Barack Obama's America

When Barack Obama announced that he was running for president he was very clear that, if elected, he planned "not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation". Twenty months after that statement in Springfield Illinois, we now have a much clearer view of what he means by "Change We Can Believe In". In a campaign of soaring generalizations on mostly centrist themes, Barack Obama has described the details of the transformation he would bring with almost surgical precision. What he offers may be, in substance and in spirit, a radical departure from the principles of the American Dream that has defined our nation over the last two centuries.

In the guise of a "middle-class tax cut", Senator Obama is actually adding a new tax in order to create a new welfare program that will add to the annual $400 billion that we currently spend on our welfare system. According to the Tax Policy Center, each year Barack Obama will take $70 billion from the 2% of small businesses and individuals who create over 16 million jobs and will send checks for almost $100 billion to over 40%, or approximately 60 million Americans, who pay no taxes at all. Cleverly, Senator Obama has called his transfer a "refundable tax credit" instead of "income redistribution". Indeed, to label as a "refund" a payment which the recipient has never funded is wordsmithing on steroids.

When Bill Clinton turned "welfare" into "workfare" in 1996 and created twenty two million jobs for Americans, he said, "We are taking an historic chance to make welfare what it was meant to be, a second chance, not a way of life". At the time, then State Senator Obama called this highly successful policy "disturbing". No wonder that the Chicago New Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Socialist Party, endorsed State Senator Obama in 1996 after he signed the pledge that was required in order to receive the endorsement. Now, if elected president, he will re-create a failed welfare system while calling it "tax reform". No candidate has ever been cleverer with words than Mr. Obama. But, does America want to "spread the wealth" as Mr. Obama advocates? According to the June Gallup Poll, Americans, by a margin of 84-13%, want our government to fix the economy and create jobs, not to redistribute wealth.

The fundamental problem with Senator Obama's stealth economics is that his dogma will not make America stronger or fairer. Today, the top 1% of earners contributes 40% of the nation's $2.6 trillion tax intake and the bottom 50% pay 2.9% of our nation's total needs. It has been shown that reductions in tax rates increase tax revenues because private enterprise strengthens the economy which in turn creates a larger tax base. For example, in 2003 the richest Americans paid $136 billion in taxes and after the Bush tax cut in 2006 they paid $274 billion.

During our last devastating global economic crisis, Franklin Roosevelt protected this country from the statist dictatorships that were emerging in the rest of the world. He protected capitalism by creating programs and institutions to protect innocent people but did not raise taxes and did not remove incentives for private wealth creation. In another era, with real fiscal deficits larger than we face currently, President Kennedy reduced taxes. The historical evidence is clear that nations that stifle private enterprise have less robust economies with slower growth and less innovation, opportunity and diversity.

In his book, The Audacity of Hope, Mr. Obama stated that "eking out a bare Democratic majority isn't good enough." Indeed, if the pollsters are correct and the Democrats win overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, Senator Obama, if elected, would easily implement both his promises for $307 billion of new federal spending per year and his punitive tax policies. The truth is that with the level of spending in the Obama plan, either taxpayers between $40,000 and $250,000 per year will have to fund the massive costs for the new programs he is promising, or the promises will be abandoned.

Perhaps more sinister is Obama's reconfiguration of the American Dream. My father made an inflation adjusted income of about $50,000 per year. He never took a handout but he worked two jobs. He taught us that if we worked hard and played by the rules there was no limit to what we could become in America. Now, Barack Obama is changing that compact with America. In Barack Obama's America, there is a ceiling to the American Dream. He decides the level at which our money becomes the government's money.

There is a reason why immigrants fly to America to achieve their dream. Now, in the guise of a "middle class tax cut" Barack Obama is threatening that dream. If he succeeds, Barack Obama will bring the kind of radical transformation that this country does not need and never has. And the country will be in for a shock.

Comments

[get2it]

There's that "bad" word again: welfare. This is why the Republican party now finds itself in shambles -- it's inability to address directly the issues facing this country and its citizens. They're really good at fear-mongering and labeling with mean and divisive terms. Welfare is one of those terms that's code for poor, black, inner city, single mother. Have they ever considered that all the niceties they rely on get paid for with our tax dollars? I mean, really, John McCain's beloved US Naval Academy is one great, big "welfare system." The middies don't pay tuition, like students at other colleges and universities. Somehow, the instructors must be paid, campus must be maintained, etc. Granted, in return, the naval officers give 5 years of service to the country, sometimes more;however, tax dollars keep that ship afloat. And further, tax dollars will have to pay for the equipment and soldiers to get us McCain's ill-advised, so-called "victory" in Iraq. Tax dollars pay for: FBI, CIA, our court system, Homeland Security, FEMA, the list goes on...
And finally, at least the "tax and spend liberal Democrats" admit up front, we'll have to raise taxes in order to keep our country's infrastructure going; as opposed to the "spend-then-tax conservative Republicans" who rely on hard-working middle class Americans to clean-up and pay for the disasters they create!

[didlysquat]

I don't know everything there is to know about the economy. But, whether it's McCain's or Obama's economic plan that comes into play, I think it'll be the middle class consumers that end up paying the price. Either in paying higher taxes or paying more for what we purchase. At best, it depends which administration will provide the best overall living conditions for all and security for us and making this country a better place for future generations.

[BrachiatingApe]

Trickle-down economics.­..I'm still waiting for my share to trickle down from Reagan was in office.

I guess it got eaten up bailing out Keating's Savings-and-Loan.

[Isis905]

Amen...I'm waiting for the wealth to trickle-down to me also. When will some of the people learn that "the trickle-down effect" just ain't trickling to who truly needs it? BTW...I cannot, in good conscience, read or listen to ANYTHING Ms. Rothschild has to say. She's never had to make a choice of "do I buy those few extra cans of tuna and crackers or, do I buy my medication this month."

[joethesoldier]

"When will some of the people learn that "the trickle-down effect" just ain't trickling to who truly needs it?"

Isis905, that is a typical entitilement attitude. Lynn's article is about how Obama has suddenly turned "tax cuts" into welfare payments. Tax cuts in the traditional sense go to people who pay taxes in the first place. Money has never trickled down to those "who NEED it." Money trickles down to those who WORK for it. I can see right through your words and deduce that you want something that does not belong to you. On the other hand as Lynn puts it: Obama's thinnly veiled "tax cuts" are payments from taxpayers to non-taxpayers. Your messiah has mastered the art of masking his entitlement language where as you obviously have not. You blindly sneer at the rich but how many poor people Isis905 have ever offered you a job?

[Wiserone]

No differently than Cindy AND John McCain. Think about it.

[Malacandra]

Whenever someone trots out the statistic, as you have, that "Today, the top 1% of earners contributes 40% of the nation's $2.6 trillion tax intake and the bottom 50% pay 2.9%" they're leaving out important context required to determine whether that's fair or not.

Top 1% own 90% of the assets in this country. If they're paying 40% of the tax burden, they're getting off light.

Also consider the fact that lower income earners are also paying FICA, which is capped... so high earners aren't paying a proportionate amount of their earnings towards social security and medicare, which is being balanced on middle class earners.

Consider the fact that capital gains is taxed at a lower rate than labor... which favors investors at the expense of labor. If we truly valued work, we'd tax it as a lower rate: making money with money is its own reward.

Mrs. Rothschild, you've had a free ride from the Bush tax policies while our nation has taken on debt that threatens to drown our grandchildren. We've got to stop putting our expenses on the credit card.

When we need soldiers to make sacrifices for their country, we don't induct the elderly or the sick out of some misguided sense of "fairness" - we deploy the young and the strong: they are the ones most fit to serve. Well, the rich are the ones most able to pay taxes. And they should do so proudly.

[sawdustinhershoes]

As a former small business owner, we went out of business in June 08, I know for a fact how much I was taxed. I paid at a 28% tax rate on about $50,000 in net income. If I was richer, I could have opted into having my profits paid to me as capital gains and paid at a 15% rate.

So, since Bush lowered taxes on the rich, I paid around $14,000 per year on my $50,000 income. Had we made $100,000 per year, I would have paid $15,000, per year. So, in seven years I paid $98,000 in taxes and earned $350,000, but if I'd been richer, I'd have paid $105,000 in taxes and earned $700,000. So, on earnings that doubled my actual earnings, I'd have only paid $7,000 more in tax over seven years.

How is this fair? AND, how is it that anyone, including "Lady" Rotheschild, could argue that Obama's tax plan will hurt our country. I CAN GUARANTEE that if I'd been able to keep 1/2 of the taxes I paid (as it would have been had I gotten to get the breaks that Ms. Rotheschild enjoys), my small business would still be in operation.

These people who think our current situation helps ANYONE but the rich, are ignorant or willfully ignorant.

I know what Biden meant when he said it was patriotic to pay your fair share of income tax.

[EvoMan]

As Abe Lincoln and others have said, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove any doubt."

[georgiaR]

Bill Clinton had a good economy for one reason - the dot com boom. Didn't that trickle down? He also had a republican congress

[momforbetterworld]

That said about "dotcom" boom it was a good thing we embraced new technology, we have NO BOOM whatsoever under Bush because:

1) wars (stupid illegal wars that cause young American's lives and put us in deficit)
* I hope Lady Rothschild you are putting out some of your own and your friends money to pay off our US national debt than we can talk about tax cut.

2) no funding on Science (anti-stem cell research is one example)
* Education and the future of America do require some sort of money, we should look at "tax" as so evil. We need to stop the 1% rich from hiding their money off-shores for sure. When you said the rich paid 40% fo the tax, I want to know what portion of their corporations' taxes actually have to do with personal wealth. The corporations pay tax, they do, part of what they pay comes from their employees' withholding, I want to know if your statement was actually true.

McCain would do the same as Bush while Obama will encourage us to invest in Science again and create new jobs.

Lady Rothschild, I will do some checks but it's the FACT that you may want to read: http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/spread_the_tax_hooey.html

[Fremon]

Having been in tech at the time of the boom, I can say that there was no govt handouts or need to save any company that I knew about . The foolish people that invested in tech stocks (not all) invested in company's with an idea and future promise and not necessarily one's making a steady profit. Those who got out in time made money yet some invested (as alway's happens) at the top of the market. Some tech employees had company shares and made lots of money and some just held paper worth more than the value of the shares. In this bubble the govt worked hand in hand with the fraud of wall street and you can think deregulation/Phil Gramm/SEC/Alan Greenspan/mortgage compananie­s/derivati­ves/ bailout rescue/Leh­mann/GS/Me­rril Lynch/Bear Stearns/ etc etc.

[sandymull]

Oh lady Rothchild.­..you are just to funny.
Here in Michigan people who worked for thirty years are on food stamps. Forget about unemployment, those benefits ran out a year ago. Every other house is in foreclosur­e...factor­ies are empty, we "were" the middle class... now we know what poverty is.
Look what a mess Michigan is in from Bush's trade policies, and his tax brakes for the rich....
NOTHING TRICKLED DOWN TO US.....
You are so funny. You were joking.... right?

[BBDisk]

Nothing Obama promises will get those jobs back. He's essentially powerless in that regard, except to inspire with his speeches.

Any job that was shifted overseas will be given absolutely no reason to return under Obama's punitive tax plans for corporations. Michigan will be left in the dust, left to clean up after the tremendous fanfare and confetti from Obama rallies.

I don't believe for a moment that Obama can actually deliver on his promises, so I'm always amazed to see how many people fall for his impassioned speeches. I think he's too good to be true.

[Beca]

You are wrong! Obama's plan included financial incentives for companies to stay here and who return jobs to America. He also includes higher taxes for companies that ship jobs overseas.
I can understand your difficulty in believing that a candidate could actually be the real thing, given that we have had so many who have been nothing but bunk, like Bush. Obama is different, he is the real thing, and instead of shutting out from the possibility that he just may be the answer our country needs, perhaps you might want to go and look into his policy positions and plans--check out his web site, all the information you may need you will find at www.barackobama.com
I've done that, I have read every single poisition paper, policy, and plan he has submitted for our review. I have also studied his career, from Harvard University's Law School to present. He is an impressive brilliant person who trully does hold integrity and respect as the beacons of his being. I do believe Barack Obama is the real thing and I am willing to give him a chance because I KNOW he will do right by our country and take us out of this quagmire Bush created.

[Brillig]

I will take "too good to be true" over NO GOOD any day

[Fremon]

You will be surprised at what he can do that will be good. Unfortunately not everyone will get a job, but he can cut taxes on middle class/not give taxes to profitable companies/invest govt monies in alternative fuels/start contruction jobs in infrastructure/cut selective areas that do no good as the insurance companies monetoring benefits/disallow off shore companies like Haliburton from getting govt contracts/shape up waste in Iraq/get SEC to monitor fraud on wall street/get IRS to get taxes owed from corporations/hire more police/insure NAFTA isn't a one way street/extend unemployment benefits/breaks to small emerging tech companies in US/eliminate waste in the military seeking new and better weapons that don't get deployed/ and many more that can be added to this list. He may not be able to do as much good as Bush did bad but he can make changes.

[virtualval2001]

BOO.

Don't boo, just vote.

Got it. Oh yes, I think I'll donate too.

*waves fist in the air*

[chris2fer]

The rich are in full panic mode, shocking, wow. I think i will take my family out to dinner on my new welfare check. Forget the fact that i work 60 hours a week to make the whiskey served at your cocktail parties.

[joethesoldier]

Things can't get any worse for you can they chris2fer? What's gonna happen to your job when the rich people you despise so much decide that doing business in the US is to expensive? I suppose some dirt farmer in Bangladesh would be happy to do your job for half as much pay. At your current work load you're welfare check from the great messiah Obama will equal 31 cents an hour ($1000 for 60 hours a week for a year). Are you willing to bet your job for 31 cents an hour???

[considerthis]

Spoken like a truely professed but false patriot. The rich people have already sold out this country, the citizens and their much professed GOD. Put your tails between your legs and RUN to Saudi Arabia. The Bin Laden's are waiting for you with open arms.

[Speakupper]

Why, Joethesoldier (thanks for your service BTW), do you mean all those "country first " business owners would put their profits over the pride of building up America's economy by employing the most productive "fundamentals" in the world? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! Perhaps the signs at McCain's rallies should read: PROFITS FIRST.

[Cameron2976]

The only way that the middle class and the poor can get ahead is by creating jobs. It is simple math of supply and demand. A company needs to do something with its revenue so they invest the money in another company or grow their own business. This creates jobs. The more jobs created the greater the demand for workers. Employers compete for resources by offering higher salaries, job perks, on the job training, and great benefits. This translates into a greater number of people helping those in need. Taxes do not increase jobs, Taxes put pressure on companies to layoff and shrink.

[igotnews4u]

Oh, so that's why employment is at record high, and business are closing and some are having to reduce (lay-offs) it's staff in order to stay afloat. Is'nt this happening while under the Bush tax cuts?

[demofem]

well, how's that working for you? take a look around.

[magdaw]

This is a consumer society...­.businesse­s make more money and hire more workers when people consume...­but they need money to buy things. All the top 2% are doing with their tax breaks is buying more houses and getting richer while the rest of us are getting poorer....­and are at our credit limits and can't buy anymore.

[Brillig]

They have been living under a no tax plan for the past 8 years - where are all the so called jobs they were going to give you?

In the Philippines - that is where!

[imaPAvoter]

Why do some people continue to substitute the term poor and refer to those on welfare, for the words middle class? Since when is the middle class poor and on welfare? ... Oh, that's right, since Bush and the last 8 years have sent every advantage to the top and allowed the middle class to be put in situations where some are losing their homes and their retirement funds!

FYI - The middle class are WORKING people.

[Fremon]

Amen.

[rascalofearth]

"Today, the top 1% of earners contributes 40% of the nation's $2.6 trillion tax intake and the bottom 50% pay 2.9% of our nation's total needs."

this is the BIG LIE the rich want you to beleive so you will have pity on them. She is speaking ONLY about Federal Income Taxes. And that 1% crowd is so rich they pay the full marginal top rate on all of their income the day after nEW yEARS.

She doesn't discuss the real tax burden or even mention the budget disaster of bush. say you make a hundred grand.....­15% payroll taxes on the first 90k, Fed Income taxes, State and or local income taxes. medicare taxes, gas taxes, property taxes on your one home. by the time you add it all up this person is paying far more of the income in taxes then the rich who play with the tax code with their highly paid, and tax deducted, lawyers, accounts and planners.

[georgiaR]

People making $66K and above will actually get a bigger tax cut from McCain. Isn't that the middle class?
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/29/news/economy/candidates_taz_plans/index.htm

Here's the breakdown on the 2007 tax distribution for those that don't think the "rich" pay enough

the top 0.1% earn 9.1% of income and pay 17.4% of taxes
the top 1.0% earn 19% of income and pay 36.9% of taxes
the top 5.0% earn 33.4% of income and pay 57.1% of taxes
the bottom 50% earn 13.4% of income and pay 3.3% of taxes
the bottom 33% pay 0% of taxes

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/taxation_in_the_United_States
Scroll down to tax distribution

PS I did the tax calculator on Obama's website and it was not accurate

[ibsteve2u]

Hey - why don't you guys ever break it down in terms of "after tax income"?

Afraid it will make ya look too greedy?

[daddynuke]

Excellent use of such a reliable source as wiki for your flawed statistics. Try finding the same info on a reputable site and repost. I don't think we'll see that anytime soon, as those numbers are nowhere near the actuals reported most recently in 2001. Nice try.

[georgiaR]

The rich have all those extra taxes you mentioned too. I don't think $250K is rich. Not if you live in San Francisco and have 3 kids in college. You tax the rich more and you kill jobs.

[trosiak]

No one is saying your rich, but if you can afford to live in SF you are not poor... or middle class.

[Zendar]

Lynn Forester de Rothschild is absolutely correct in her analysis. A lot of Democrats voting for Obama think he is another Mondale or Kerry. That may be the way it turns out, but his rhetoric simply belies that point. Everything he has said points to some drastic remaking of the American Dream and Idea. He said the Constitution was inferior because it did not automatically include redistribution of wealth. He has said that any company that builds a coal plant will be bankrupted by new greenhouse policies. There are 20 to 30 clear statements by BO that he plans some sort of revolution. All we need is some tweaking on taxes and 401ks, etc. There seems to be a big conflict that Dems are just ignoring because they cannot face the truth.

[IsisCat]

Zendar - sooner or later, whether forced by nature or replaced by newer, cleaner more advanced technology, coal WILL be redundant. Only frogs sit in boiling water until they're dead. Apparently, we humans have greater faculties than them. We should use them.

The reality is coal won't last forever. Obama knows this. Biden knows this. And the planet can't continue under the desperate illusion that it will. Its a FINITE resource mate. Meaning at some point finished and available no longer. The real idealists here are people like you and Ms Rothschild who think that they can somehow continue on business as usual - polluting the world, making wars, destroying the planet so that we can buy the latest SUV. You can't. Sooner or later either you'll embrace new technologies that will allow you to live a lifestyle similar to what you're living now and delay the doubling of your wealth by a couple of years only, or you'll sit in the hot water slowly boiling to death. Your choice dude.

[Banghouse]

Nicely put Isis.

[KathyinCT]

So hey, Zendar . . . . . just where IS that silly old American dream?

Glad you're living it b/c most Americans are living in harsh, cold reality and many are living in a nightmare.

That old dream of rich have a lot and share some is a dead dream. It wasn't ever a valid dream -- it was a fairy tale create and sold to us by . . . . surprise, surprise -- the rich.

So pardon us for not mourning with you.

[Ozohead]

In short, Lady de Rothschild, you are asking the rest of us to eat cake.

[Heyogirl]

I have to laugh. As a disabled woman trying to work two jobs to pay for a roof over my head, I find it ludicrus that you are complaining over a tax increase on your millions. When was the last time you sat in a restaurant ordering your $100 meal and thought about the millions of American families who were living on pasta to stretch a budget? When was the last time (if ever) you worried about money enough to survive? A small increase in taxes for people like you living in ignorance of the desperate needs of not only the poor, but, yes, the working middle class, who ARE the backbone of this country, only means you probably might not be able to spend as much on your luxuries. If you are so adamant about McCain and his "Country First" message, perhaps you should start thinking about what makes this country wonderful--its people...m­any of whom are just struggling to survive.