« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Barack Obama’s Statement on Taxes Raises a Valid Question

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 28th, 2010 at 12:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In the State of the Union address last night, Barack Obama said:

As we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who had become unemployed.

That’s why we … passed 25 different tax cuts.

Let me repeat: we cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95% of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college. As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas, and food, and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers. And we haven’t raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime.

“Until the Democrats took back Congress in 2006, the Bush economic expansion saw the lowest unemployment in American history. . . . So why let the Bush tax cuts expire?”

But most of the tax cuts were temporary tax cuts. And a lot of what Barack Obama calls “tax cuts” were actually payments to people who do not pay taxes.

But let’s take him at his word, however hard it may be to do that. If cutting taxes helped get “our economy growing again,” why does he want to let the Bush tax cuts expire?

I know the liberal spin is that they were tax cuts for the rich. But that’s really not true. When you examine the Bush tax cuts, you’ll find they were targeted to jump start the economy out of the Clinton recession of 2000. And they worked.

Obama said last night that “we cannot afford another so-called economic “expansion” like the one from last decade – what some call the “lost decade” – where jobs grew more slowly than during any prior expansion”, but that is another lie. Until the Democrats took back Congress in 2006, the Bush economic expansion saw the lowest unemployment in American history.

It was only after the post-Enron effects of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, outrageous government spending, and capitulation with the Democrats on key economic issues that the economy went back in the crapper.

The Bush tax cuts worked. Obama recognizes that tax cuts grow the economy. So why let the Bush tax cuts expire when they got us to the lowest unemployment in American history?

Tags: , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • rblack198

    I think he’s confusing himself with the Emperor of Japan. The “lost decade” refers to their economic stagnation for the past 10 plus years.

  • Flagstaff

    But referential accuracy has never been a strong point for President Barry.

  • USNJIMRET

    Because it’s got the Bush name attached and therefore MUST be destroyed!
    Liberals have spent the last two or three years (OK, it was really the whole of both Bush terms, but it got really ugly after January 2007.) trashing the Bush EVERYTHING!
    And while I do believe that even the One can recognize that they helped, the corner they have painted themselves into is untenable.
    But you can’t even plan on how to evacuate a brier patch, if you refuse to recognize that you’re in a brier patch,

  • Flagstaff

    while that truth is putting its boots on, dozens of lies make the truth want to simply get back in bed and pull the covers up over its head.

    This seems to be a Democrat strategy.

    We can’t afford to “take him at his word.” We must refute his lies and inaccuracies every time one comes out of his mouth. Although I’ve lost the reference, Newt Gingrich recently noted that Republicans must be more “persistent” in promoting their message, I believe regarding availability of health insurance across state lines and elimination of frivolous medical lawsuits. As painfully boring as it may be, we must also persistently counter every effort on the part of Democrats to mislead America on any front.

  • MSU_Charles

    “The Bush tax cuts worked. Obama recognizes that tax cuts grow the economy. So why let the Bush tax cuts expire when they got us to the lowest unemployment in American history?”

    I truly believe this guy views the capitalist system as unfair, blah, blah and that it is his job as some kind of savior to redistribute the unfairness (i.e. successful peoples’ wealth) to those not as successful.

  • kyoufuu

    Which is basically that income tax cuts disproprtionately affect the wealthy, who get to keep more money per percent decrease. In other words, cutting income taxes helps the rich get richer.

    It’s far better in the eyes of liberals to provide “tax credits”, i.e.givebacks to people below a certain income threshold (the not wealthy). These are people who do things that are “productive” for society, (buy a house, trade in a clunker, get indoctrinated by the liberal education system, even thought C4C wasn’t really a tax credit per se).

    I think the tax credits tend to be purposely designed to help those who benefit from the use of the credits: Fannie/Freddie for 1st time buyers, Gov’t Motors/Big Labor in C4C, etc.

  • Repair_Man_Jack

    The yellow jester does not play
    But gently pulls the strings
    And smiles as the puppets dance
    In the court of the crimson king.

    King Crimson (1969)

  • neum432

    Sarcastic response…!

  • bonkey

    In the same speech, he says we need to cut taxes to stimulate the economy, and then that we have 8 trillion deficits due to the Bush tax cuts?!?!

    Did he even proof read that speech?

    The good news is, he now gets to see what governing against the will of the people is like.

  • avgamerican

    Now It’s a matter of whether the voters are going to see through the lies and misrepresentations or not. My hope is that VA, NJ, and MA shows it has already begun. First of all the extra $40 a month I got in’ my paycheck was timely taken by the state, so there was no real tax cut. Second, any small business making enough money to incur capital gains in this economy is news to me. Many are struggling just to make it and can’t hire. So the no capital gains tax for businesses that hire proposal was meaningless. Maybe that’s why the GOP side remained silent. Third, “created or saved 2 million jobs claim sounds timid doesn’t it? In reality we don’t have the evidence the stimulus really worked, but hey, it sounds good for a SOTU speech so he said it. Just like” I’m a centrist or the pope is really a muslim.”

  • avgamerican

    And everytime he gives a speech, the GOP needs to give it’s own SOTU speech detailing and refuting his lies and inconsistencies. As I stated below, I am hoping the voters are beginning to see that his wonderful orator ability has no real substance. Pull the dogon curtain down!

  • smorgasbord

    I would think by now most conservative bloggers would know that Obama wants to be king, not president, and the liberals want the USA to be a kingdom, not a republic (the USA is not a democracy). Obama can’t be king in a republic. He has to bring down the USA before he can become king.

    The liberals don’t like the idea of an individual being allowed to spend their money the way they want. They also don’t like the idea of that individual getting a good education so they can survive on their own without government assistance. The more the libs get people to depend on the government, the more power they have over the voter. The more people on welfare of any kind means more votes for the libs.

    The libs believe the money you earn is actually theirs, and that you don’t know how to spend it wisely, so they come up with ways for THEM to spend it wisely for you.

  • bobojake
  • http://erickbrockway.wordpress.com/ Erick Brockway

    On his radio show, I’m just catching up on my podcasts and ran across this:

    But then, not like Erick didn’t already know the answer…

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    If you couch everything in terms of “what is the worst thing for the country” then everything the O does makes a lot more sense. The O is NOT on the side of the US as a whole but wants to make it look like he is long enough to do the damage he wants to. Yes, that would make him out to be something along the lines of a backstabbing lying weasel except that I don’t want to insult backstabbers or weasels…

  • ericathunderpaws

    This man is, in my view, an outright traitor to the nation. He hates America, and is trying to take it down.

    “The Constitution of the United States, Art. III, defines treason against the United States to consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort.”

  • oblio

    Why is it that Teh One proposes a credit for child care costs (phased out based on income of course) but if we choose to have only one income so our children are raised by us we are not eligible for a credit. My wife could easily make 50k a year but we choose to sacrifice that to provide quality traditional care from within the family. ISTM that gub’mint should promote traditional family values and child care credits disincentivise that. Not that I think it is the taxpayers responsibility to pay for childcare, but just wondering ….

  • bk

    They love to ask how we are going to “pay for” tax cuts while increased spending doesn’t have to be “paid for” since it’s an “investment”.

    It was interesting that SotU – which was supposed to be about spending freeze and deficit reduction – had lots of talk of more spending and more tax cuts. Wait a second – how does that fit as a spending freeze?