In his deficit cutting speech today Obama offered no compromise or negotiation on raising taxes on the rich. Grand bargaining has been forgotten as the fight for America’s future begins.
Here is the video from MSNBC:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
After repeating his call to pass the American Jobs Act, and running through the details of his spending cuts Obama said,
I’m proposing real serious cuts in spending. When you include the $1 trillion in cuts I’ve already signed into law, these would be among the biggest cuts many spending in our history, but they’ve got to be part of a larger plan that’s balanced. A plan that asks the most fortunate among us to pay their fair share just like everybody else. and that’s why this plan eliminates tax loopholes that primarily go to the wealthiest taxpayers and biggest corporations, tax breaks that small businesses and middle class families don’t get, and if tax reform doesn’t get done, this plan asks the wealthiest Americans to go back to paying the same rates they paid during the 1990s before the Bush tax cuts.
I promise it’s not because anybody looks forward to the prospects of raising taxes or paying more taxes. I don’t. In fact, I’ve cut taxes for the middle class and small businesses and through the American Jobs Act, we cut taxes again to put more money in the pockets of people, but we can’t afford these special lower rates for the wealthy. Rates by the way, they were meant to be temporary. Back when these tax cuts in 2001, 2003 were being talked about, they were talked about as temporary measures. We can’t afford them when we’re running these big deficits.
Now, I am also ready to work with Democrats and Republicans to reform our entire tax code. To get rid of the decades of accumulated loopholes special interest carve outs and other expenditures that stack the deck against small business owners and families who can’t afford fancy accountants. Our tax code is more than 10,000 pages long. If you stack up all the volumes, they’re almost five feet tall. That means that how much you pay often depends less on what you make, and more on how well you can game the system, and that’s especially true of the corporate tax code.
We’ve got one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, but it’s riddled with exceptions and special interest loopholes, so some companies get out paying a lot of tacks while the rest of them have to end up footing the bill. This makes our entire economy less competitive and our country a less desirable place to do business. That has to change. Our tax code shouldn’t give an advantage to companies with best connected lobbyists. It should give the advantage to companies that invest in the United States and we can lower the corporate rate if we get rid of all these special deals.
So, I am ready. I am eager to work with Democrats and Republicans to reform the tax code to make it simpler, fairer and make America more competitive, but any reform plan will have to raise revenue to help close our deficit. That has to be part of the formula, and any reform should follow another simple principle. Middle class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires. That’s pretty straightforward. It’s hard to argue against that. Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. There’s no justification for it. It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million.
Anybody who says we can’t change the tax code to correct that, anyone who has signed some pledge to protect every single tax loophole so long as they live, they should be called out. They should have to defend that unfairness. Explain why somebody who’s making $50 million a year in the financial markets should be paying 15% on their taxes when a teacher making $50,000 a year is paying more than that. Paying a higher rate. They ought to have to answer to that. and if they’re pledge to keep that kind of unfairness in place, they should remember the last time I checked, the only pledge that really matters is the pledge we take to uphold the Constitution.
We’re already hearing the usual defenders saying this is just class warfare. I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or teacher is class warfare. I think it’s just the right thing to do. I believe the American middle class who have been pressured relentlessly for decades believe it’s time that they were fought for as hard as the lobbyists and some lawmakers have fought to protect special treatment for billionaires and big corporations.
Nobody wants to punish success in America. What’s great about this country is our belief that anyone can make it and everybody should be able to try. The idea that any one of us could open a business or have an idea and make us millionaires or billionaires; this is the land of opportunity, that’s great. All I’m saying is that who have done well, including me, should pay our fair share in taxes to contribute to the nation that made our successes possible. We shouldn’t get a better deal than ordinary families get and I think most wealthy Americans would agree. If they knew this would help us grow the economy and deal with the debt that threatens our future.
It comes down to this. We have to prioritize. Both parties agree that we need to reduce the deficit by the same amount, by $4 trillion. So what choices are we going to make to reach that goal? Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes or we have to ask seniors to pay more for Medicare. We can’t afford to do both. Either we gut education and medical research or reform the tax code so that the most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don’t get. We can’t afford to do both.
This is not class warfare. It’s math. The money’s going to have to come from some place. and if we’re — if we’re not willing to ask those who have done extraordinarily well to help America close to deficit, and we are trying to reach that same target of $4 trillion, then the logic, the math says everybody else has to do a whole lot more. We’ve got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor. We’ve got to scale back on the investments that have always helped our economy grow. We’ve got to settle for second rate roads and bridges and airports, and schools that are crumbling. That’s unacceptable to me. That’s unacceptable to the American people, and it will not happen on my watch. I will not support — I will not support any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans, and I will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on Medicare, but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to pay their fair share.
We are not going to have a one sided deal that hurts the folks who are most vulnerable. Look, none of the changes I’m proposing are easy or politically convenient. It’s always more popular to promise the moon. Leave the bill for after the next election or the election after that. That’s been true since our founding. George Washington grappled with this problem. He said, towards the payment of debts, there must be revenue. That to have revenue, there must be taxes and no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant. He understood that dealing with the debt is, these are his words, always a choice of difficulties, but he also knew that public servants weren’t elected to do what was easy. They weren’t elected to do what was politically advantageous. It’s our responsibility to put country before party, to put what’s right for the future.
That’s what this debate is about. Not about numbers on a ledger. Not about figures on a spread sheet. it’s about the economic future of this country and it’s about whether we will do what it takes to create jobs and opportunity while facing up to the legacy of debt that threatens everything we’ve built over generations and it’s also about fairness. It’s about whether we are in fact in this together, and we’re looking out for one another. We know what’s right. It’s time to do what’s right.
In the most direct and bluntest terms that he has yet used in his presidency, Obama called out Republicans and demanded that they explain why they believe that millionaires should not pay their fair share. The concept of fairness was the theme of this entire speech, and he was correct. This isn’t about class warfare. The tax issue is about values and priorities. The question is what do we value more as a country, Medicare or the Bush tax cuts?
By making his argument in moral instead of statistical terms, the President has found his voice and is connecting with people in a way that they can understand. Everyone knows that the Republicans are never going to increase taxes on the wealthy. Anyone who judges Obama’s proposal by the success or failure of the legislation is missing the point. The president is trying to make the argument not only for his own reelection, but also why the House Republicans need to be booted out of office.
The most striking thing about this speech and Obama’s American Jobs Act speeches has been their simplicity. The administration seems to understand now that the vast majority of Americans don’t follow politics very closely, so the message has to be simple and repetitive. Obama’s repetition of phrases like “pass the bill” and “fairness” is not an accident. These phrases are not rhetorical, but messaging devices.
Once again the words negotiate and compromise were nowhere to be found in his speech. Obama separated the tax code issue from increasing taxes on the wealthy. He separated Medicare from rolling back the tax rates to Reagan levels. He is not going to give Republicans a hostage to take. There isn’t going to be a negotiation. This is his plan. Republicans must either accept it, or explain to the voters in 2012 why you are against creating jobs, and the wealthy paying their fair share.
Obama has offered the Republicans no compromise and given them no quarter. The grand bargain is dead, as the street fight for America’s future has begun.
Related posts:
- The Blame Goes Beyond Obama For Debt Ceiling Compromise
- Obama Calls Out Republicans For Having No Plan To Lower Gas Prices
- Paul Krugman Calls Economic Uncertainty A Myth Used To Blame Obama
- Obama Laughs At Donald Trump and Calls Birthers The GOP’s Problem
- Obama: Compromise Necessary to Solve the Gaza Crisis
I’m glad to see President Obama finding his voice and being unafraid to call out the Republicans and their love of pledges-over-Oath of Office. I would like to see Congressional Republicans and the right-wing blogosphere speak to the TEMPORARY Bush Tax Cuts, which were meant only to redistribute the SURPLUS that Clinton gave Bush.
They call that class warfare…the GOP is against EVERY DAY PEOPLE who DO NOT MAKE $250 THOUSAND or MILLIONS a year or day. So yes..its a CLASS WARFARE alright. The greedy rich got so spoiled and rich under the GOP Bush rule..no oversight– make all the money you want.–illegally of course..and the hel with the citizenry! Not to worry about them..they’re just poor stupid people who listen to us no matter what we say. Poor people who make middle income money–that we can find a way to take even more from too! And they are! Like making them pay more for their pensions and healtcare costs. Take away unemployment even though it was the GOP’s fault that put you on it! Companies willingly provided pay for your HC costs and pensions but now the GOP has convinced them all Verizon AT&T and showed them how to take more away from YOU the citizens. ARE YOU LISTENING YET? And they plan to take more when they steal this election.
If republicans are screaming CLASS WARFARE you can be SURE THEY ARE WAGING IT!
Call them out at ever opportunity Mr. President!
I loved his speech. Would have liked him to explain a bit about the particulars. It seems like most speeches start with this what i am going to do, but do not explain how they are going to do it.
If you read the documents surrounding the matter, you’ll get a better idea on the specifics. Putting it all into a speech not only wastes a lot of time with details the average American may or may not fully understand, but also gives the media (and those who control whatever media outlet in question) the opportunity to latch on to some technical phrase and start digging in with tooth and claw.
“Keep It Simple, Stupid” really is the best way to go with these sorts of things. Keep it short, keep it sweet, leave the details for documents to be gone over later.
That, plus…he wants to implement this plan. Until he actually starts, no one knows exactly how anyone’s going to do anything. Especially if the Republicans are blocking his every move.
President Obama needs to keep this up to SAVE THIS COUNTRY FROM THE RW KOCH BROS MURDOCH FOX MACHINE. Your the only one on our side President Obama. So when you decide to cave in you will cave in on all of us. This country is surely going down without you. The GOP plans to give AUSTERITY a whole new meaning by using US, THE CITIZENS if they success in stealing the 2012–thats what they’re working on! How bad do you have to be that you have to cheat to win? That is your GOP. If that was my party I’d leave them. Just listenting to Boehner who struggled with his lies..would have been enough for me to leave that party. And its just remarkable how they’re constituents continue to cheer on the GOP as if they’re doing something grand for them. THEY’RE NOT! They are ready to leave you on the curb starving with no health insurance and no jobs and let you die. I’m trying to figure out what part of this their constituents do not see or hear? And the RW APPLAUDS THE GOP who have made it real clear by using our deficit THAT NO JOBS, NO TAXES FOR THE RICH WHICH WOULD MAKE EVERYTHING SO MUCH BETTER WITHIN MONTHS. Have you asked yourself why the GOP won’t do anything for you as a citizen of this United States? Have you really asked yourself that question lately? Maybe if more people did they would NOT VOTE GOP.
He can raise taxes and “close loop-holes”, but as long as there are tax-free municipal bonds and over-seas investment, there’s no guarantee raising taxes will bring in more revenue.
I believe some on the right will hear only the line “We’ve got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor.” and think, “Yes, that’s what needs to be done. Maybe President Obama is finally getting with the pogrom.”
LOL @ pogrom. True
But,one group, the Tax Foundation, says the top 1% of taxpayers made 20% of all income and paid 38% of all income taxes at an average rate of 23%. The bottom 50% made 13% of all income,paid 3% of all income taxes at an average rate of 2.6%.
The problem isn’t the amount of taxes, it’s where it’s going.
and the figures you quote have to scare the living daylights out of anyone who understands that a country cannot exist with all of its wealth in one section of its spectrum
Well,THAT’S a whole other issue! But my point is that, as an aggregation, the rich ARE paying their “fair share” of taxes, so Obama IS trying to stir something up.
I think he knows, with this global economy,NO president can do anything to regain America’s former prosperity,so he’s fighting for his job as any politician would.
But what is the tax rate for the of the middle class? Don’t care about the bottom 50% who have lost their jobs overseas already. What is top 10% of taxpayers rate versus the next 30% ?? Don’t try to scare us with the top 1% paying 38%. That top 1% makes almost all it’s millions off capital gains. Lets leave the tax rates and jack up capital gains rate to 40% for all gains over $50,000.
The top pays approx 20% on average while the middle class who have no deduction pays whatever tax range they are in. The middle class with deductions pays lightly less.
So while the top earners certainly pay the most taxes as a group, per individual they are not paying their fair share
The President wisely awaited a saturation point; the assessment now the electorate is soaking wet.
If the supporters of Commissar Obama and his Bolshevik Regime are telling lies it is very easy. Watch the face of the Commissars, his lips will be moving.
Yawn
What??? I confused first Obama is a Socialist now he is a Communist next he will be?????
Facile sound bite jingoism.
Got anything with an idea behind it?
Forget the “You cant tax the rich, they’ll just leave.” BS.
Leave for where? You can’t just pickup real estate.
So where are the jobs we were supposed to get for the past eight years with the Bush tax cuts?
Enough with the BS. Make the money move of we’ll move it for you.
Corporations are sitting on trillions (with a T) and we still don’t have jobs from them, instead we’re getting pink slips.
another ‘YAWN!”
President Obama was AMAZING today. He wore a grey tie. Boehner better watch out, his free ride is ovah!
The only jobs being ‘created” by the Old White Guys Club and Misogynist Uterophobes’ “job creators” are in China, Singapore, Vietnam, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh….. http://goo.gl/dkHFC
I am so glad he finally gave it to these moronic hypocrites. They sound so dumb talking about someone else engaging in “class warfare,” when they have been conducting it for years. Their response is exactly what I expected from a bunch of morally and intellectually bankrupt cretins. I hope he continues to hammer his points from now until the next presidential election.
Just who is this dumba– trying to kid. He has been spending us into the poor house for 2.5 years and now wants to blame someone else for these problems. In a statement he states that we have to “live within our means” but his record has been just the opposite. After alienating our allies all over the world and stuffing bill after bill down our throats , when the Dumbocrats were in charge , Now it’s the Republicans fault for trying to stop the spending , the Republicans have their own faults without inheriting Obama’s failed plans
Give me a break, most of us have been living the lies that you are spreading for the last 2.5 years,I think that America with all it’s faults can do much better without you in Washington.
I’m not surprised that you have no idea what he is spending money on. He is doing one thing the GOP will not do and that’s trying to provide stimulus for economy that is not working.
There are no lies here. The Bush tarp program saved our economy from totally crashing. The Obama stimulus programs created several million jobs which put money into the economy that otherwise would not have been there helping to keep it afloat. That’s what the spending is for. You also fail to recognize that Obama put the two wars that he inherited into the budget and did not try to pay for them out of emergency appropriations which were not reported in the budget. That’s what makes is spending looks like it’s more than anyone else’s. He is at least honest about the bookkeeping witches much more than we can say about you
wHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? IS YOUR HEAD IN A HOLE OR WHAT? THAT’S ALL YOU SEE AND HEAR IS THE REPUBLICANS SAYING “NO” TO EVERYTHING.
The article’s title is completely off base. “No Compromise: Obama Calls Out The GOP And Their Deadbeat Job Creators” Republicans never said they were going to create jobs. Republicans don’t believe in creating jobs. Republicans want to cut taxes so and regulations for businesses so the private sector can create jobs. The government cannot “create” jobs, because if you just make up jobs and pull them out of the air, well then they aren’t really necessary jobs are they? They’re not if employers were getting along fine without them before. Even if you do make up jobs, how long will they be good for? You can’t guarantee those kind of jobs very long. As for the unsupported Republican bashing the authors engages in here, Democrats had complete control for two years. Where are those stimulus bill jobs? You know, all that shovel-ready talk. Oh yeah, they don’t exist. This is a win-win for Obama. He knows his jobs act is not going to pass. But it sure does sound nice around election time. That way in campaigning he can say he tried his best to do what was right, but he’ll leave out how he failed miserably during his first two years.
the Republican credo for 2010 elections was job creation..
The government can create jobs by giving out government contracts and doing infrastructure work.
Putting more people to work even if the jobs only last a year stimulates the economy. Any time you can stimulate the economy you are putting a few more people to work because there is a greater demand for products.
The stimulus programs in the first two years created almost 3,000,000 jobs according to the CBO. You want the other hand are just throwing out talking points that have been proven wrong
you can cut taxes and regulations until you turn purple, but that doesn’t give the people any money to create demand for products. So while corporations can now ruin your environment, poison your water and air, you still want have any jobs and they will make more profit on what they do so. That’s what the Republicans want.
[...] Source:http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-buffet-rule-rich-tax Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. from → Politics ← Breitbart: Conservatives outnumber liberals, and we have the guns Gay Marines Concerned About Coming Out → No comments yet [...]
Now that’s the President I voted for! A great & hellacious, barn burner speech that should make the Republicans and Democrats and the American people stand up and salute. He’s starting to channel Franklin Roosevelt. Thank you, Mr. President!
To the editors/moderators: I’m still waiting for my post yesterday (a rebuttal to Shiva) to be released. What, the truth hurt too much? I DARE you to publish it.
Keep waiting, its scheduled for March 34th 2036
You acted like a jerk to the wrong person and I am Tired Of Your Rhetoric