They’re not very effective:
Trying to mobilize voters to rally behind a complex, multi-trillion dollar budget that Congress will take months to enact is a different task from winning votes for a presidential candidate.
“You live in Terre Haute, Indiana, or suburban Denver, and someone you don’t know knocks on the door and talks politics — the election is over,” said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Connecticut. “I’m not sure if it will make a big difference.”
Still, Brown concedes that it’s early enough in Obama’s presidency and he’s still popular enough that some people will listen and give Obama “the benefit of the doubt” on his agenda.
“They’re scared about their income future,” Brown said.
Well, I’m scared as hell as hell about my income future, too, because Obama wants to tax the hell out of it. It doesn’t make him popular with me. And whatever “benefit of the doubt” he had with me ended last spring, after the duplicity about Reverend Wright.
I find it interesting that Obama has to do this to members of his own party. And liberal lobby groups are planning to target blue dog Democrats? Wonder how that will turn out. At a glance, it appears that the Blue Dog Coalition is a very effective subgroup of US Representatives. I don’t see that Obama will be able to break this group through grassroots pressure.
“Well, I’m scared as hell as hell about my income future, too, because Obama wants to tax the hell out of it.”
How much do you make per year? Most people under
150K will get a tax cut.
Jack, it doesn’t matter how much someone makes in income – why should they (the wealthy) give more than the least-earning of us? We all obtain equal protections under the law, and we each obtain equal protection in time of war from the military. Beyond that, Amendment X says the Feds are legally obligated to keep their bloody noses out of our business, personal and public. Our rights and liberties come from our own existence. And those who would tread upon those natural liberties mark themselves as tyrants, either established or yet in ambition.
Others may fall for this magical line that’s been promised (at various times at 150k, 75k, and even so low as 40k annually, all in the last year alone). Those who know what liberty is, know that there ought not to be a line at all – that what is just for the man who makes nothing is equally just for the man who makes a mint. As each of us citizens must live within our own means or go bankrupt, so too must the government at each level deal with this harsh reality.
Locke had it right those centuries ago. They govern only with our consent. Which is being rapidly withdrawn as we realize that they mean to make paupers out of us. I do not give a damn what their reasons are for it; whether to more-firmly cement their own personal power-bases (as I and so many others suspect), or to provide for the welfare of others (as they so often claim, before being shown to act otherwise). They arrogantly tread on ice as thin as tissue, with hobnailed boots. Ultimately however, they answer to us, and as such they must heed our warnings, or face the loss of power that is the consequence.
A “local” example: I had high hopes for my new representative. He took over from a man who literally pimped out female members of his own staff – and is likely going to suffer only alimony payments for his deeds. The man my new representative replaced was elected, before I arrived here, on a promise of raising the ethical bar of Congress, to replace the scumbag who held the office before him. My new representative voted in favor of this new ex post facto bill of attainder; the one that even our new POTUS’ Con-law professor at Harvard has opined is in fact unconstitutional. As a result, my new representative had better hope that I, and many others like me, end up chasing jobs out of the district before November of 2010, for if we are not gone, he will be.
This is not an isolated district. I see, from surprising sources, on a near-daily basis (greater than 4 or 5 times a week, even) that the electorate is not merely angry with our elected officials – we are furious. This will not stand. And as I mentioned above – if they wish to keep even a modicum of their power, then they risk our wrath at their peril.
How much do you make per year? Most people under
150K will get a tax cut.
Bullshit.
How much do you make per year? Most people under
150K will get a tax cut.
And a pony!
Whoever gets taxed by wasteful government spending affects me in multiple ways. As I enjoy the musical arts, our symphony has less money. My 401K goes down. Starting a new business, I have no angel investors. My primary customers are aircraft owners. Do not ask for whom the tax comes, it comes for thee.
How much do you make per year? Most people under
150K will get a tax cut.
So? By your lights, if I steal the Hope diamond, smash it with a hammer, and give one little fragment to everyone I meet … that makes my actions acceptable?
And what makes you think that in four years $150,000 will be worth what it is today? If we Our Benevolent President’s policies lead to Mugabe-style inflation, $150,000 could turn out to be below the poverty line.
Nice comment, Mr. Anderson.
How much do you make per year? Most people under 150K will get a tax cut.
No, Obama has directed that income tax withholding be decreased by about $13 a week. However, the tax tables aren’t being adjusted so you’ll have to pay back that money next year. Wow, 13 whole dollars a week! With that, I might be able to take my wife out to Burger King.
Larry J,
you could go twice, if you both get just a Kids Meal.
“And a pony!”
Carrying a basket of kittens in its mouth.
“income tax withholding be decreased by about $13 a week”
Isn’t that funny how that works out to be a pack of beer and a box of donuts. Good thing in a way, as we will all need a steady diet of beer and donuts to stomach the next 4 years. Now I know why the Canadians are so keen on consuming mass quantities.
Another thing, even if we’re cutting taxes (which apparently we are not) this year for people under 150k per year, what about next year? Where’s the taxes going to come from for that? Or the year after that?
Even if the taxes are getting cut for everybody under 150k, that does not eliminate the likelihood of tax increases for everybody.
Give a scrap with one hand, take the whole thing with the other. No dishonesty… just incomplete information offered.
Yet another thing, you’re discussing this as if income taxes were the only taxes. There will be plenty of other, non-income taxes going up which will more than offset any income tax decreases for everyone.
Yet another thing, you’re discussing this as if income taxes were the only taxes. There will be plenty of other, non-income taxes going up which will more than offset any income tax decreases for everyone.
Let’s see, some of them are:
Federal Income Taxes
State Income Taxes
Social Security Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Gasoline Tax
Taxes and fees added to numerous things like airline tickets, utilities, phone bills, etc.
Taxes and fees to register your car
Sales tax
My wife and I have a combined income way, way under the evil $250K level, but when we add up all the visible taxes we pay, the total is over $40K a year. That doesn’t even begin to factor in the corporate taxes and compliance costs that get passed on to us when we buy products and services.
> Yet another thing, you’re discussing this as if income taxes were the only taxes. There will be plenty of other, non-income taxes going up which will more than offset any income tax decreases for everyone.
You folks are forgetting the carbon taxes.
Taxes on capital, corporate profits, small-business income and, ultimately, the personal income of highly productive people ultimately come out of everyone’s wallet. And ultimately tax increases will hurt most the people who have the least resources, because those are the people who have the most difficulty getting by in hard times.