Even Reagan Would Agree with Obama?

Alright, I've been receiving several emails from readers pointing out Obama's comments the other day. Obama said that Reagan would be on Obama's side with respect to his tax policy. These emails are basically saying "look, look! Even Reagan would agree with Obama!"

My answer: there's absolutely no way Ronald Reagan would agree on the Buffett tax. Obama shows that he doesn’t know Reagan's legacy. Either that or he’s completely ignoring it.

Obama said: "Now, when I point this out, some of the Republicans in Congress say, ‘oh you’re engaging in class warfare.’ Let me tell you something. Years ago, one great American had a different view. I’m going to get the quote, just so you know I’m not making this up. A great American said that he thought it was ‘crazy’ that certain tax loopholes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary."

A digression - Obama in fact IS class warfare. Whether you want to say it's direct or indirect, that's up for debate. Look at who's sponsoring Occupy Wall Street: it's the same group that gave money to Obama during his campaign in 2008. This group is moveon.org. How come Obama hasn't condemned this group for starting this rally and shutting down parts of NY? That's because he's supporting it, and - wait a minute, breaking news - Obama is now publically supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Going back to Obama's comments, Obama later said that taxes during the Reagan administration were higher then they were during the Obama administration. The fact is Reagan started his presidency with the highest tax rate at 80% for the top earners and during his presidency he worked to LOWER the income tax. When Reagan left office the tax rate for the highest earners was 28%. Currently during the Obama administration the highest tax rate is 35% and Obama is working to make taxes HIGHER. So Obama is creating revisionist history – taxes were NOT higher under Reagan!

Looking at the income tax is not all, though – look at the additional taxes on the high-income earners that DIDN’T EXIST during the Reagan administration. There is the addition of the Medicare tax which now applies to 100% of high-income earner income whereas the Medicare tax during the Reagan administration taxed only up to a certain level of income. In addition Obama will put additional tax burden on the high-income earners with passing his Obamacare bill. Not to mention this doesn’t include state taxes which have largely risen since Reagan (which admittedly you can’t blame Obama for really since he doesn’t set them) which have gone up. This increase in taxes since the Reagan administration has strained US business. It has left businesses with less capital to invest in new equipment or hire new people.

On top of taxes, regulation and harassment of businesses (and top income earners) are exploding under the Obama administration. Have you heard about what the Justice Department is doing to businesses under Obama’s direction? They should be called the In-Justice Department. If you read about what the Obama Administration has ordered the Justice Department to do then you will find Obama is a dictator more then anything. Under the Obama Justice Department, Obama has shut down and harassed Gibson Guitars without giving any explanation, allowing pilots who do not pass standard tests to fly planes based on their skin color, allowing police officers who do not pass standard tests to patrol the streets based on their skin color…there is a huge list of these dictator-style mandates that Obama has directed.

It is clear Obama is hell-bent on making sure race is the number one determining factor in hiring somebody and not the person’s competency. This is dangerous for the general population. I don’t want a pilot who doesn’t know what he’s doing to fly a plane – that’s why the tests are there, to help weed out the people who know what they are doing vs the people who don't! How competent someone is what should determine if they get hired or not. However Obama's strategy will also backfire on minorities. It has made and will make businesses reluctant to hire someone who is a minority because they know if they hire a minority then they could potentially be sued / harassed in other ways based on regulations.

The fact is Obama kills U.S. business because it causes business men to become scared to hire in the US because of the risk they take of being threatened by the government. It’s also the rules and regulations that have piled on and on during the Obama administration which create barriers for new businesses to get started, let alone for new ones to survive. Why would someone want to start a business in the US where they can go elsewhere where there is much less regulation and less taxes? Then again, why start a business? People start businesses to make profit, and in the process they create goods and services that people desire. Obama doesn't seem to understand that profit is what creates and motivates business. Our country has turned into a crony-capitalist society - whatever you want to call it, we are going farther and farther from capitalism - and we need the ship to be steered in the other direction.

The dangerous thing is the media and most of the people who listen to the media take Obama’s comments at face-value. What they should be doing is doing research and trying to validate what Obama is saying. The ONE thing I agree with Obama is closing SOME of the loopholes. A lot of these banking investment-types are getting away with not paying taxes on what they earn.