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Political Hay
Obama and the Pirates
The latest proof that President Obama is a freebooting Marxist.
(Page 2 of 2)
And increasing benefits for not working only pays people more for not working and not contributing to the economy. All of this will only get worse in Obama’s unearned second term. The long-term result will be economic stagnation, not rapidly increasing living standards, as in all the countries that Obama admires and wants America to follow.
The American people used to know all of this, which is why they never voted for redistribution over economic growth in the past, whenever they were given a well-articulated choice.
The Mentally Feeble Left
The
Left’s big counterargument to these demonstrated facts is that they
only cover the federal income tax. They don’t count the Social
Security and Medicare payroll tax, which all working people pay of
at all income levels, and which the rich do not pay on all of their
income, like most workers.
But it is the federal income tax that President Obama has been arguing should be increased because the rich don’t pay their fair share, not payroll taxes. So it is reasonable and relevant to look at what share of federal income taxes “the rich” are already paying.
Moreover, the Left is again grievously in error in thinking the maximum taxable income for the Social Security payroll tax of $113,700 is a loophole for the rich. Social Security benefits are calculated based on the worker’s income history. Only the income on which the worker paid taxes is counted.
So the limit is not an unfair loophole. Workers don’t pay taxes on income above the limit, but they don’t get benefits for that income either. That is because Social Security is a contributory program that only replaces a floor of wage income in retirement. Once your retirement income is above that floor, there is no good reason to force taxpayers to pay more for higher benefits. That is especially because Social Security pays such poor, below market returns on tax payments into the program, actually negative real returns for higher income workers. So why force a worker to pay more for a negative real rate of return. It doesn’t help to close the long run Social Security deficit, because more benefits would be owed in the future in return.
But let’s humor the little communists, and look at the relative shares paid for all federal taxes. Again according to official IRS data, in 2009 the top 1% paid over 22% of all federal taxes, while earning 13% of the income. That is down under Obama from the nearly 27% of all federal taxes paid by the top 1% achieved by Reaganomics in 2007.
President Obama also continues to promote the illiterate false narrative that the rich pay lower tax rates than the middle class, along with his trained seal sidekick Warren Buffett. But the IRS again reports that in 2009 the top 20% paid nearly 70% of all federal taxes, while earning 50% of the income. The middle 20%, the true middle class, paid 9% of federal taxes, compared to their 15% share of income. The top 1% alone paid well over twice the total federal taxes as the entire middle 20%, while earning less in income. The bottom 20% paid 0.3% of all federal taxes.
America’s Marxist Party
But it is not
just Barack Obama. It is the entire Democrat party that has been
taken over by Marxists.
Obama represents the heart and soul of the Democrats, whose enthusiasts wear Che Guevara T-shirts sold at their major gatherings. Look at Nancy Pelosi, just as zanily ultraleft as Obama, reelected as Democrat House leader, right after the voters punished House Democrats with a New Deal size 63-seat loss in 2010. Pelosi makes Sarah Palin look like a rocket scientist when she tells us that unemployment insurance benefits are one of the most effective pro-growth policies possible. Why not put everyone on permanent unemployment benefits then? What a tragedy it is then when someone gets a job and gets off unemployment benefits.
The reelection of Pelosi to this post was considered by the Democrats to be fair punishment of the stupid voters who made the grievous mistake in 2010 in voting to restore the Republicans to the House majority. Punishment it was.
Or listen to Minnesota Democrat Congressman Keith Ellison talk about how fair it is for 63% of the income of professional golfer Phil Mickelson to be seized in taxes. Ellison already campaigns in a tricorner pirate hat. Or listen to openly communist Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson from Orlando.
This and more is what your friends and neighbors are contributing to and voting for when they support the Democrat party. They are effectively engaged in a personal assault on you and your family, or at least on your freedom and prosperity, in attempting to turn this most prosperous and successful country in world history into just another banana republic.
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (37) | Leave a comment
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Robbins Mitchell| 2.13.13 @ 6:18AM
"Fair" is whatever Barokeydoke determines it to be based on his stunted little intellect and ideological prejudices...plus,I suspect his being black and the product of a 3rd world culture probably aggravates this syndrome
Jack in Wi| 2.13.13 @ 6:41AM
The number of rich people has been declining almost every year since 2007. How is Obama going ro get any milk from barren or non existent cows? He is a marxist and I blame the Republicns for not putting up better campaigns against him. We need a real opposition in this country not a bunch of brain dead country clubbers and neocons, pushing endless wars and endless bailouts. Where are any articulate conservatives? Rubio sure isn't one.
Solo| 2.13.13 @ 10:08AM
I have to agree, in part, with Jack here.
I am sick and damned tired of watching virtually all republicans genuflecting and groveling to the false language of the left in the democrat party.
"My good friend, ____" and "My esteemed colleague ____" while the democrat bastards are systematically destroying our way of life and the future for our children.
The repubs won't even utter the word "socialist" when referring to democrats, much less use the more accurate description, "Marxist" to describe this disgrace of a President.
It nearly made me physically sick last night to watch Lindsey Grahm smiling and glad-handing Janet Incompetano last night at the SOTU speech.
There are few things in this modern age more sinister and foreboding than a smiling democrat...except, perhaps, seeing a republican smiling along with them.
Enough already!!
The democrat party is the enemy of all this nation once stood for and should be treated as such 24/7/365.
"Cry Havoc...and let slip the dogs of war".
The first-best thing we can do for our national security and well-being is to purge our republic of the enemy within-- because so long as they are allowed to walk among us unmolested, we are weakened before the foreign enemies who wish us ill.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 10:55AM
It's okay to agree with Jack. (Although, I wouldn't recommend making a habit of it)
Even Hitler was right, sometimes.
Ya liked your VW Bug, didn't ya!
Moe Blotz| 2.13.13 @ 11:01AM
Also the autobahns gave Ike the impetus to build our national defence and commerce interstate highways.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:50PM
And, if you're Jack In Wi?
He locked up the Jews, and gassed them.
Moe Blotz| 2.13.13 @ 11:00AM
Neither are you, Jack.
Stephie| 2.13.13 @ 1:34PM
Go on Jack! For once, I agree with all of your post!
Rubio was a disappointment and Rand Paul was right on the money but of course, pretty much ignored. The repubs, as Ted Nugent said after the SOTU Show, have no scr*t*m. They aren't going to fight for us or our nation. Something else has to happen.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 3:05PM
Something else will happen.
Our Cities will be overrun by Eric Holder's People, and be burnt to the Ground.
Our Union Factories will Shut Down.
Our Blue States will Implode, Financilly. Their Job Creators beatin feet to Greener Pastures in Texas, Florida, South Carolina, and Asia.
Strikes will Cripple the Metrpolitan Areas. Obamacare, the EPA, and Unfunded Government Mandates will Cripple the Economy.
The Closing of Coal Fired Electric Generating Power Plants, and the continuing Illegal Drilling Moratoriums, will drive Energy Costs through the roof
Social Security and Medicare will Implode. And, Unemployment, Medicare, the Fed printing Money, and Endless Tax Increases will bring this Country to the Brink of Revolution.
I hope that helps.
Pecos Pete| 2.13.13 @ 5:16PM
Tim: Thank you. Short and sweet and all rolled up into one ball of wax. You nailed it.
OP4| 2.13.13 @ 7:07AM
"The American people... never voted for redistribution over economic growth in the past"
Uh, FDR? The New Deal?
RABart| 2.13.13 @ 7:54AM
No, I don't really think Obama is stupid. His largest character flaw, among many, is that he believes that we are stupid and that we believe all of his obvious lies. He is truly delusional and dangerous at the same time. He is basicly a despicable human being. I can only hope he gets his well deserved come-up-ance by someone or some event. That occurance cannot come soon enough.
Nancy in NC| 2.13.13 @ 9:24AM
Dr. Carson basically gave him his "due" at the prayer breakfast, but the MSM won't be pointing that out any time soon. How fitting it came from someone his own color, but from an entirely different background. Instead of a Communist mother, Dr. Carson had a God fearing mother who believed her children could succeed without the nanny state. And they proved her right.
Unfortunately there are few mothers left like Dr. Carson's. Most are beholden to the nanny state for their very existance and would certainly never clean toilets so their children could escape the government plantation. That would be below them...after all, don't we have a king that tells them that day after day? Those unable to read expect a free obama phone and subsistance from a government who expect nothing in return but their vote. How cheaply they sell their soul.
I see nothing changing in this country until we get the government off our backs and let the poor experience reality for their choices. That's not cruel at all; that's a kindness.
delahaya| 2.13.13 @ 1:09PM
Its always interesting to see the LEFTs priorities. Many were just mocking the fact the Seal who killed Bin Laden is now unemployed, without insurance, and partially disabled. They criticized him for resigning before he was vested for retirement. Yeah, too bad he wasn't just some random gangbanger welfare brat - then they could support full benefits for him.
Kwan| 2.13.13 @ 9:05AM
Obama's continuous rantings about the rich are obviously an effort to fire up da peoples revolution to attain equality. Similar to any leftist ghetto demagogue Obama tells his peeps: Dem dere folks gots it an wees all wants it. The essential flaw in Marxist ideology is that it eliminates incentive along with freedom. Why make an effort to get ahead when the State will just confiscate what it determines is in excess of what you need. It's all about creating a great collective of hapless serfs subsisting on the bare essentials, but still happy knowing that Obama and the Commiecrats have finally brought equality to the United States.
Russel| 2.13.13 @ 10:33AM
Reason why the moniker " The Great Divider ' is catching on and sticking . Divide and conquer . Create class envy , use the race card to keep the GOPhers in DC under the carpet , and give away as much as possible . " I don't have a spending problem " . No , what you mean is you don't have a problem with spending . The Sheep in this country are in for a very rude awakening .
delahaya| 2.13.13 @ 1:09PM
It is indeed a tragedy that petty envy and jealousy has become a political platform. My, how our country has fallen!
JimH| 2.13.13 @ 10:16AM
People keep referring to BO as Marxist. Certainly he spouts Marxian catch phrases but, as a number of people have pointed out he governs more as a Fascist. Maybe a better comparison is to liken his administration to that of Putin’s Russia, which can best be termed a kleptocracy where politically connected oligarchs try to use the state against each other and government officials seek to enrich themselves by selling their influence to the highest bidder.
Solo| 2.13.13 @ 10:37AM
Agreed!
Interesting, is it not, that Barry Soetoro borrows from the worst of all the "ism's" combined together.
It's as though he's gorging himself at some buffet of failed and otherwise evil menu selections and then vomiting it all in the face of liberty and the American dream.
delahaya| 2.13.13 @ 1:06PM
That was a great post Solo. I am going to use your phrase on "gorging himself".
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 10:51AM
The people who claim that this Guy - Who was Born to a Muslim Father, Raised in Muslim Indonesia's Muslim Schools and Mosques, Adopted by his Muslim Stepfather, and Proclaimed on National Television that "The Muslim call to Prayer is the most Beautiful Sound in the World", ISN'T A MUSLIM?
Are the very same people who now insist that this Guy: Who's Father was Marxist, who's Mother and Grandparents were Communists, who's first Mentor was a Communist, who's second Mentor was a Marxist, who has Domestic Terrorist "Friends" who are Marxists, who wrote in his Book that he "Sought Out the Marxist Professors when I got to College", and has dedicated his Adult Life to the Teachings of the Uber Marxist: Saul Alinsky, and his book - Rules for Radicals - is not a Marxist.
This has gone way past Orwell's wildest imaginations, when he wrote 1984.
Denial, is no longer just a River in Egypt.
It's become a way of life for about half the Population of Bizzarro World.
The Country previously known as: The USA.
JimH| 2.13.13 @ 12:50PM
Not to say that people can’t simultaneously hold contradictory beliefs, but a real Marxist could not also be a Muslim as Marxism is atheistic and Islam requires one’s ultimate obedience to God, not the state or the will of the proletariat. I guess it does not really matter. Regardless of what he says, it is enough to see that BO embodies the worst of several authoritarian strains of Stateism.
delahaya| 2.13.13 @ 1:04PM
Actually, Muslims were Nazis during WWII. Islam and Socialism are both totalitarian ideologies and can actually go together.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 3:10PM
They are one and the same.
One worships a God of Death.
And, the other one worships a Godless State of Death.
Same thing.
delahaya| 2.13.13 @ 1:12PM
TLP, You nailed it. The problem isn't whether he was born outside the US - the problem is where he was reared during his formative years. Obama is not an American in his internal culture or worldview.
Dave Williams| 2.13.13 @ 11:07AM
All completely true, and all completely useless in dealing with leftist drones, who are ruled by FEEEEEEEEELINGS, and utterly impervious to rational thought. In this regard, Oprah has done more damage to this country than islamic terrorists, and I do not say that as a joke.
Stephie| 2.13.13 @ 1:41PM
With soft lenses ~
I could never stand her show.
Ronsch| 2.13.13 @ 12:48PM
Sadly, though, Mr. Ferrara's information will never reach the low-information/no-information voters. They cannot comprehend it, with their next-to-no- education and lack of self-worth.
delahaya| 2.13.13 @ 1:01PM
What a great article! Unfortunately, the Left will just publish some paper made up out of whole cloth like they did with the federal pay versus private pay statistics.
cicero| 2.13.13 @ 1:16PM
The president can't possibly believe what he spouted last night. Giving a speach like that, and knowing that everything he said was false only demonstrates the utter contempt in which he holds those who he was speaking to - the American people.
1ConservativeUSA| 2.13.13 @ 2:28PM
We take Obama and his false arguments too seriously, thus giving him undue credibility.
The real response is to prove that his speeches are simply lies, feel good double talk and mollification of the stupid and weak.
How to do this, though. It's not an easy task, trying to convince the stupid and weak with reason and facts, but it is a necessary one.
RJ| 2.14.13 @ 2:31AM
Much of modern government is "legalized" thievery and goes beyond the scope of legitimate government. How can a government not become corrupt when people agree that government should be allow to benefit some at the expense of others rather than treating all citizens equally under the law? In the race to live off of others, more and more power is taken from the citizens and goes to the state.
"The more one considers the matter, the clearer it becomes that redistribution is in effect far less a redistribution of free income from the richer to the poorer, as we imagined, than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State." - Bertrand de Jouvenel, page 72 of The Ethics of Redistribution
Cuffs| 2.14.13 @ 1:28PM
And when America has been brought to her knees,
where will Obama be? I suspect he and his fat ass
wife will be luxuriating in their $30M Hawaii
mansion, etc. and laughing at the whole lot of
us. Obama cares for nothing but his own
aggrandizement. When will the american people
understand that 99% of all politicians don't give
a rat's behind about the Constitution or the people; they do care about themselves and
that is all ye need to know.
JONVIL| 2.15.13 @ 12:56PM
All too depressingly true and serves the enemies of America well. The conservative voters have been burned so many times by self-defined 'conservative' politicians that we simply do not know whom we can trust. What's really depressing is that anyone who seeks a political office is probably lying about everything he claims to stand for
OregonBuzz| 2.15.13 @ 10:55AM
"The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation." Vladimir Lenin
Marc Jeric| 2.15.13 @ 10:45PM
President Obama is a Marxist Muslim born in Mombasa, Kenya. It is now confirmed 100%.
1) Both birth certificates were forged by clever computer imaging – the short form one and the long form one. The long form one was issued after the short-form one was shown to be a forgery and shows the hospital’s new name from 1971 – ten years after his birth.
2) His Selective Service card is a forgery with a forged date; all SS cards show US Postal Service date with 4 numbers for the year; his card shows only two numbers – 80 – obtained by cutting out the date 2008 and reversing 08 into 80. (cont.)
Marc Jeric| 2.15.13 @ 10:46PM
3) Immigration records for the week of his birth are missing – destroyed; all such records are complete for at least 70 years – except for the first 10 days from August 1 to 10, 1961, when he was born, and when his grandmother and mother returned to Honolulu from Kenya with the baby.