Obama In Trouble, Panders To Middle Class
Jan 26, 2010 Political
Still feeling the heat from the stinging loss in Massachusetts, Barack Obama will pander to the middle class in an attempt to get people to realign with his priorities. The first thing he will do is ask for a three year spending freeze on a very small part of the federal budget. This is in response to mounting concerns among voters regarding out of control spending. Remember, Obama was going to go line by line and cut out the waste.
Instead, he has signed bills, including the stimulus, loaded with pork. He has yet to go through and cut wasteful spending. Count that as another promise broken.
The idea for a freeze would be a start if it were not a ruse. The agencies that will be frozen have already seen budget increases as high as 50% so a freeze means little. They are being frozen at a high level of funding. In order to bring things under control the budget needs to be cut and Obama can start by going line by line as he promised.
The next thing he will do, which will be officially disclosed at the State of the Union Address, is to enact (or expand) programs for the middle class. Obama is expected to introduce the following:
-Nearly doubling the tax credit that families making under $85,000 can receive for child care costs, with some help for families earning up to $115,000, too.
-Capping the size of periodic federal college loan repayments at 10 percent of borrowers’ discretionary income to make payments more affordable.
-Increasing by $1.6 billion the money pumped into a federal fund to help working parents pay for child care, covering an estimated 235,000 additional children.
-Requiring employers who don’t offer 401(k) retirement plans to offer direct-deposit IRAs for their employees, with exemptions for the smallest firms.
-Spending more than $100 million to help people care for their elderly parents and get support for themselves as well. AP (via WBAL)
Some of these things are more government intervention and will cost more money. The doubled tax credit will lower the tax burden of those who, for the most part, pay little, if any, taxes and it might not even help them. The credit will not result in more of a refund if the person pays no taxes so those on the lower end are not likely to receive much more. But those who do benefit will increase the tax burden on those who pay taxes, including those who have no children in the first place.
Capping loan payments will extend the life of the loan though it might make it easier to pay back. There will be a trade off for this but it might benefit those who are having trouble making the loan payments. One problem I see is they will be paying for a longer period after they graduate.
Pumping more money into a fund to help people pay for child care will cost taxpayers. The insult is that other taxpayers will be paying for their cildren’s care and the care of someone else’s children. Those with no children will also pay for the care of those with children. This is another redistribution plan that Obama loves so much.
Requiring employers to offer IRAs is more government intervention in the private sector. So long as employers only have to offer the plan and don’t have to fund (and are not forced to provide it) then it should not be an issue. The problem is that government does not belong being involved in private business. What a company offers should be between the company and its employees. We will need to watch this one to see how much government creeps into the issue.
Spending more money for people to take care of elderly relatives will cost money and means that we will get to support the parents of other people. They did not raise us, clothe us, feed us or provide us with a house when we were growing up but we will be expected to pay for their care.
Obama is in trouble a year and a week into his term and he is pandering to the middle class to try and soothe their fears. The Brown victory in Massachusetts was a wake up call and Obama knows he must appease the minions by giving them trinkets or his party will be in very serious trouble come November.
None of these things will create jobs (something Obama will note) and none of them reduces spending. They are nothing more than shiny beads given in an attempt to appease the masses and make them think dear leader loves them.
Here is an idea. Get rid of the capital gains tax for a year and eliminate the corporate tax for a year and then raise it to 50% of what it was. Cut government spending by going line by line (where have I heard that before) and eliminating waste. And for now, focus solely on job creation and the economy and forget the grandiose, pie in the sky things.
The liberal leaning website Wonkette has a great take on this issue.
How is that hope and change working out for ya?
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Tags: lies, middle class, Obama, scott brown, state of the union, tax credits, trinkets
So Much For Only Taxing The Rich
Aug 3, 2009 Political
Two Obama administration officials, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, were on the talk shows this weekend and they were asked about tax increases. Both of them left the door open to taxing the middle class in order to reduce the deficit and to pay for the expansion of health care.
During the campaign Obama promised that 95% of earners would see no tax increase. He made it clear that he intended to pay for his follies by taxing the rich. The top 1% of earners already pay more in taxes than the bottom 95% of earners and even if they took every dollar the rich earned they could not pay the bills. Besides, once the taxes increase the wealthy will find a way to avoid them. The wealthy stopped going through Sherwood Forest when Robin Hood started robbing them. The wealthy know how to protect their money.
Anyone with common sense knew that Obama was not being accurate (I don’t say he lied because he probably believes his own rhetoric) but people voted for him anyway. The electorate was happy when the money they would be getting was coming from someone else but how will they feel when they start getting hit with tax increases to pay the bills?
Geithner and Summers would not rule out the increases and made it clear that the administration is trying to balance campaign promises with reality.
I have no doubt that the taxes will increase for everyone who actually pays them. The suckers who bought into the Obama hype will be the ones surprised when they are taking home less pay.
Let’s hope that this will be the straw that breaks Obama’s back and limits him to one term.
The Democrats have always been the party of tax and spend and this time will not be different.
Sources:
ABC News
Yahoo News
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Tags: increases, lies, middle class, taxes, taxpayers
Why Discriminate Against The Rich?
Feb 25, 2009 Political
What gives the federal government the right to confiscate more money from the rich than from other people in this country and why do liberals feel they have some right to that money? Barack Obama is unveiling his budget and he is keeping his promise to raise taxes on the rich (if one can truly be considered rich making $250,000 a year). He will also cap the amount of money they can deduct from their taxes in itemized deductions. This means that the rich will pay an even larger share for this country. They already pay almost all the taxes that are taken in.
There will be unintended consequences with this. Wealthy people will reduce their itemized deductions by decreasing what they give to charity. They will invest in tax free bonds and other tax free investment vehicles so that they will be able to compensate for the money that Obama takes in order to spread the wealth.
I think that it is a sin that the government takes more and more from the wealthy. The rich have had to pay tax rates of nearly 100% over certain periods of our history and that is just plain wrong. I can’t for the life of me understand what gives the government the right to confiscate so much from those who have made something of themselves and then turn around and give it to others. The wealthy do not get as much for what they pay compared to the middle class but they have only one vote just like the people who stand in line with their hands out.
Is it any wonder the wealthy hide their money in Swiss bank accounts? I cannot blame them for doing this because the government and its organized crime ring in Congress and the White House steal that money and they keep stealing more and more.
A lot of wealthy people create jobs in America and they add a lot to society. If I were one of them and I had to get rid of employees because of this I would fire people who voted for Obama. If I had no employees I would reduce my charitable contributions to the limit I could deduct. It is just a crime and the rich need to start demanding that this country start using a fair tax system where people are not punished for being successful.
I know that Obama said that this would only affect people making over $250k but once the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire a lot of people will be affected. After the election I reorganized my charitable contributions. Sometimes people call to ask me to donate to an organization that I know endorsed Obama. I make it clear that I will no longer donate to them for that reason. I have increased my donations to the organizations that support our troops instead.
They say that this is a free country. It is only free for the people who pay little or no taxes. It is quite expensive for those who have to support them.
It is time to get rid of this government and get a new one.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. United States Declaration of Independence
It is their right and their duty to throw off such Government…
How long will it be before there is a tax revolt? How long will it be before the wealthy wake up and they all stop donating to the idiots in political office.
It is now up to the Republican party to oppose these tax increases and to ensure this FAILS. Any Republican who sides with the Democrats in raising taxes should be taken out and hanged, drawn, and quartered and their remains should be placed on the four corners of DC.
Are you paying attention Specter, Collins and Snowe?
Our Founders are spinning in their graves. They devoted their lives to get rid of one tyrannical government only to have another pop up a few hundred years later.
Taxing the rich more is discrimination and it is wrong. No one is entitled to the wealth of another.
Obama wants to spread the wealth. The only thing he will end up spreading is hate and resentment.
I said it before and I will say it again. The rich should get more votes. Voting should be based on how much you pay in taxes. Every citizen gets one vote and then you get an additional one for each $10,000 you pay in taxes. If you pay more than others to keep this country running you should have more of a say in how it is run (like voting stock shares in a company). In addition, we should be able to tell people who live off government hand outs how they can live.
This tax increase will be the nail in the coffin.
And you know, I hate Obama. Yep, I hate him and I hate most liberals as well. But I am kind of glad he won because he will do more for conservatism in the next four years than any conservative could have.
You know what these people who stand around with their hands out need. It is a three letter word. J-O-B-S.**
Then they can pay their own way.
Rope, tree, liberal. Some assembly required.
**This statement was in reference to the gaffe Biden made when campaigning. I am including a link because Meathead thought I was stupid for saying it. Let’s see how long it takes for this moron to call Biden stupid.
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Tags: Democrats, liberals, lies, middle class, moochers, Obama, spread the wealth, tax increase
Who Will Pay Taxes Under Obama’s Plan?
Nov 3, 2008 Political
Who Knows?
Barack Obama’s definition of rich is a moving target. He started at $250k moved to $200k, and then Joe Biden lowered that to $150k and Bill Richardson adjusted downward to $120k. The idea of who is middle class and who is rich keeps moving in a downward spiral and when all is said and done everyone will be saddled with higher taxes.
Notice at the end he is discussing the middle class in an interview from a few years ago. He says those making 40 or 50 thousand should get a tax break.
Once again, Obama’s numbers are moving targets and if he gets into office he will have a majority in Congress to decide upon any number he wants and there will be nothing short of a revolution that can be done about it.
Bill Clinton made the same promises and when he got in office he RAISED taxes on everyone.
Don’t say you were not warned.
I am the Big Dog and I approve this blog post.
Tags: changing positions, middle class, moving target, Obama, taxes