Soak the Rich!

President Obama surprised no one today when he called for a tax increase on households earning more than $250,000 annually, while keeping everyone else’s taxes the same. Obama has been urging such policies for years, even though he undoubtedly knows that it is precisely those earning high incomes who already pay far more than their fair share of income taxes–around double their fair share, on the average. But Obama’s calculation is purely political. He thinks that if he divides Americans along income lines and stirs up hatred against a mere 2% or 3% of the population, he will benefit politically.

Here is an interesting comparison: the percentage of families who earn over $250,000 a year happens to be almost exactly the same as the percentage of homosexuals in the population. How would our ever-courageous journalists react if an American president tried to increase his odds of re-election by demonizing homosexuals and calling for draconian legislation against them? The calculation would be the same: they are only 2 or 3% of the population, and, while not everyone dislikes them, some do. Do you think that a president who called for discriminatory legislation against homosexuals would be criticized as divisive?

As with so many of Obama’s proposals, there is no point in trying to evaluate his proposal on the merits, because it doesn’t have any merits. It is political posturing, pure and simple. Congress most likely will do something to stop income taxes from skyrocketing as of the first of the year, but it won’t be on account of leadership from the White House, because there isn’t any leadership in the White House.

Michael Ramirez skewers the president’s demagoguery:

Who is keeping track of the countdown? It must be around 190 days until we are rid of the worst president since James Buchanan.

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