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April 11, 2009
Taxes!
Ah, taxes! Everyone loves taxes...
Actually no one does. It's funny how the Democrats (and some GOP politicians), who have no trouble raising taxes or fees on other people seem to sometimes have a problem with taxes themselves. See Charlie Rangel, head of Ways & Means, for the most egregious example. But then there's also Kansas Governor Diane Silbelius, who is slated to preside over the switch to government run health care (which would require a huge tax hike), but who had to refile her own income taxes because of 'errors'. You know some of the rest of the roll call - Daschle, Geithner, Dodd and his loan that meant he paid less for his mortgage... for people who don't like parting with their own money, they sure are quick to force us to part with ours!
They're digging their own hole to a large degree, but we also need the GOP to stick to their guns, vote against bloated budgets, offer slim budgets of their own, and make it clear to the American people where the dividing line is. Offering a budget that is 3.1 trillion instead of 3.6 trillion is not setting a good precedent.
It takes a lot of arrogance to remark about raising taxes, (in the middle of a recession no less). "We've done it before. There hasn't been a catastrophe", is what NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said. Rush Limbaugh has put his posh pad in NY up for sale, and several days ago, on Neil Cavuto's show, Donald Trump said he knew a lot of people who were talking about packing up and leaving if the taxes went up again, and he hinted he was one of them! In a city where about 40,000 people pay about 30% of the taxes, that's dangerous. If you were a wealthy New Yorker ($200,000 and above - which isn't rich considering the cost of living), you will shortly be paying 8.97% state income tax, 12.62% for New York City income tax, 8.375% for New York City sales tax, 35% top Federal tax rate, and then property taxes and other miscellaneous fees that are going up (fishing licences, taxes on beer and wine, etc). Who would want to pay all that, if they could move out of the city (to Connecticut, or elsewhere in NY with a lower city tax at least), and save some money? No wonder Rush left! I think we'll begin to see a slow exodus once these new rates take effect. Bad for the average New Yorker who just wants to work and get ahead a bit; but it may mean Giuliani has a shot at being governor, if the rumours are true and he is planning a run.
We're nearly 100 days in, and although Obama's approval ratings are still fairly high, more and more people feel the country is going in the wrong direction. As has been discussed elsewhere, this means that people are forgiving of Obama the man, and tend to want him to do well (and they probably feel good about having a 'post-racial' President to boot), but they aren't happy that the Dems (Congress is enjoying an approval rating of about 30%, by the way), are using this as an opportunity to change the fundamental nature of our country. It is only a matter of time before Obama's approval ratings catch up with the growing sense of unease in this country. There are only so many 'Mea Culpa' tours you can make, only so many times you can be silent on important issues (the Somali pirate crisis, etc), before people start becoming disenchanted.
It doesn't hurt that Joe Biden, who resigned from a previous Presidential race amid allegations of plagiarism, and has a reputation for exaggeration, continues to open his mouth and stir people's ire. Regardless of whether or not its true that Biden chastised President Bush (as he has claimed), it is extremely poor form to air it publicly the way he has. When pressed, President Bush refused to criticise Obama, and he has largely 'retired' from the public scene. Biden's stories make Biden look good, and appear to be empty bragging, meant to increase his 'creds' among liberal idealogues; in other words, its not constructive and frankly, looks puerile.
Biden will never be a credible Presidential candidate with the masses. By the time 2012 rolls around, I think people will have had enough of both Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Its obvious they are both attention/media whores, and that quickly begins to grate, and Americans will tire of how self-serving and out of touch they are. All the nation (and world) media attention is on these two, and the rude behaviour to our allies, obsequiousness to theocrats, self-aggrandisement and denigration of America will at some point be too much for everyone but the most die-hards to bear.
Posted by hanyap at April 11, 2009 8:58 AM