The Punisher
(Note from LH: This is not hype. This is my best understanding of the positions of Barack Obama, and the presentation is fair. I listen to his speeches fairly frequently; I've heard perhaps 20 live speeches of his personally. There are some YouTube links here, and they have their own dramatization -- but the words are Barack Obama's himself. Also, I've watched a lot of other videos of his speeches, and these positions have not been disavowed. They're often downplayed or skipped over, but that's not the same thing.)
Barack Obama intends to punish "the rich" by increasing their taxes in the interest of "fairness" regardless of what harm this does. (He made this clear in the Pennsylvania debate with Hillary Clinton.)
There are many problems with his idea -- but the first one is the basic concept of "taxing the rich": There is no federal tax on the "rich" in the United States. There is a tax on people and corporations who earn high incomes and create jobs. But not on people who simply have money.
Let me give you an example. Let's say you have a million dollars in cash and you've paid taxes in the past. You don't have any income this year, but you decide to buy a half dozen houses in Alabama on credit, and rent them out. The deals all close by the end of next month. So, with no income (you haven't rented the houses yet), lots of cash, and six brand new average houses, how much do you pay the IRS next April? Nothing: They will write YOU a check for about a quarter of a million dollars, refunding any past taxes you've paid going back up to five years. You get more cash back from the IRS than you put down on the homes. Next year, you have mortgages -- but you've got rent, too.
What if you'd had $10 million in cash, or $100 million? Same thing: You get a check in the same amount.
There is a tax on people who create wealth for this country, for themselves and others. But not on folks who simply have wealth.
This misunderstanding is significant, it seems to me. Even the "death tax" is not on the people with wealth, it is a tax on their descendants.
Barack Obama proposes to attack and punish those who create jobs in this country. This WILL increase unemployment.
He proposes to punish people subject to capital gains taxes -- about 100 million people in the US -- by increase capital gains tax rates. Since this will reduce tax collections, he will have to make this up in other areas.
So when the Bush capital gains tax rates were reduced dramatically, capital gains tax collections rose and have stayed up. There was a big boost when capital gains were dropped under Clinton as well.
In both cases, government spending also increased dramatically; this cycle time takes a few years to catch up. Obama proposes something new -- to punish the economy when it is hurting, and to launch gigantic spending programs when revenue is dropping. He will be able to blame the resulting depression on Bush as something he "inherited" -- but there are already signs of recovery that he would perform a partial birth abortion on.
Barack Obama intends to punish those who would provide new, cleaner coal technology: He will bankrupt them, as he says here:
He will also punish every citizen in the United States who uses electricity: He promises that under his administration, the cost of electricity will "necessarily skyrocket".
So: He will attempt to make life miserable for the producers of jobs. And for the average workers. Even the people living on welfare often still have electric bills. And with his party controlling Congress too, he'll likely succeed.
He proposes to punish companies who employ some workers in the US but have offices overseas: if he punishes them enough, they will simply leave the US and employ NO workers here. And companies with NO overseas involvement will leave, to find better homes. In effect, Barack Obama will be the largest cause of outsourcing we have ever seen.
He proposes to punish those who trade with the US. To punish those who live and work here. To punish those who drive our economy. The misery that he plans will afflict far more than his "95% of working Americans".
And since Barack Obama has no problem increasing taxes, and doesn't seem to understand the effect, how much of your income do you want to wager that he'll lower the $250,000 number as revenue drops?
It doesn't matter, really, what sort of people Barack Obama has used as mentors since high school. Even if his plans have the purest of motives, they are still destructively harmful for the entire US.
Obama talks about creating jobs -- but they are all government jobs -- in industries he proposes to fund with taxpayer dollars. And his plans will clobber other jobs, by the millions. That is not the way to keep America strong, and it will be bad for you personally. Even those of you outside of the US will be negatively affected -- the subprime mortgage failure is already a worldwide effect.
I have a number of differences with John McCain -- but he will be far less inclined to hamstring the world's economy and the country's self-defense in the pursuit of government revenue and power. And McCain has never seen the Constitution as an merely "impediment" to plans for "redistribution," or the US Supreme Court "not radical enough."
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Barack Obama intends to punish "the rich" by increasing their taxes in the interest of "fairness" regardless of what harm this does. (He made this clear in the Pennsylvania debate with Hillary Clinton.)
There are many problems with his idea -- but the first one is the basic concept of "taxing the rich": There is no federal tax on the "rich" in the United States. There is a tax on people and corporations who earn high incomes and create jobs. But not on people who simply have money.
Let me give you an example. Let's say you have a million dollars in cash and you've paid taxes in the past. You don't have any income this year, but you decide to buy a half dozen houses in Alabama on credit, and rent them out. The deals all close by the end of next month. So, with no income (you haven't rented the houses yet), lots of cash, and six brand new average houses, how much do you pay the IRS next April? Nothing: They will write YOU a check for about a quarter of a million dollars, refunding any past taxes you've paid going back up to five years. You get more cash back from the IRS than you put down on the homes. Next year, you have mortgages -- but you've got rent, too.
What if you'd had $10 million in cash, or $100 million? Same thing: You get a check in the same amount.
There is a tax on people who create wealth for this country, for themselves and others. But not on folks who simply have wealth.
This misunderstanding is significant, it seems to me. Even the "death tax" is not on the people with wealth, it is a tax on their descendants.
Barack Obama proposes to attack and punish those who create jobs in this country. This WILL increase unemployment.
He proposes to punish people subject to capital gains taxes -- about 100 million people in the US -- by increase capital gains tax rates. Since this will reduce tax collections, he will have to make this up in other areas.
So when the Bush capital gains tax rates were reduced dramatically, capital gains tax collections rose and have stayed up. There was a big boost when capital gains were dropped under Clinton as well.
In both cases, government spending also increased dramatically; this cycle time takes a few years to catch up. Obama proposes something new -- to punish the economy when it is hurting, and to launch gigantic spending programs when revenue is dropping. He will be able to blame the resulting depression on Bush as something he "inherited" -- but there are already signs of recovery that he would perform a partial birth abortion on.
Barack Obama intends to punish those who would provide new, cleaner coal technology: He will bankrupt them, as he says here:
Click to viewHe will also punish every citizen in the United States who uses electricity: He promises that under his administration, the cost of electricity will "necessarily skyrocket".
So: He will attempt to make life miserable for the producers of jobs. And for the average workers. Even the people living on welfare often still have electric bills. And with his party controlling Congress too, he'll likely succeed.
He proposes to punish companies who employ some workers in the US but have offices overseas: if he punishes them enough, they will simply leave the US and employ NO workers here. And companies with NO overseas involvement will leave, to find better homes. In effect, Barack Obama will be the largest cause of outsourcing we have ever seen.
He proposes to punish those who trade with the US. To punish those who live and work here. To punish those who drive our economy. The misery that he plans will afflict far more than his "95% of working Americans".
And since Barack Obama has no problem increasing taxes, and doesn't seem to understand the effect, how much of your income do you want to wager that he'll lower the $250,000 number as revenue drops?
It doesn't matter, really, what sort of people Barack Obama has used as mentors since high school. Even if his plans have the purest of motives, they are still destructively harmful for the entire US.
Obama talks about creating jobs -- but they are all government jobs -- in industries he proposes to fund with taxpayer dollars. And his plans will clobber other jobs, by the millions. That is not the way to keep America strong, and it will be bad for you personally. Even those of you outside of the US will be negatively affected -- the subprime mortgage failure is already a worldwide effect.
I have a number of differences with John McCain -- but he will be far less inclined to hamstring the world's economy and the country's self-defense in the pursuit of government revenue and power. And McCain has never seen the Constitution as an merely "impediment" to plans for "redistribution," or the US Supreme Court "not radical enough."
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