I sincerely wish our new president well but find myself disappointed in his approach to our nation's problems. I think that he is either out of touch with the data or willfully ignorant of it.. not sure which is worse.President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end "tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans," and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won't see their taxes increased by "one single dime."
This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can't possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama's new spending ambitions.
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The bottom line is that Mr. Obama is selling the country on a 2% illusion. Unwinding the U.S. commitment in Iraq and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire can't possibly pay for his agenda. Taxes on the not-so-rich will need to rise as well.
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Mr. Obama is very good at portraying his agenda as nothing more than center-left pragmatism. But pragmatists don't ignore the data. And the reality is that the only way to pay for Mr. Obama's ambitions is to reach ever deeper into the pockets of the American middle class.
The 2% Illusion
Just a few excerpts from this Wall Street Journal article having the same title as this post:
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Trying to keep my mouth shut. I hear rumors of raising taxes on businesses.
ReplyDeleteI hear you Karen. My general approach has been to take a wait and see perspective.. hard to do when you read an article that points out such an illogical approach.
ReplyDeleteTalk is cheap but the 2% illusion isn't. Where will it end? In and out of my pocket!!!
ReplyDeleteBob, you know this isn't about stats and about how to pay for things. He has no intention on funding his budget. The tax increase is only a way of punishing these people. This is all about a power grab with no thought to funding. People are so scared of uncertainty, they will sell out their grandchildren's inheritence.
ReplyDeleteMuch needs to change in Washington in order to tackle the deficit... but while I agree that it is probably not the #1 priority today, it should be in short order.
ReplyDeleteAs to who pays... when you live in a country where 1% of the population has 1/3 of the wealth and the next 9% control another 1/3, no one should be taken back or disagree as to where this money will come from.