In a desperate bid to sell his horrendous spending bill that keeps tax rates at current levels, President Obama needed some help from President Clinton:
The visual effect is quite striking. President Obama looks as though he is essentially admitting that he is unable to sell his deal to the American people. Instead, Obama needs an adult (it is a frightening thought that Bill Clinton is now the ‘adult’ in the Democratic Party) to speak to the American people.
What happened to the Obama who said he would rather be a successful one term president than a mediocre two term president? Instead, Obama is just turning into a failed president, at least according to… arch liberal Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor and publisher of the Nation.
What is ever more apparent is that Barack Obama is just not up to the job. Before running for office his life experience ranged from being a guest lecturer at a University, to organizing voter fraud as a ‘community organizer.’ He has never run a corner store, never mind a multi-trillion dollar economy. As Thomas Sowell said, “Obama is like a sophomore in college who thinks that he can run the world because he has never had to run anything.” The office of the Presidency is too much for Barack Obama to handle.
The debate over tax cuts and tax hikes has been devoid of one key factor: who the money belongs to.
On MSNBC‘s Andrea Mitchell Reports Mrs. Mitchell grilled Senator Judd Gregg on his support of extending of the Bush tax cuts – in other words, Senator Gregg’s opposition to one of the largest nominal tax hikes in history:
The economic argument made by Mitchell is pure sophistry. ‘Tax cuts’ can be a misleading term. Tax rate reductions do not necessarily mean tax revenue reductions. The static modeling used by many economists is premised upon “ceteris paribus” – with all other things being equal. In reality, all other things are never equal.
In a dynamic economy nothing happens in a vacuum. Tax rate reductions leaves more money in the supply side, which results in businesses big and small having the needed capital to expand. A growing economy results in higher earnings and the creation of jobs. More earners means more taxpayers, the result being increased government revenues. Government revenues increased when presidents: Harding, Coolidge, Kennedy, Reagan and Bush cut taxes. This stubborn set of facts has been presented ad nauseam, and yet the Left continues to deny reality.
However, there is more to the debate surrounding taxes than just what will result in higher government revenues. In the segment above, if you disregard Mitchell’s painful economic ignorance, her point that not raising taxes costs the government money is illustrative of how Democrats think.
The Left believes that all capital belongs to the government. Furthermore, the benevolent ruling class should decide how much capital you, the citizen, is allowed to keep, in the Left’s view. Using that logic, liberals view tax cuts as a reduction in the government’s money.
The aforementioned view is diametrically opposed to the fundamental precepts of private property rights. On one side, there are those whom believe that people are entitled to the fruits of their labor – their property. On the other side is the modern Left, which believes that all property belongs to the government, and should be disbursed among “the masses” by altruistic planners.
Senator Gregg’s simple response, “it’s their money,” reflects a sound understanding and belief in private property rights.
The government does not have the moral authority to seize your wealth and distribute it as they see fit. That type of broad and arbitrary power, the very type the Democrats have pursued at least since Franklin Roosevelt, is exactly what the Constitution sets to limit.
While it is well and good that lower tax rates result in larger government revenues, it is of secondary importance. The primary issue is that when you work, you are entitled to the fruits of your labor. Tax rate reductions are not about the government losing money, they are about taxpayers keeping what is rightfully theirs.
Governor Palin recently sat down with Judge Andrew Napolitano to discuss the policies of the Federal Reserve, fiscal policy in general, and what she expects from elected officialis who are identified with the Tea Party:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Sarah Palin is the only serious presidential candidate taking the Federal reserve to task. Restoring integrity to the dollar and combating inflation was a key tenet of President Reagan’s. Reagan called inflation “as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber, and as deadly as a hit man.” Inflation is a backdoor tax on Americans.
In their quixotic quest to jump-start the economy through monetary policy, the Federal Reserve has been printing trillions of new dollars, the latest manifestation being the QE2 (quantitative easing) policy. The problem is, due to the uncertain environment created by Obama’s vacillation on tax rates, in conjunction with the Democrats’ anti-business rhetoric and policies, and excessive government spending, businesses and investors do not know what to expect.
In an uncertain environment it is not possible to plan for the future. Not being able to plan for the future prevents businesses from expanding and creating new jobs. In uncertain times people or institutions with money hold onto their capital, waiting for the storm to pass. The measurement for the rate at which money is circulated is known as the velocity of money/circulation. The current velocity is lower than it has been in half a century. Simply put, that means money is not moving – goods and services are not being exchanged. With this low velocity the Fed can print all this money and no one notice it in their day-to-day transactions. The new money is not put into circulation due to the uncertain environment. However, once more predictable times come, there will be trillions of new dollars introduced into the stabilized economy. The rapid increase in the velocity of money will create too many dollars chasing to few goods – inflation. The net result will be substantial devaluation of cash savings that people have accumulated.
It is imperative that the next President restore integrity to the dollar and fight off inflation. Once again, remember, the devaluation of the greenback is a covert way for the government to essentially raise taxes. When inflation strikes the value of saving decline while the prices of goods increase. Inflationary policies have the same effect on you that a tax increase would – you have less spending power (of course, inflation causes many other problems).
On another note, Palin’s admonition that the government does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem is Reaganesque The argument that tax cuts cost the government money displays a total lack of respect for property rights. Besides the fact that tax cuts raise government revenues, income is the property of the earner, not the government. Taxes represent the amount of personal property that the government seizes. ‘Lost revenue’ to the government assumes that capital belongs to the government and they decide how much you are allowed to keep. this notion is the basis of the elitist mentality that plagues both parties. Governor Plain’s statement, almost a throwaway line, demonstrates a different understanding of the role of government. Plain’s instinctual reflex is that earners, not the government, are the rightful owners of the fruits of their labor. This is sadly a rarity in government.
All in all, this was a very encouraging interview from the woman that will lead the GOP to the White House in 2012.
The latest installment of 60 Minutes includes this exposé on the plight of the unemployed in Obama’s America. Currently, people receiving unemployment benefits have 99 weeks, nearly two years, to find employment after being laid off. 60 Minutes take a look at the jobless in Silicone Valley, California, once the home of American ingenuity, in this depressing piece:
In Barack Obama’s America, citizens remain jobless for longer than at any point since the Great Depression. People who once thought they had their lives planned out are being forced to move in with friends and relatives, unable to afford to live on their own anymore. Former executives now stand in file, waiting for food at local soup kitchens.
The policies of President Obama have made life miserable for millions. People do not want to be out of work, underemployed or a burden on their families and friends. However, due to the President’s tax hikes, out of control reckless government spending at the expense of the private sector, anti-business rhetoric and outright economic ignorance, the country, and its people, are suffering.
President Obama has committed the cardinal economic sin of creating an environment of uncertainty. With his vacillating stances on taxes and spending, businesses have no idea what is coming next. The result of an uncertain regulatory climate and the threat of raised and new taxes is that businesses do not expand and therefore do not hire new employees. The obvious result of this indisputable fact has been made painfully clear with the swelling of the ranks of the unemployed. Instead looking for opportunities to grow, businesses with available funds are sitting on their money, in an attempt to wait out the economic storm.
Elected Democrats are dismantling the country. Their policies are killing jobs, and ruining the lives of countless citizens. They have had their say really since 2006, when they took control of the Congress. Their record is abysmal. In four short years the Democrats have put the very survival of the United States as the world’s lone super power and economic leader at stake.
On this Strictly Right, a recounting of the heroism of Specialist Salvatore A. Giunta, the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since Vietnam, an examination of the media and Democrats’ coordinated campaign of lies against John Boehner, Obama’s continued war on the American Way, It Must Be A Liberal, and much more.
With communists the world over admitting that their system is a failure, the United States is still being driven down the path of socialistic ruin by the Democratic Party. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” By that definition, the Obama administration, and the Democratic Party are either insane, or intentionally destructive.
This week in Milwaukee, President Obama revealed his latest plan to revitalize the economy. According to the President, his new six-year plan to spend $50,000,000,000 on “roads, railways and airports” will save the economy. If the $787,000,000,000 didn’t help initiate a recovery why will an additional $50 billion? The answer is it wont. The new stimulus will be as useless as the old one. Why not give freedom a chance? Obama has announced that he will allow the Bush tax-cuts to expire for small businesses and top income earners – the entities that hire people. Instead of another destined for failure government boondoggle, the President and his party should let earners keep their money and initiate growth. That will never happen. The Democrats are more interested in establishing a permanent underclass, dependent on government largess, and thus, loyal Democrat voters than actually creating an environment conducive to an economic recovery.
When Barack Obama was elected he promised a ‘new type of politics.’ Critics were constantly harangued for practicing the ‘old type of politics.’ In reality, President Obama has offered the same old socialist ideas that have never worked in the past – ever. In addition, Obama practices the ‘old politics’ he so derided in 2008. He puts together slush funds, like these stimuli programs, in order to pay back favors and allow his party to ‘bring back the bacon’ to their home districts. Barack Obama the myth was a centrist uniter that stood above the fray and promised a new, more open style of politics. Barack Obama the man is a hardcore ideologue, hell-bent on imposing his socialist vision on the United States, all while engaging in the political corruption one would expect from an Illinois Democrat.
If the Democrats really wanted to kick-start an American recovery they would get out of the way. They would cut taxes, cut government spending and cut the red tape of regulation. Instead, President Obama has accumulated more debt in 19 months than Presidents Washington through Reagan did over the first 200 years of American history. The Democrats are the anti-freedom party. They are arrogant know-it-alls that think you are incapable of making the most elementary decisions in your life. To say they spend like drunken sailors is unfair to drunken sailors – at least drunken sailors spend their own money! As for the latest absurdity, another so-called stimulus bill, Charles Krauthammer had the best repose:
On this Strictly Right, it’s Obama high-priced birthday party, John Kerry’s tax evasion, and racism within the government! All that and much more right-wing fun.
A Texas pipeline tycoon who died two months ago may become the first American billionaire allowed to pass his fortune to his children and grandchildren tax-free…
Had his life ended three months earlier, Mr. Duncan’s riches — Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $9 billion, ranking him as the 74th wealthiest in the world — would have been subject to a federal tax of at least 45 percent. If he had lived past Jan. 1, 2011, the rate would be even higher — 55 percent.
Instead, because Congress allowed the tax to lapse for one year and gave all estates a free pass in 2010, Mr. Duncan’s four children and four grandchildren stand to collect billions that in any other year would have gone to the Treasury…
The bonanza in tax savings for Mr. Duncan’s descendants is sure to be unsettling to those who have paid estate taxes on more modest wealth — until Jan. 1 of this year, it applied to any estate valued at more than $3.5 million, taxing only the money exceeding that threshold, or $7 million for a couple’s estate.
O no! heaven forbid a “Texas pipeline tycoon” gets to pass on his hard-earned estate to his heirs without the government getting a piece of the pie. This is an American travesty.
For those of you unfamiliar with the ‘estate tax,’ it is a way for the government to tax people once they have died. Having already paid taxes on the money in the form of income tax, the government proceeds to charge citizens for the privilege of dying. You see, the government is the source of all wealth. In fact, you do not have a ‘right’ to your property. Rather, the government ‘owns’ your property and loans it to you throughout your life. As such, once you die, the source, the government, has a right to recollect what it has loaned you. That is what a death tax means.
The Times story continued: “[a]dvocates of the tax say it is unconscionable that Congressional leaders have allowed the richest Americans to reap a new tax break at a time when deficits are soaring and the income gap between wealthy and poor citizens remains near historic levels.” And there you have it. The purpose of the tax code is not really to fund the necessary functions of government. Instead, the tax code is used to “spread the wealth around.” Sadly, it is not just the peons at the Times that view the tax code through this Marxist lens – the President of the United Sates hold the very same opinion. In 2008 then candidate Obama promised to raise the capital gains tax rate. He was told that such a move would actually reduce government revenues, as it has in the past. His response was that he didn’t care – it is unfair that people “wok the stock market” and don’t pay higher taxes. Of course, there was also O’s famous run-in with Joe the Plumber. It doesn’t matter to the left that the Coolidge, Kennedy, Reagan and Bush tax cuts all actually increased government revenues. They are not interested in reality and helping people. No – they want soak the rich and make everyone equally miserable as opposed to disproportionally successful.
