Obama Confused About Taxes...

He's disinterested.

He needs revenue and his henchmen told him this is the way to get it, so he's pushing it. Doesn't have a clue about the details. Have you EVER heard him talk details about anything?

No, and you never will because that's not what turns him on. He likes the spotlight and the adoration... that's where he shines. (or so he thinks)

Details are for underlings.

 

Pure salesman, he's not the thinking man many thought he was. Even his sales tactics are poor, he relies on the most obvious dribble talking points, like this last one about the poor underpaid and over taxed secretary...LOL
He depends on his crowed not knowing what the hell he is talking about, and they usually do not....

 

I like Cains 999 plan myself, and I also believe once Obama and Obama care is gone the Corporations will start to move. Nobody trusts what Obama would do even if he had the money, he's an ideologue and cant be trusted.

 

I like the 999 concept, BUT, a 9% national sales tax is effectively a 9% tarrif on imports. Protectionist may like this, but I'm concerned about retaliation, and it's impact on the global economy.

On the plus side, a reduction on business tax will ripple through, reducing the cost of making products on the US.

 

Not me. Who on earth would win a trade war against the U.S? We do all the importing. If we were to lose all the imports and all the exports we would be miles ahead.

 

Look at what the Federal government is tasked with in the Constitution. Other than military spending, what can a politician sell?

That addresses politicans, what about PAC's, regulators, government employees.....

This requires much more than campaign contribution reform.

Obama isn't related to taxes? Remember his jobs bill, and how it is being paid for?

 

The Smoot-Hawley Tarrif Act had a big impact on the Great Depression. Here is an 85 minute podcast about it.

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/rustici_on_smoo.html

 

Sell the military?

The Constitution give the responsibility for maintaining a military to the Federal government. Yherefore, politicians, limited to the responsibilities assigned by the Constitution, have control of, therefore can sell contracts for military bases, developing and manufacturing military equipment.

As a start:

Roll back every law, regulation, and executive order, not allowed by the Constitution.

Eliminate all taxes on business.

Where regulation is needed to protect the commons (water, air and land), write regulations that apply to everyone, company, government, and individual.

Eliminate all Federal payments to private industry, except where it is purchasing a good or service.

If you are referring to you link to your post on Marx, I already read and replied to it, and it has nothing to do with Obama and his view of taxes. Why the insistance?

 

I can't see videos because I have slow internet. However, I've read information before about that issue and, personally, I don't buy it. Politics always clouds facts and truths. The "free trade" thing is a boon to producers and a disaster for consumers. We are a consumer. A little isolation wouldn't hurt nearly as badly as it would help. That's just an opinion.

My belief is that the not-so-great depression we are in now results not from any recent happenings but from sending our manufacturing, jobs and wealth overseas for the past 40 years. I believe it has finally caught up with us. The only solution I see is reversing that trend. Consumers won't reverse it because they want cheap stuff. Business won't reverse it because it wants to provide consumers with what they want. This is one of the few areas where I think the government could make a positive impact on the economy. It would take a long time. Tariffs might motivate more domestic manufacturing. The politicians won't do it, however, because they fear lost votes from consumers who want cheap stuff.

It isn't pretty. It isn't going to be over for a long time, if ever.

 

I like what Ron Paul says... we need to clean house & start all over.

Less than 8% of Obama's entire administration has any business experience. We've got a bunch of politicians pretending to know what American businesses need. It's a farce.

 

It is an audio podcast, not video - but it is over 20MB.

The analysis of Smoot Hawley was economic, not political.

As far as shipping our jobs overseas causing the current situation. The US is still the second largest manufacturer in the world, and only lost first place to China several years ago. Who is doing that manufacturing? Automation, not unskilled labor, even China is automating. Automation has even replaced skilled jobs, machinist replaced by NC machines to the point where a mechanical engine designs something in CAD, and software takes it from there. A lot of the calculations engineers used to do are now done by software.

Closing the border won't return us to the labor heyday of the 50's. Then, there was a labor shortage, now women and minorities provide a surplus (not a negative comment, just a reality). Then, we were picking the low hanging fruit of economic growth, new innovation, and major improvements on existing products created high demand, thus high prices. Today, many products are minor improvement over the old, and there are too many choices, the primary selling feature is low price.

 

ONly in Tea Party Bizarro world is pointing out a strawman argument "name calling".

Typical. I guess you don't know what the term means.

 

Show yours.

Econo 101 -- raising rates on the superwealthy has two effects.

First it obviously increase revenues.

Second, if you invest that money in public education, infrastructure, health care, you get a more productive population, which produces more wealth, and hence more tax revenues.

If history is any guide, applying what happened after WWII, it only takes a few years out a recession to get the deficit under control as a percentage of GDP -- if you raise taxes on the superwealthy.

I know I know, you don't believe in modern economic theory and think that the way economies grow is by hording gold. Typical Tea Party knownothingism.

 

Isn't this like the 5th thread we've seen on this? The right wing propaganda machine does its job well.

While the average millionaire might pay those higher taxes, trust fund babies, hedge fund managers, and those who are wealthy enough to live of investments pay a special low investment tax rate of 15%, like Buffet.

The average millionaire wouldn't be affected by the "Buffet tax", but those in the latter category will. And should.

 

Change of goal post fallacy. You were whining about how the rich pay a higher percentage than the middle class and so it isn't fair that Obama wants to raise their rates even higher. This only proves that they, in fact, are not paying a higher percentage (the top 400), and rather than address that, you change the topic (essentially hyjacking your own thread) to "yeah, but would it really make a difference?"

If you increased rates on those top 400 by 15% (bringing them from 16.5% to 31.5%) that would generate an additional $20.7 billion a year (by 2007 dollars, and since the top 400 are getting richer by double digit growth in this "horrible economy" it would be more by today's numbers).

An extra $20.7 billion a year is not going to be a single solution that magically fixes everything, but no one claims that it will (so don't even try that strawman), but it will help, as will cutting billions upon billions of wasteful and unneeded programs.

 

Like those that saved for retirement?

 

I have several times - yours?

How much have we spent annually on public education, infrastructure, health care over the last 20 years. Where is the wealth that came from that spending?

We spent a lot less in the 50's and got a lot more growth, maybe they aren't as related as you and Obama think.

Modern economic theory like what, Obamanomics? Gold hoarding? - I can't eat gold, I'm investing in canned goods.

 

Easy to talk about taking other people's money, isn't it? The government doesn't invest, by the way. It spends.

 

Hey, it's IRS data, not right wing data.

 

Let's trim the waste first. If you have money problems at home, do you look around for more money from friends and relatives, perhaps ask for a raise, or do you look at your budget, and realize that, yes, you can trim things out that you don't need?

Let's tax everybody fairly, instead of just relying on the top tier.

 

Sooner or later, they will run out of other people's money. That is the problem with socialism and wealth redistribution.

 

When the government runs enough entitlement programs, it gets its own entitlement mentality.