy? We are done taking him seriously; just keep him away from us for another year. That's all we ask.
Al Adab| 9.20.11 @ 11:33AM
President Lincoln, a much wiser man than his current successor, once said, "That some become rich means that others may become rich." Apparently he understood tha government should operate in such a way as to increase opportunity for all citizens. What The Left fails to understand (or possibly just uses for political advantage) is that few people remain in any given quintile over time. Of course The Left has a vested interest in keeping a large segmant of the community dependant on their spending programs as it delivers them votes. What they are in fact interested in is retaining power. One might ask why?
Lincoln was not alone in his views. During the 1924 Presidential campaign, John W. Davis - the Democrat party candidate- said, "to tax one individual, class or group to benefit another individual, class or group is theft." Until some discovered they could buy votes through spending programs our system functioned well. today...
Finally, to paraphrase Lincoln again, "Obama must love the poor as he created so many of them."
Buck Ofama| 9.20.11 @ 11:42AM
I DON CARE BOUD NO DAM RICH FOKES...ALLS I WUNS 2 NO B DIS........WARE MY GUMINT CHEK????????? U NOMUH SAYN?????? WUSUP WI DAT SHIT??????????I GOTS 2 GIT ME SUM MO CRUMSNATCHERS AN GIT ME SUM MO CHEKS......NOMUH SAYIN??????
Pecos Pete| 9.20.11 @ 12:27PM
Hey now, BO, watch out or da monk will strike at you with his, ummmmmmm, intelligent commentary.
da monk is from the US Justice Department and on duty trolling today.
no hussein 2012| 9.20.11 @ 12:33PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o64Fz-KW1Dk
Pat| 9.20.11 @ 1:10PM
Eat the rich? C’mon, Obama and his buddies don’t want to eat the rich, they want to be rich. And no president since FDR has been a better producer than Barack Obama when it comes to making selected Democrats very rich. Take the current Soylanda scandal the mainstream media is desperately trying to ignore. $535 million in taxpayer funding disappears, there are rumors a generous Obama campaign contributor got a hefty chunk of it – how much did he get – no one is saying. The FBI will investigate we’re told, their eventual report will be thoroughly vetted before release, names of the guilty will be redacted and our Attorney General will conclude no actual laws were broken – it was just bad luck – just one of those unfortunate mistakes.
And 10 years from now someone will write a book titled “Soylanda Exposed”, we’ll read innuendos, we’ll hear unsubstantiated rumors and we’ll get a smidgen of actual facts – and by then no one will care, it was 10 years ago for gosh sakes, time to move on we’ll be told. Many current Democratic insiders got to divvy up that $535 million, wasn’t that the sole point of the exercise?
These massive – and frequent - government swindles are frustrating and more than enough to make an average American go postal – or maybe we should coin a new term – “going taxpayer” – a local IRS office is hosed down by some poor soul who couldn’t take it anymore and in the future we’ll call such incidents “going taxpayer”. The source of the frustration is easy to divine, there is absolutely nothing we, the powerless citizens, can do to prevent future attempts to grow rich at the expense of the American taxpayer.
The more emotionally unstable among us will react to such theft by calling for demonstrations, armed resistance – sure, that will work, angry guys with .30 caliber deer rifles facing down Apache attack choppers. Conservative commentators will assure us the only cure is electing a Republican to replace Obama – so a different group of White House insiders will get the opportunity to become wealthy off the taxpayers – somehow that isn’t very reassuring either. And the final insult to our collective intelligence will be the mainstream media claiming Obama sincerely wants the rich to pay their fair share – but who made them rich and how – we’ll never learn the truth of where our hard earned money actually went. In a world of $535 million swindles orchestrated by our supposedly compassionate politicians, perhaps the only sane choice left us is “going taxpayer”.
martin j smith| 9.20.11 @ 3:03PM
If the Republican party had more assertive leaders, at this time they could handle Obama and his class warfare. However, I have the sense that they are timid. It is time for new leadership. If not the Republican Party could be history.
cicero| 9.20.11 @ 3:05PM
olde farte commented that Obama, and his likes, are fooled by marxist ideology. Not so. As we should have learned in the last century, when the various family based aristocracies were replaced by what I like to call "the aristocracies of the beaurocracieis". If you were vaguely realted to the Romanovs, you had a job for life that allowed you to live very well while doing very little of any worth. Now, in western society, you need only have a government job to be able to live very well while doing very little of any worth.
The more things change . . . These folks are not being fooled. They know very well what they are about. It is not by chance that they are all from the same educational background. They have figured it out.
Harry Truman once said, "Show me a politician who comes out of office with more money than when he went in, and I will show hyou a theif." Clinton went into the White House, never having made more that $40k a year. He came out a millionaire. Obama went into politics naver having held a real job. He isn't even out of the WH. and is alreeady a multi-millionaire.
Pat| 9.20.11 @ 4:53PM
Cicero, good insights, nice to learn some Americans can view reality free of the blinders political rhetoric constantly imposes. Obama has and will become personally wealthy by making others personally wealthy, just as Bill Clinton did. In the “new capitalism”, it’s the guy with political “connections” who climbs the ladder to personal wealth and it’s the elected guy providing these “connections” who follows him up that ladder. Our government buildings have become the new marketplace – filled with influence peddlers, deal makers, folks who suffer no qualms taking money they didn’t earn, channeling this money in turn to hustlers who understand it’s important to return a portion of this unearned wealth to their political benefactors and elected guardian angels.
Most Americans were raised to believe we enjoy “greatest nation” status because we have the best political system on earth. The obvious and constant corruption within our present political system is largely ignored and voluntarily so by many Americans. Since childhood we’ve been taught that our political system can host many diverse visions of what’s good for our nation, can tolerate and even thrive on differences of opinion and ideology. Sounds so comforting when explained that way, so reasonable we refuse to believe it’s all about the money and only about the money. Ideology will always take a backseat to self-interest and our present political system is tailor made to promote self-interest. And there’s nothing us average citizens can do about it – the harshest reality we must face.
RichTex| 9.20.11 @ 4:36PM
Obama wants to make sure that “the rich”, the “millionaires and billionaires” pay a higher tax rate. Sounds like the Alternative Minimum Tax to me, something we’ve been stuck with since the late 60’s.
But perhaps, we should accept Obama’s offer on this. Let’s revise the AMT so that it hits only “millionaires and billionaires”. The threshold for the application of the AMT should be a taxpayer who has a minimum net worth of $1,000,000 ($2,000,000 for a couple filing jointly) with an AGI of at least $1,000,000 (or $2,000,000 for a couple) in any one tax year. That would be an improvement over what we’ve got now.
PolishKnight| 9.20.11 @ 9:38PM
A couple of flaws with the whole paradigm of income taxes pegged to a set income. For starters, government created inflation ultimately pushes taxpayers into the "millionaire" bracket. So create brackets defined by some type of statistic such as mean income. If the current mean US income is about 50K or so, define a "millionaire" via AMT at 20X mean US income. Problem solved!
Next, call the democrats bluff and agree on a millionaire tax but insist it go to real millionaires. Or better yet, give it to him. Believe it or not, it will hit the mostly higher income earning blue states and government union jobs. A similar thing happened with Obamacare which is why he set up the loopholes for his buddies. Watch the fun and games when he tries THAT again.
The fact of the matter is that Obama can't solve his problem with tax increases and he knows it. He's using class warfare, successfully, that has worked since FDR and the Republicans fall for it. The fundamental question is: Should there be a progressive tax rate or should taxes be raised on the lower and middle classes in order to make a "flat tax" work? Will the electorate, including the few working class white guys left that McCain hasn't met with LaRaza to bash, stay in sufficient numbers for them to win elections? If not, then deal with the issue!
PattyMor| 9.20.11 @ 6:46PM
Personally I like Rush's plan, Lets tax the "rich" more, but only those that are registered Democrats. Then Warren Buffoon can get his way. He can pay higher taxes and leave the rest of us alone.
no hussein 2012| 9.20.11 @ 8:31PM
The hussein says- Only those in the top positions of government may prosper!
POST American| 9.20.11 @ 11:16PM
--------------------BOTTOM LINE----------------------
Forget these '90's Show' chain-pulling
SAP OPS.
Now, put aside the puppet show.
Forget your EYE---cons and EYE---dolls.
---Look up into your late summer skies.
------Count the CHEM-trails.
---------Sniff the air and think
----------------------FUKISHIMA----------------------
----------------------FUKISHIMA----------------------
----------------------FUKISHIMA---------------------
--------------------------------------Think hard.
sunglasses | 9.21.11 @ 12:44AM
good post, Thank you for sharing articles
Petronius| 9.21.11 @ 9:21AM
1 The law and political power are for sale. 2 The "rich", whom this dictator is referring to are defined as solvent adults who refuse to vote for him to waste the taxes confiscated from their earnings to support the low life he whores for votes with their money. 3 The best way he believes he can retain power over the hosts of his parasitic constituents is to prevent Us from keeping enough of Our own money to fund his opponents. Liberals rule us because real Conservatives have had no candidates to turn to on election day since Reagan. The Bush family are all mushy Methodists under the control of Barbara, and she is as liberal as the rest of the beltway bastards. And together the Republisnobs and Commiecrats have joined forces to prevent anybody who doesn't vote for them from accumulating enough wealth to become really Free and independent. A pox on both their houses.
POST American| 9.23.11 @ 3:56AM
-----------------BOTTOMLESS LINE-------------------
----Putting aside 9/11 and the two seperate
occasions, also on 9/11 a decade before, when Bush Sr., after engaging in rampant Globalist RED China set up and sellout ---proclaimed the 'New World Order' coming into view.
Some happenings since 9/11/2001:
Dec 26, 2004 --the SE Asian Tsunami
on Mao Tse Tung's Birthday
--the FACT that it did occur Mao's
Birthday UNMENTIONED in Globalist
media
Jan 11, 2009 -the Haiti Quake
----oddly prepared and in place US army
relief units dispatched
February 2011 -strange mass deaths of
blackbirds ove the midwest, and mass
anchovy kills floating up in California
Around this time Washington inder and heavy
John Wheeler mysteriusly murdered.
The case quickly buried
Early Mar. 2011 -strange radiation patterns
centering over Japan's east coast
---Experts describe the wave patterns as
manmade
Mar 11, 2011 -the HAARP-esque FUKISHIMA
quake, tsunami and world nuclear disaster
involving flawed 6 GE Mox reactors
No significant statements from, or confrontation
with the TAX FREE Globalist GE sin--dick--it,
or its head, Jeffre I-Melt-down
Within days of the disaster, radiation
monitoring stations around the world
seized, adjusted, censored and/or shut
down
Apr 11, 2011, a second wave of seismic events
and further damage to the now fully melted
down reactors ---5 of them, each bigger than
Chernobyl
Radioactive fish identified as far away as
Australia
Further censorship of monitoring.
Sporadic coverage by Globalist controlled
media through April, then phased out and
now UNMENTIONED
------------Ann Coulter, at the forefront of
Rockefellow FAKE 'right wing' ops, releases
a book about the dangers of mobs --after
high profile dissing the seriousness
of radiation and cancer, sterilization, birth defects etc.
---Are we begining to REAL--EYES
what's going down?