Posted on 07/19/2012 3:33:52 PM PDT by Kaslin
Perhaps the rain made the teleprompter unreadable. That's one thought I had on pondering Barack Obama's comments to a rain-soaked rally in Roanoke, Va., last Friday.
Perhaps he didn't really mean what he said. Or perhaps -- as is often the case with people -- when unanchored from a prepared text he revealed what he really thinks.
"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back," he began, defending his policy of higher tax rates on high earners. "They know they didn't -- look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
"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."
In other words, Steve Jobs didn't make Apple happen. It was the work of a teacher union member -- er, great teacher -- and the government agencies that paved I-280 and El Camino Real that made Apple happen.
High earners don't deserve the money they make, Obama apparently thinks. It's the gift of government, and they shouldn't begrudge handing more of it back to government.
And that's true, as he told Charlie Gibson of ABC News in 2008, even if those higher tax rates produce less revenue for the government, as has been the case with rate increases on capital gains. The government should take away the money as a matter of "fairness."
The cynical might dismiss Obama's preoccupation with higher tax rates as an instance of a candidate dwelling on one of his few proposals that tests well in the polls. Certainly he doesn't want to talk much about Obamacare or the stimulus package.
Cynics might note that he spurned super-committee Republicans' willingness last year to reduce tax deductions so as to actually increase revenue from high earners, without discouraging investment or encouraging tax avoidance as higher tax rates do.
But maybe Obama's Captain-Ahab-like pursuit of higher tax rates just comes from a sense that no one earns success and that there's no connection between effort and reward.
That kind of thinking also helps to explain the approach taken by Sen. Patty Murray in a speech at the Brookings Institution Monday. She wants a tax rate increase on high earners so badly she said she'd prefer raising everyone's taxes next year to maintaining current rates.
Murray was first elected in 1992 as a state legislator who had been dismissed by a lobbyist as "just a mom in tennis shoes." But in 20 years she's become an accomplished appropriator and earmarker.
"Do no harm," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told members of Congress at a hearing yesterday, urging them to avoid the sharp spending cuts and tax rate increases scheduled for year's end.
But Murray is threatening to do exactly that kind of harm. Those prattling about how irresponsible Republicans are might want to ponder her threat.
And to consider that Republicans remember what happened to the last Republican who agreed to such rate increases, George H.W. Bush in 1990. Seeking re-election in 1992, he won only 37 percent of the vote. Republicans won't risk that again.
The Obama Democrats seem to believe that there's no downside risk in threatening huge tax increases for everyone and in asserting that if you're successful "someone else made that happen."
Affluent voters trended Democratic over two decades on cultural issues. But economic issues dominate this year, and they may not appreciate Obama's assertion that they don't deserve what they've earned.
Praise Gov from who all blessings flow.
Praise it all creatures here below.
Praise it above the Washington Post.
Praise Obama, giver of the most.............
Is it any wonder an AA baby would feel that way?
More and more it seems like last Friday Obama said something as damaging to his election prospects as Gerald Ford did in his debate with Carter, when he said that Poland was not under Soviet domination.
Pyongyang has bridges and a lot of wide roads but little else.
Another gay statement from our prez. He has a big voice, but his gayness and absurdities in recent pronouncement are for all to see... except for those who want to remain blind, even the San Francisco Golden Gate bridge would not be enough to cross over from one butt cheek of his to the other.
Success predates government.
I’m surprised Obama is not being accused of plagiarism by Elizabeth Warren, who said basically the same thing in a speech that went viral on Youtube.
Ah. Gloria Patri. Good reference.
Obama Believes Success Is a Gift From (Bigger and Bigger) Government
Big Gubamint Uber Alles
He said it and he meant it.
I think the “you didn’t build that” is the greatest quote Obama has ever given us. It needs to run 24/7.
Who is Obama a”Gift”from?MARX and ENGELS???????????????????
Governmental providence.
Yes sir, as soon as you are out of office. Then it's just someone punching another citizen, and with luck, it'll happen oh-so-often.
Think your right on that one my FRiend. That statement is going to hang on the “One’s neck” like a piece of rotting meat.
Everyone wants their own business some time in their life. Many fail at it, and get up and try again. It’s hard work, and zer0 is kicking them in the cookies while they are at it.
Not that zer0 would know anything about that hard work stuff, He was smoking something back in the hood.
And that little confession will be flying around again as well.
I am sure that in Obama's book I am now a 1%-er.
In my mid-20's, my wife and I had $4 (truely) but saw an opportunity to buy and rent residential real estate. I have been a landlord now for 27 years. My day was something like this:
5:00AM - out of bed.
5:45-7:30 - Renovating the worst house in the best rental neighborhood we could find.
8:00-5:00 Regular job.
5:30-6:00 Wife meets me at the house with dinner.
6:00-12:00 Renovating house.
12:30AM-5:00AM Exhausted sleep.
5:00AM Start again.
In doing this we gave the opportunity for people to live in a better neighborhood and send their kids to better schools than if they had bought a house. Some tenants recognized this and appreciated it. A very few, however; viewed us as the man and did everything they could to avoid paying the rent. One in particular. In the end we have been able to do good things with our money. We give back a lot but not through the government.
A few questions for Obama regarding a tenant, who looked a lot like him, that we had to evict:
Did you ever have to remove a 2 week old raw chicken that was stuffed down the garbage disposal. Picking it out rotten piece by rotten piece?
Did you ever have to replace a toilet that the tenant put put a bag of concrete in and pooped on it for a week?
Did you ever have to replace carpet after the tenant let his dog poop in the living room for two weeks while you were evicting them?
Don't tell me somebody else made it happen, my wife and I made it happen. We busted out a$$es. Oh, but we did have this secret partner called Capital Gains, who never lifted a finger to help but was there at the end with his hand out when we decided to sell. FOBO.
And that brings up the corollary to zero's statement: Most businesses that are started fail. Did those people who worked hard yet had failure have "someone helping them out with that" too? If they all had "someone helping them" with those roads and utilities, how come most fail and only a few succeed?
It just points up how incredibly, stupidly wrong the statement was...it wasn't just bad politics, it was straight out wrong. Anyone who said that who wasn't a favored leftist politician would be considered - by the MSM - to be the most out-of-touch, destructive idiot to ever walk the Earth.
Actually, that describes Obama perfectly.
Obama Believes Success Is a Gift From Government
success has a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan... so if you succeed it's due to the state, if you fail, it's YOUR FAULT!!!
is that about right???
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