I was stunned when I heard President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” speech. Here is the pertinent part.

 “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

My first thought was that Obama is vastly out of touch with the American people and what has made America great. Now, I will give Obama his due, he is a very good campaigner. Much better than anyone since Bill Clinton, so a gaff of this size is out of character.  I decided to read the whole speech, being as the president’s supporters claims he was taken out of context, and draw my own conclusion. I learned, well, actually reaffirmed, many things from this speech. All of them reveal a lot about Obama’s strategy to get re-elected and the character of this man.

“In 2008, I promised to make sure that middle-class taxes didn’t go up.  And in fact, because of the recession, you needed some help, so we cut the typical family's income taxes by $3,600.  (Applause.)  So if you hear somebody say that I'm a big tax guy, just remember $3,600 for the typical family.  That’s the tax break you've gotten since I've been in office.”

Two lies for the price of one, right here. Obama did not cut anyone’s taxes. Haven’t you heard the media decrying the evil “Bush Tax Cuts”? Take the word “Bush” out of that and what do you have?  You have the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, which actually cut the tax rates of every single taxpayer in America. The only thing Obama did was sign a piece of legislation that left those tax rate cuts alone. He gave no one any tax relief. As for the “big tax guy” comment; Obamacare is the single biggest tax increase in the history of this nation. Did you hear me? Single biggest. Ever. But, Bush was evil and caused this whole mess, because he decreased tax rates for everyone, and Obama signed the bill leaving them alone?  Moving on.

“And so, just as we came together in the last campaign -- not just Democrats, by the way, but Republicans and independents, because we’re not Democrats or Republicans first, we’re Americans first.” 

Later in the speech he says

“Four years later, I'm running to keep middle-class taxes low.  So this week, I called on Congress to immediately extend income tax cuts on the first $250,000 of income.  Now, what that means is 98 percent of Americans make less than $250,000, so 98 percent of folks would have the certainty and security that your taxes, your income taxes would not go up a dime. “

The first point here is obvious; first he confirms what I just said about the tax rate cuts. The second is a big hint into his philosophy. Part one “we’re American’s first” Part Two he makes a clear division between Americans. That is the overriding theme of the Obama campaign; divide America and bribe them, one segment at a time. 

President Obama and his sycophants in Congress are again on their rant about raising the taxes on the millionaires (defined as a family making $250,000 or more) and other people who need to pay their fair share. Here’s something he and the leftstream media are not going to tell you. It doesn’t matter, not one iota, if Obama gets the tax rate increase he wants. It won’t fix the problem. It will be barely noticeable. It will likely do harm.

The President does not come right out and say it, but it is implied that if only we raise taxes on the rich all of our budgetary problems would disappear. Listen to this clip.

http://www.hark.com/clips/hmtzzhwlcw-raise-taxes-on-the-rich

He says if we take money from the rich and give it the poor the economy will be back in balance. The word ‘balance’ is in there for a reason. People hear that and they think “balanced budget”. Then they make the leap from “balance budget’ to “Tax the rich and we balance the budget”. Again, the President doesn’t say this. But, it is clear he wants you to infer this.

So, first let’s shoot that down right now. The Clinton Tax Rate Increases, that President Obama wants Congress to reinstitute on families making above $250,000 and individuals making above $200,000 (millionaires?) are projected to raise annual revenue from as little as 65 billion per year to as much as 400 billion per year. Other sources say revenues will actually go down as those “rich’ people shelter their income more efficiently.

For argument’s sake let’s say that we will be rolling in the dough and bringing in 400 billion more each year. In 2011 the budget deficit, the amount money we need to bring in so we have as much as we spend each year, was 1.6 trillion. That’s trillion with a capital ‘T”. That’s trillion, as in 1000 billion. The 400 billion of additional revenue is a big maybe. The 1.6 trillion shortfall is a carved-in-stone fact. We are talking a pie-in-the sky- best-case scenario of reducing the deficit by 25%.

You say “Great! That’s a good start”. I say “Weren’t you listening?” Maybe we will raise 400 billion. We might get even less money. But, we are definitely planning on spending every dime and then some to create the deficit.

“Yeah, but we can try it and maybe at the same time reduce spending in areas where we can afford it; like Defense. You know we spend more than every other country in that area.”  comes your reply.

We have played this game before. If we cut out every single dollar going to Defense, every single dollar, our deficit drops from 1.6 trillion to 700 billion. So if we tax the rich, cut out all defense (throwing a few million people out of work in the process, and turning our Recession into a full fledged Depression) we are still 300 billion short, IF things play out in the best case scenario. But, we also get invaded by a foreign country (other than Mexico), and must learn to speak Russian, Chinese, or Farsi. 

 

The Supreme Court has spoken and ObamaCare is the law of the land. It might be legal, but that does not mean it is a good law or program. Let me first say that I do not completely understand ObamaCare. But, neither did most of the people who voted on it. That did not stop them from screwing with the financial lives of everyone in America. With that said here is ObamaCare in a nutshell, followed by something Congress needs to do to fix the health care situation in America.

ObamaCare basically says that everyone in America will purchase healthcare insurance. It also says that employers who have over 50 employees must provide health insurance and that it must be affordable, as defined by the Federal government.  If you do not buy health insurance then you will be taxed $95 per adult in household or 1% of your family income, whichever is greater. That tax rises each year until 2016, when it maxes out at 2.5% or $695 per uninsured adult, per year.

If the company with over 50 employees does not provide affordable health insurance, it will be fined $2000 per worker. Affordable is defined as the employee’s share of the premium can not exceed 9.5% of their household income.

If you are low income (100% to 400% of the Federal Poverty Line) you qualify for a premium tax credit. The credit is on a sliding scale, which caps the amount of money you have to pay for your health insurance, based on how much you make and how big your family is. So a family of 4 making $50,000 a year would pay the first $335 per month in their health insurance premiums. Then the taxpayers (you and me) pay the rest. If you make below 133% of the Federal Poverty Line then you qualify for Medicaid and the state you live in gets the bill.

Here is my analysis of the above. The majority of Americans are going to qualify for some form of subsidy for the health care insurance from the federal government. The more you make the less your subsidy will be. I won’t get any. BooHoo for me, but it also means that I now get to pay even more to subsidize even more people (I’m already subsidizing Medicaid) for their health insurance. 

Next my company is going to have to ask me what my household income is, so they can make sure my premium is under the 9.5% threshold. (I am so looking forward to that meeting) If it’s above that 9.5% level then they have to eat the rest. OR they could just say “Bleep You” and stop providing healthcare insurance, and pay the $2000 per employee penalty. It costs them a lot more than that to provide the insurance. My premiums already went up 40% when ObamaCare’s mandate of requiring my insurance company to cover “children” up to age 26.

So I, and maybe you, have a better than even money chance of having to find my own health insurance. But, as I won’t qualify for any government subsidy, I will have to pay full price for health insurance. Good-bye at least 10% of my income for some bare bones policy. But, the Family of Four I mentioned about has their premiums capped, so they can