President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership continue to tell the nation that spending is not the issue, that revenue is the problem. Put simply, politicians don’t spend too much-they just need to take more in taxes from ALL of us. A poll released Thursday (2/7) suggests a large majority of people do not share Obama’s view, and believe the economy is going to get worse.
Democrats continue to peddle this message even though they have already been successful in increasing revenues by almost a$1 trillion on the highest income earners through the “Fiscal Cliff” deal, as well as a number of new or increased taxes as a result of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that include targeted businesses (the Medical Device Tax for example), and a 2 percent payroll tax increase due the expiration of the two-year break.
The payroll tax was the best trick of them all- any person earning paycheck now takes home 2 percent less, yet the White House, with the help of Congress, was successful in convincing people that only the wealthy got hit with higher taxes. Now that is some fine snake oil salesmanship.
Now the target is “loopholes” in the tax code. Now that Democrats got the hike on the income, they believe they can piggy-back additional increases on “the wealthy” by squeezing more revenue from corporations and small business. All this is being done with no discussions about how to reduce the cost of entitlement programs-a clear indication that this is nothing more than a money-grab. But as the payroll tax hike confirmed, it will not be only the top 2 percent that will have less to spend if this is allowed to continue.
Democrats, led by the White House, will continue to push the belief that revenue is the issue and try to sell it by telling us all that only the “rich” will be asked to pay more-you know, the “their fair share” routine.
As recently as his reelection campaign he was supporting a “Balanced Approach” to reducing the deficit, his definition of balanced then was $2.50 in spending cuts for every $1 in additional revenues but since his reelection his definition seems to be all the revenue he can get without reforming any entitlements.
Official Real Time U.S. Debt Clock
The reason we need more revenue is so elected officials don’t have to deal with making spending cuts while continuing to fuel the nearly $17 trillion deficit to reach unknown heights, and to raise the needed revenue Democrats are playing from the take more from the rich playbook.
A number of recent polls suggest that people are beginning to question that belief, with a majority questioning the direction of virtually all areas of our economy. The Fox News Poll that was released Thursday showed Obama’s disapproval numbers on all the economic questions is over 50 percent: Job Creation-52, Economy-55, Taxes-54 and Healthcare-52. The poll also revealed that 48 percent think the country is weaker and less powerful now than five years ago, while only 24 percent believe the nation is stronger and more powerful.
Before liberals discount the Fox News Poll, consider the Rasmussen polls released recently:
62% Favor smaller government with fewer taxes
68% Say cutting government spending answer to economic problems
57% believe country is on wrong track
As opposition to Obama’s view grows, he continues to advance the revenue first approach. Part of that approach is to convince people that no “drastic” changes are needed in entitlements, just tweaks. Obama himself said he was not going to “use a machete, but a scalpel”. If people believe that, then they will believe that increased revenue will go toward deficit reduction and the push for increased revenue through taxation without spending cuts will prove successful once again.
While fiscal conservatives will have to endure at least two more years of this fiscal bait-and-switch, the risk to the nation if more eyes are not opened by the 2014 elections is far worse.
It should be pointed out that not all fiscal conservatives are Republicans-there is a growing number of independents that are fiscal conservatives, but social moderates and have no voice in either of the major parties. While the far right of the GOP openly discusses the idea of forming their own party-a more right leaning party- maybe it is time for those that place fiscal responsibility ahead of social issues, yet are social moderates, to band together.
Historically those that place the economy at the top of their priority list vote with Republicans, but as the GOP continues to battle itself it has become clear that unless you are more to the right of the party in beliefs, regardless of fiscal positions, your voice will continue to shrink.
Our nation cannot continue to meet our fiscal challenges in the pinball-like manner we have over the last number of years. To secure our children and grandchildren’s future we must take control of our fiscal future, and yes-that means hard decisions and tough times, but it must be done to change the path we are traveling.
Fiscal conservatives will continue to be frustrated by the apparent lack of true concern of too many citizens concerning the economic future of our nation, while having that frustration compounded by a president that continues to place winning political arguments and growing party power ahead of solving problems that are growing by the day.
This is the conclusion to Obama’s “60 Minutes” appearance fuels frustration of fiscal conservatives. The first part of the article was published Monday, February 4.
Comments