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O’Bummer: The Tax Scam Faileth
By John Ransom
7/11/11 

Obama’s into big stuff, says chief of staff Bill Daley on ABC’s This Week. 

“I do firmly believe that one of the wet blankets on this economy and on companies, on the system right now is a question as to whether or not our political system, whether the leaders can get together, whether they can solve big problems,” Daley said. 

So let’s define the “big, wet blanket problem” in which Obama and his Chicago friends now find themselves: 

They are addicted to big taxes, big spending and big government, and none of it- NONE. OF. IT. - has a darn thing to do with what’s best for the public and the economy. 

All of it- ALL. OF. IT. - has to do with funneling money into Democrat Party coffers. 

And it’s sitting like a wet blanket over our economy. And Daley’s right. Democrat leaders can’t solve it. They couldn’t solve it when they ran the tax scam in Chicago and they can’t solve it now. 

The results are showing in our two parallel economies: One for the Democrat Party and one for the rest of us. In order to keep the Democrat Party’s economy humming along, they are going to need a new injection of taxes, because the public won’t write them a blank check again.  

The “big problem” that Daley, Obama and the Rezko clones find themselves in is that they had a supermajority in Congress; they were handed a blank check by the American people; and they’ve squandered it in pork barrel spending for their friends. 

So they have to turn to a tax-to-spend scheme to keep the party (and their Party) going.     

Despite their supermajority- or more correctly probably because of it- the Democrats couldn’t even produce a budget- a blue print if you will- to get the economy that’s left for the rest of us going again.  But hey, the Democrats are raising money at a record clip for campaigns, aren’t they? For them the only economy that they truly care about is doing just great.    

They’ve spent $4 trillion in money we don’t have and it’s produced little result for the “other” economy that the rest of us have to live off of. Unemployment has inched up to 9.2 percent. When you calculate in those who have stopped looking for work are underemployed or don’t qualify for unemployment, the number’s closer to 16 percent unemployment.  

Even before this summer’s “soft patch”- as opposed to last summer’s “soft patch”- the Fed had to intervene because the Obama “stimulus” program wasn’t producing jobs. 

We called the first Fed intervention QE1. 

And still, even after QE1’s extraordinary intervention in the economy, the stimulus measures, which, again saw Obama spend money without an actual budget, wasn’t creating jobs. 

So we got QE2, a $600 billion infusion of cash. And despite a squirt of job-o-juice for a one calendar quarter, job growth is still the worst since World War II. 

Yes: worse than Ford, worse than Carter. 

But four months ago, the administration was telling us all that the economy was doing just fine. 

Now, just as I predicted on July 2nd, the administration is saying that in order to save the economy, we need to raise taxes on everyone making more than $250,000 per year, plus raise taxes on anyone else they can demonize. It’s typical of the slovenly math of the administration that they call people making $250,000 per year  “millionaires and billionaires.” 

As Reuters’ James Pethokoukis has reported, the GOP was right to walk away from the table, because the administration has painted themselves into a corner: 

“A GOP congressional source was a bit less diplomatic, telling me Saturday afternoon via email: 

Their fierce insistence on higher taxes is beyond bizarre. After months of demanding ‘clean’ increase to avert economic calamity (default), WH threatens economic calamity (default) unless they get economic calamity (trillions in tax hikes). No wonder these guys are governing over an economic calamity (9.2% & growth malaise), w/ an economic calamity on the horizon (debt explosion as mapped out in president’s budget). The bipartisan consensus on tax reform (broader base & lower rates) was championed by President’s fiscal commission, and yet now is being rebuked by the President. Lowering top rates that would help make America more competitive was too large a leap for a true class warrior. 

Indeed, as negotiations wore on, Obama got tougher on taxes (pushed hard by the hard left), and the deal he was cooking up almost certainly wouldn’t have been revenue neutral as he tweaked rates and reduced tax deductions. Not even close. Nor did it help that Obama reportedly balked at a spending-cut trigger if certainly tax reforms were not completed.”   

“He’s not someone to walk away from a tough fight. This is a very tough political fight, no question about it,” chief of staff Bill Daley said of Obama on ABC’s This Week according to the Washington Post. “But he didn’t come to this town to do little things. He came to do big things.” 

Well, Bill, he’s succeeded. 

We have big spending, big government and one big, Obama-made fiscal and political mess, big taxes not included…yet. 

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