The debt ceiling talks fell apart on Friday as President Obama insisted on $400 billion in new taxes to pay for more government spending. Imagine if he didn’t have to spend those $400 billion over the next decade.
Is it possible that there is $400 billion of waste in the budget somewhere? Where might that be? How about amongst the impoverished?
Obama: “The truth is, you can’t solve our deficit without cutting spending. But you also can’t solve it without asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share”
President Obama to Republican Eric Cantor, after 5 days of a budget impasse: “Eric, don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people on this.”
ay what you will about Barack Obama, but the man is quite exceptional. Coming from a broken home, he grew up and graduated from Columbia University and went on to earn a law degree at Harvard. Both schools are amongst the most challenging to get into in the country. Not only that, he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and taught at the University of Chicago law school.
In preparing for the 2012 election campaign the President said the following: “The proposition that the government is always right is manifested either in corruption or benefits to ‘preferred’ companies.” He went on: The “economy ought to be dominated by private businesses and private investors. The government must protect the choice and property of those who willingly risk their money and reputation.” Also: “Corruption, hostility to investment, excessive government role in the economy and the excessive centralization of power are the taxes on the future that we must and will scrap.“
Arguably the most consistent practice on the part of democrats and this administration is to avoid doing the necessary and important things.
Democrats have a long history of avoiding the really important issues. They denied anything was wrong at Fannie and Freddie and hijacked every effort to reform the GSE’s all the while the country was circling the bottom of the toilet. They have failed to produce a budget for more than 700 days. Democrats blocked George Bush’s effort to reform Social Security, but had nothing better to offer either then or now. Bush’s effort to reform Social Security died because Bush had the audacity to insist that the Social Security system be solvent over the long term. Bush did not want to play kick the can down the road.
Americans are busy people. In one respect we are no different than any other people on the planet… our primary needs are food, water and shelter. Beyond that however, Americans enjoy a life of leisure that virtually no one else on the planet enjoys. Not leisure measured in hours worked as the French, Germans and workers in virtually every other developed country work fewer hours per year than Americans do. No, what’s different is that leisure time in the United States has so many ways of being spent. Motocross. Shopping. Television. Amusement parks. Golf. Swimming. Skiiing. Football. Baseball. Horseback riding. Golf. Off track betting. Gymnastics. Theater. College classes. Karate. Star Trek conventions. Habitat for Humanity. BBQ competitions. Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. This is only a tiny fraction of the myriad ways Americans have at their disposal to entertain themselves or spend their leisure time.
The day before Bin Laden was killed I did a small presentation at an Americans for Prosperity event in Jasper, GA. The highlight of the event was the keynote speech by Dinesh D’Souza. The thrust of his argument, taken from his book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage
1) Osama bin Laden was on the 3rd floor of his compound, and it took quite awhile for Navy SEALS to break through the inner wall and get up to that third floor. There were guns on that third floor. Laden did not grab a gun and come out with his guns blazing; he did not grab a gun and take cover, and start shooting. Apparently he threw one of his wives at a Navy SEAL, and that seems to be the extent of his resistence. Where is the great terrorist who would like to take as many Americans down with him at his death?
One of the easiest ways to recognize a liberal is their refusal to accept that the universe is dynamic rather than static. The most obvious example of this is their perpetual inability (or unwillingness) to grasp the notion that increasing taxes and growing regulations impact taxpayer behavior. This can be seen in on a number of levels. On the state level it can be seen by companies and wage earners fleeing high tax locales for those with low taxes or no income taxes. Rush Limbaugh famously left New York two years ago for the zero income tax comfort of sunny Florida.
Last week President Obama was overheard telling a room full of Democrats that during the most recent budget negotiations the GOP had sought to defund some of his priorities. He checked them into the boards with “Do you think we’re stupid”?
