This is a tax increase that President Barack Obama chose not to mention in his State of the Union address while he was demanding to increase taxes on the “rich” in order to give that money to his “middle” class. Perhaps he chose to omit mention because this is a tax increase on that same “middle” class. And perhaps because it contradicts the story he’s spinning on wanting to make junior college “free.”
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew had a thought.
I don’t think that there’s any advantage in pretending that there aren’t big disagreements on the individual tax side. We had a national debate just two years ago about the top rate. We’re not looking at the kind of negotiation to go back to lower the top rate.
Never mind that after that debate and just a few months ago, Americans voted overwhelmingly to reject President Barack Obama’s tax policy—which he’d placed on the ballot along with every single one of his other policies (every single one of which were similarly rejected in that same election).
They fact-checked President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, and they found these things.
OBAMA: At this moment—with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry and booming energy production—we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth.
THE FACTS: Job growth has been…fueled in part by lower-paying jobs…which have replaced many higher-paying positions…. Part-time jobs also remain elevated: there are still 1.7 million fewer workers with full-time jobs than when the recession began in December 2007.
…not to do business through ObamaMart and to get rid of Obamacare and with it ObamaMart. Even the AP has the tale.
When you apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, dozens of data companies may be able to tell that you are on the site. Some can even glean details such as your age, income, ZIP code, whether you smoke or if you are pregnant.
The data firms have embedded connections on the government site. Ever-evolving technology allows for individual Internet users to be tracked, building profiles that are a vital tool for advertisers.
Republicans—leadership, rank and file—and Conservatives want to repeal Obamacare, and they’re right to do so. Obamacare has been an unvarnished disaster for our nation.
To this end, Republicans need to pass repeal legislation and put it on President Barack Obama’s desk, where he surely will veto it. That veto will work to Republicans’ benefit as it helps shape the 2016 elections, but things must not stop there.
The leadership also is playing small ball, working a piecemeal approach. This includes
…he didn’t like, this Progressive. President Barack Obama wants $320 billion in tax increases over the next 10 years in order to give tax credits to his version of “the middle class.”
This is rank, stinking wealth transfer. Nothing else. He doesn’t even intend to use the revenue to pay down the national debt he’s exploded over the last six years. The worst part of this is that Obama and his Democratic Party accomplices actually think this is right. The rich should “pay their fair share,” and government needs to spend the money. Never mind that “the rich” already pay 70% of the US’ income tax bill, while the bottom half(!) pay 3%-4%. Conveniently, these…Democrats…never get around to specifying what a “fair” share might be. Meanwhile, the debt keeps growing.
The Wall Street Journal had a thought on one. Our gas tax should go away. Completely.
The gas tax began in 1956 as a 3¢/gal tax that was intended to fund, via the Highway Trust Fund, building…highways and bridges. Today, that tax stands at 18.4¢/gal (and 24.4¢/gal on diesel). The gas tax has roughly matched inflation over those 58 years.
However, HTF spending has not, nor has it been kept to building highways and bridges. Today, that money also gets spent on
mass transit in merely six metro areas and sundry other programs for street cars, ferries, sidewalks, bike lanes, hiking trails, urban planning and even landscaping nationwide.
Robert Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc, had an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that was subtitled, tellingly,
Moving too quickly amid signs of global economic trouble could damage growth and send stock and bond markets into turmoil.
December’s Fed Open Market Committee meeting minutes indicated, he said,
that the Fed believes US economic growth, which continues its long climb back, could trigger a change in monetary policy [toward raising interest rates off their near-zero levels].
This is problematic, Greifeld said:
All the pundits are looking to the Senate for an override of President Barack Obama’s pending veto of the pending Keystone XL Pipeline legislation. The Senate, it seems, has 63 votes for passage (which implies a cloture vote won’t be a problem), but the focus is on the Senate’s lack of four more votes to produce a “veto-proof” bill.
All the pundits are skipping over two key factors.
President Barack Obama is ready, willing—even eager—to work with the 114th Congress, instead of routinely bypassing it, The Wall Street Journal quoted “senior administration officials” as saying at the start of this new year.
Both Houses of this new Congress have introduced bipartisanly supported bills that would authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. And Obama has said he’ll veto that legislation, never minding that 70% of Americans—Obama’s employers, as well as the employers of the new Congress—want the pipeline built.
I’m driven to the conclusion that Obama’s claimed willingness to work with Republicans is just more Obamatalk, and that “cooperate with” still means “be reasonable: do it my way.”