Posted on 03/18/2009 8:52:55 PM PDT by Lorianne
President Obama told Californians during a campaign-style town hall meeting on Wednesday that rich people can afford to pay higher taxes in selling his budget plan as an investment in the nation's future.
Mr. Obama pushed back on people who say he is overtaxing the nation, saying his tax increases on families earning $250,000 or more a year are reverting to the tax system under former President Bill Clinton. The president added he will pay higher taxes himself as a result.
"These folks can afford it. They were rich back in the '90s," he said. "It's not like suddenly they're going to have to go to the poorhouse. But what that does is it allows us to pay for health care reform for a lot of people."
Going after a line of attack Republicans have used against him, Mr. Obama insisted, "I don't think that's unreasonable. I don't think that's socialism.
"If the middle class is working well, if working people are doing well, then everybody does well," he said. "That's the philosophy that we are pursuing in this budget; that's why I need your support."
On Thursday, Mr. Obama is scheduled to join Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - a Republican who supported the stimulus plan - for a second town hall meeting after a tour of an electric-vehicle plant in Pomona.
The president highlighted California's high unemployment and foreclosure rates but noted, thanks to the stimulus plan, a new hospital will be built at Camp Pendleton.
Mr. Obama portrayed himself as someone who understands hard work, sympathizing with an ex-convict who was laid off from his Toyota job and telling the crowd he knows they don't have the luxury of ignoring their own economic problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
You’ve got to understand, “rich” to Obama means anybody who has more money than anybody else.
Every single wage earner is a target. Initially some more than most. But he will not stop until there is economic parity achieved by robbing from those who have achieved and giving it to those who haven’t.
This course will in turn, and very shortly, end our country’s role as a world leader. We will be on equal footing with other mediocre European countries. And this will make Lord Obama very, very happy.
Like all Communist-type leaders, Obama himself and his cronies will live in style. Because they deserve it for making the world a better place, and anyway, their rules don’t apply to them.
The ability to "afford" something cannot be a valid basis for determining whether an action is moral or rightful. If it were, most burglars and robbers should be released without charge. For the government to claim the right to steal on that basis, but to continue to prosecute burglars and robbers, is the vilest, most unconscionable hypocrisy imaginable!
Will he start with the Hollywood rich first? Hussein needs the gold in Sean Penns Oscar.
Well, I feel for you. I’m not in your bracket, but we make too much to get any financial aid for our two children who have already graduated college, as will be the case for our next two kids.
I work for a lot of Doctors and for the time you folks put in your hourly wage is not what most people think it is
Obama is just playing his class envy game. Its easy to get his followers to hate us because “it isn’t fair,” and we are “privileged,” and “profit unfairly.”
In the end, Obama may be doing us a favor, by giving us a much better focus, and motivation.
The guy’s a complete and utter narcissist. He “doesn’t think it’s socialism” like that’s the last word! Well, Zero, it IS!!!
Also, doesn’t he realize that the new hospital built on Camp Pendleton will be built by illegals and employ military doctors and nurses when it’s complete?
What a fool!
I think conservatives just need to maintain that confiscating 40% of ANYBODY’s income is highly IMMORAL. Accuse the dems of IMMORAL behavior. It basically turns our government into a huge thief.
We can’t any longer abide this notion that somehow it is immoral for anyone to want to keep hold of what they have worked for.
So just who will be creating all those jobs Bambi syas he’s gonna create?!!
Some one should ask him if he will make sure that everyone in his administration will be paying this greater tax burden. Several of them haven’t in the past...
not to mention working nights, holidays, weekends, kids soccer games and dance recitals. I’m at work when most of those I am supporting by my taxes are at home enjoying their families. I wouldn’t mind so much if I got to keep what I make. I don’t know what is going to happen, but if Obama has his way, the country may find itself with a lot of the top producers on permanent vacation. I have always wanted to open that little quilt shop, and when my kids are educated, or if we get socialized medicine, I just may. Of course the drop in income will take me out of the “rich” category, but I’m OK with that. I wonder what the government will do to replace us.
And bleeding heart dibs called President Bush "king George."
America... was nice knowing you... you had one hell of a run... maybe in a little less than 4 years "O" will be made to take early retirement.
And of course he'll make sure that at least 33% of the workers are non-americans so as not to 'discriminate' against anyone seeking a job.
While reading the comments, I was just about to post why it’s being called socialism and not Marxism when I came to your post.
I guess to whomever, socialism is more P.C. and we don’t want to offend. (/sarc)
And malpractice insurance is crazy and record keeping This surgeon i know is gone from 5 in the morning till almost 10 at night 6 days a week and he is no kid
hmmm... let’s see.
the top 5% of earners are about 2.5% of the population... or about 7m people. if you jacked up their taxes to grab an additional $10,000 per taxpayer.. that’d only be an additional $70b (what’s that supposed to pay? how high are these taxes going to go??)
instead, if you tax EVERY American, regardless of their income level, an additional 5%... that would be about an extra $2,000 per person on average for all 140m tax payers...
which would result in an additional $280 billion per year
(don’t worry, that evil rich guy making $10m/yr would pay an extra $500k... and the guy making $25k/yr would pay an extra $1250/yr)
I recently met a man who had been extremely successful in the business world. He sold his company for a princely sum and made reasonable investments. He counted himself wealthy enough to retire. That was before everything crashed hard last year. Now, he's selling insurance to keep food on his table. The investments are mostly wiped out. He's rejoined the rest of us as a worker bee trying to make ends meet.
You need to define those terms better. The "rich" you speak about are those with sufficient wealth that they have no need to work and their passive income is carefully managed to minimize the tax consequences.
The "poor" are really those who must EARN income and are subject to income and payroll taxes. The income tax is designed to steal so much that most people can never graduate into the truly "wealthy" asset range that allows them to option to no longer have to earn a living.
I hope everyone that gets hit with the added tax fires 10 employees for every $1000 in additional taxes!
They can also afford to relocate. And they can take their businesses with them. Easily.
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