Monday Brief: Buffett Rule Math

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Patriot Headline Report The Right Opinion Brief · April 16, 2012 The Foundation "Excessive taxation ... will carry reason and reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election." --Thomas Jefferson Opinion in Brief The Buffett Rule is Math? Well, let's do some math. "Let's do the math. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates this new ['Buffett Rule'] tax would yield between $4 billion and $5 billion a year. If we collect the Buffett tax for the next 250 years -- a span longer than the life of this republic -- it would not cover the Obama deficit for 2011 alone. As an approach to our mountain of debt, the Buffett Rule is a farce. And yet Obama repeated the ridiculous claim again this week. 'It will help us close our deficit.' Does he really think we're that stupid? Hence the fallback: The Buffett Rule is a first step in tax reform. On the contrary. It's a substitute for tax reform, an evasion of tax reform. In three years, Obama hasn't touched tax (or, for that matter, entitlement) reform, and clearly has no intention to. The Buffett Rule is nothing but a form of redistributionism that has vanishingly little to do with debt reduction and everything to do with re-election. ... For Obama, fairness is the supreme social value. And fairness is what he is running on -- although he is not prepared to come clean on its price. Or even acknowledge that there is a price. Instead, Obama throws in a free economic lunch for all. 'This is not just about fairness,' he insisted on Wednesday. 'This is also about growth.' ... Three years ago, Obama promised universal health care that saves money. Today, he offers a capital gains tax hike that spurs economic growth. This is free-lunch egalitarianism." --columnist Charles Krauthammer Will Obama's free-lunch rhetoric win him the next election? For the Record "In an address this past week, Obama cited a couple of Reagan speeches from June 1985, in which the former president quoted a letter from a wealthy executive who grumbled that he paid less in taxes than secretaries or bus drivers. ... With a tongue-in-cheek flourish, Obama referred to Reagan as 'that wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior.' ... Rather than raising the capital-gains tax on successful investors or punishing wealthy people ... Reagan wanted full-bore pro-growth tax reform that would slash rates for everyone, simplify the tax system with only two brackets and eliminate tax shelters that allowed people to avoid paying any taxes at all. Obama's duplicity in misquoting Reagan was chronicled nicely by Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post. Kessler pointed out that Reagan said: 'We want to cut taxes, not opportunity. ... By lowering everyone's tax rates all the way up the income scale, each of us will have a greater incentive to climb higher, to excel, to help America grow.' ... The Gipper had nothing to do with punishing rich people or jacking up the capital-gains tax, which is probably the most important investor-class tax on risk and entrepreneurship. ... Instead of rewarding success, Obama punishes it. Instead of economic growth, he talks about tax fairness, which is a euphemism for redistributing resources from private hands to the government sector -- the exact opposite of Reagan." --economist Larry Kudlow The Gipper "Any system that penalizes success and accomplishment is wrong. Any system that discourages work, discourages productivity, discourages economic progress, is wrong. If, on the other hand, you reduce tax rates and allow people to spend or save more of what they earn, they'll be more industrious; they'll have more incentive to work hard, and money they earn will add fuel to the great economic machine that energizes our national progress." --Ronald Reagan Help The Patriot Post Today Just as Joe Biden suggested, we did the math -- and we need your help to make budget. Unlike the government, however, we depend on the voluntary contributions of people like you to keep The Patriot Post coming each week. "I'm one of those 'limited resources' supporters, but some things are worth the sacrifice. Some things have to be kept alive regardless of sacrifice. The Patriot Post is in my top five." --Charles Help us reverse our nation's march toward insolvency and set the conservative agenda for years to come. Support our Patriots' Day campaign with a donation of any size today! Only three days left! Government "While it isn't true that the rich are not paying their fair share, it is true that you are subsidizing Warren Buffett's Medicare. This is but one of the many injustices and inefficiencies of our current health care system that will only worsen if Obamacare is not repealed or overturned by the Supreme Court. ... Yet with the very next breath, Democrats nearly always argue that the pre-Obamacare health system was a 'free-market' system that failed. On the contrary, the pre-Obamacare health system was already badly distorted by government. The open-ended Medicare entitlement, which pays for every medical expense incurred by the elderly, without regard to income, is an invitation to overuse. Consumers have no incentive to shop for value and thus, have no idea what the care they receive even costs. Medicaid is even worse. Those with employer provided insurance (about 80 percent of the population), likewise have no incentive to economize on health care consumption or shop for value, since someone else pays the bills. ... Republicans missed an opportunity to reform health care in a free-market direction during the early years of this century. If the court spares us from Obamacare, they may get a rare second chance and thus avoid the rationing, crippling expense and decline in quality for which we are otherwise headed." --columnist Mona Charen Political Futures "Obama's inflationary policies have driven up the stock market and driven down the unemployment rate, thanks to massive workforce dropouts. Oil prices will undoubtedly drop precipitously at a convenient moment, so long as Obama makes OPEC countries a few promises on Israel behind the scenes. If there is to be a crystallizing moment, it will come on foreign policy. Obama's foreign policy has, if possible, been more damaging than his domestic policies, which simply doubled down on Bush's spending addiction. Obama's foreign policy is different in kind: It sees America as a nasty force in the world, a country in need of a lesson. And America may well get that lesson. Hence Obama's dramatic attempts to undercut Israel on taking out the Iranian nuclear program. If Obama is forced to choose between his hard-left and Islamist allies and an American public largely friendly to Israel, he will reveal himself to be the radical he truly is. This election cycle started with the promise that it would be run on economics. It will be run on economics, for the most part. But if Romney is to win, he will win on foreign policy." --columnist Ben Shapiro Re: The Left "The authenticity of conservative women has always been under attack by radical orthodox feminists, but perhaps not as brazenly as by someone with such direct and frequent access to the corridors of the White House message machine as Hilary B. Rosen. ... [Ann] Romney, sneered Rosen, 'never worked a day in her life' outside of the home and should have no voice on women's issues. ... In 1992, Hillary Clinton mocked women who stayed at home and 'baked cookies and had teas.' In 2004, blueblood Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, sniffed that first lady Laura Bush ... never 'had a real job -- I mean, since she's been grown up.' ... What's striking about Rosen's latest ideological sniper attack is that she is not some lone-wolf operative on the fringes of Beltway influence. She works with former White House communications director Anita Dunn at the D.C.-based strategic communications consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker. That's the same company that promoted the anti-Palin smear movie 'Game Change' and that represented liberal Georgetown law school student activist and manufactured War on Women poster woman Sandra Fluke. Smack dab at the intersection of progressive agitation and Democratic Party campaign-season maneuvering." --columnist Michelle Malkin Faith & Family "Feminism as ideology eschews individual choice. Women must fit a certain mold; if they don't, they're either deemed in need of having their consciousness raised or dismissed as frivolous ninnies. Ann Romney, who raised fives sons, has defended herself against Rosen's accusation by saying Rosen should have come to her 'house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. It wasn't so easy.' Frankly, Romney would be better off not dignifying Rosen's attack by responding. Anyone who has spent a day caring for a toddler -- much less trying to handle five boys at one time -- knows that motherhood is hard, full-time work. The fact that many mothers choose to work outside the home, as I did, does not mean that those who choose to stay at home are taking the easy way out. ... Feminists believe that the only legitimate role models for young girls are women whose lives mirror their own. Feminists don't want to expand choices available to young women so much as they want to limit the options to feminist-approved categories, and full-time homemaker clearly isn't on the list." --columnist Linda Chavez Culture "In light of the tragic killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin -- and the manufactured hysteria surrounding it -- one thing needs to be stated as clearly and as often as possible: The United States is the least racist and least xenophobic country in the world. Foreigners of every race, ethnicity, and religion know this. Most Americans suspect this. Most black Americans and the entire left deny this. Black Africans know this. That is why so many seek to live in the United States. Decades ago, the number of black Africans who had immigrated to the United States had already surpassed the number of black Africans who were forcibly shipped to America as slaves. ... The left-wing drumbeat about America as racist is a combination of politics and black memory. The political aspect is this: The Democrats and the left recognize that if blacks cease viewing themselves as victims of racism, the Democratic Party can no longer offer itself as black America's savior." --radio talk-show host Dennis Prager Editor's Note: Have you heard about the horrendous black-on-white assault, rape and murder case in Oklahoma? If not, no wonder -- a search of this story returns no national coverage from any print or TV media source. Read it here. Reader Comments "In Mark Alexander's most recent column, 'Judicial Review v Judicial Activism,' which did an outstanding job of explaining the difference, he questioned if the integrity of our Constitution could be restored through the ballot box. I would suggest that several generations of Americans have been subject to government schooling that neglected to teach civics. Consequently, there is an enormous rift between the Marxist progressive agenda vs. Rule of Law and any effort to restore our Constitution's integrity. That rift is now so severe that the only recourse may soon be armed rebellion." --New York "The only way Liberty can be preserved through the ballot box is if, and only if, the integrity of our voting system is maintained. The present path of allowing illegal aliens, non-citizens, the dead, and multiple votes by voters is undermining the faith citizens have in the ballot. If the present trend is continued and goes unchecked, the ballot will have no significance in our country. We will then be left to the machinations of our elected officials to maintain the Constitution. This will prove to be unacceptable as politicians continue their grabs for power and money. The elitists we have in Washington are not going to enforce the Constitution as they have no respect for it." --Bill, Texas "I love The Patriot Post's articles, but what is this nonsense about 'now's the time to rally around Mitt Romney?' Come on, folks, are you SERIOUS? Reading all this great stuff, and then I come across a ridiculous comment like this. If a second-rate 'Obama' gets the Republican nomination, why not just vote for the real thing? Disappointing, my friends!" --Charlie Editor's Reply: Nowhere have we endorsed Mitt Romney, yet we see our choices this fall as being either Barack Obama or Romney. The War for American Independence wasn't won at Lexington or Concord, but the first shots for Liberty had to be fired somewhere. The same is true in November. Romney won't restore constitutional Rule of Law in its entirety, but we have to start somewhere. The Last Word "President Obama, you sly dog. You were ... trying to make it seem that Ronald Reagan would support your socialist dream for America. ... That, Mr. President, is absolutely untrue. So is your insinuation that Ronald Reagan would not have supported Congressman Paul Ryan's budget plan, which passed 228-191 while your budget plan was being laughed out of the House by a 419-0 vote. ... President Obama, I have a suggestion. If you really want to find the cause of your budget problems, don't blame anti-tax Republicans. Look in the mirror. Then give Harry Reid a call over at the Senate and ask him why he hasn't put up a budget in 1,000 days. And, please, don't try to make people believe Ronald Reagan would support you or any part of your failed plan to return the United States to economic health by higher taxes and more spending. He wouldn't. Mr. President, I knew Ronald Reagan. He was not only a friend of mine, he was my father. And trust me, he'd never be a political friend of yours." --columnist Michael Reagan Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis! Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team (To submit reader comments click here.) CLICK HERE FOR Patriot Headline Report For News That Matters Most -- Around the Clock We value your time. As a service to you, our editorial team evaluates hundreds of reputable news sources each day for headlines that are relevant to Essential Liberty – the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and the promotion of free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We post links to the most notable news 24 hours a day. 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