Uncle Sam is broke. Where will Obama get money for promises?

Posted by Kyle Prast on Oct. 4, 2008

Early in his campaign, Obama said he would get money from Iraq war? Now he is sending troops to Afghanistan. look up http://www.angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20159

Obama, in turn, has proposed billions of dollars in spending to create jobs and pad government programs aimed at helping the less fortunate. He has said that the money will come from ending the Iraq war, slicing tax breaks for corporations, and raising taxes on high-income earners, efforts he says are intended to shift more of the tax burden to wealthy Americans.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/06/comparison-of-t.html Obama’s generosity comes at a price, however, He’d raise the national debt by a staggering $3.3 trillion over the next decade, and that includes more than $900 billion in promised revenue raisers that TPC could not verify.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/obama_links_cost_of_war_with_e.html Obama links cost of war to economic hardships THE SWAMP

Obama noted that government spending on the war and the Bush Administration’s tax cuts, which Obama would repeal for families earning more than $250,000 per year, together have added trillions of dollars to the national debts. The rapidly expanding debt, he said, “is creating problems in our fragile economy.”

“No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush-term,” Obama said. “That is an outcome America can’t afford.”

The cost of the war and the Bush Administration tax cuts, he continued, stand in the way of such aspirations of Democratic voters as making health care coverage affordable for all and reducing the financial burden of getting a college education.

“Instead of fighting this war,” he said, “we could be fighting to make universal health care a reality in this country.”

But Obama's anti-Iraq stance has morphed into a leave Iraq to fight in Afghanistan stance. The location of the war has changed, but the cost remains the same. Obama has not adjusted his platform but continues to promise his health care for all, college for all, tax cuts for 95%, and a host of additional, very costly social promises. Is he hoping no one will notice?

Obama's speech from last spring:
And today, I want to talk about another cost of this war – the toll it has taken on our economy. Because at a time when we’re on the brink of recession – when neighborhoods have For Sale signs outside every home, and working families are struggling to keep up with rising costs – ordinary Americans are paying a price for this war.

When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war.

When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.

When a National Guard unit is over in Iraq and can’t help out during a hurricane in Louisiana or with floods here in West Virginia, our communities are paying a price for this war.
...And that kind of debt also places an unfair burden on our children and grandchildren, who will have to repay it.

It also means we’re having to pay for this war with loans from China. Having China as our banker isn’t good for our economy, it isn’t good for our global leadership, and it isn’t good for our national security. History teaches us that for a nation to remain a preeminent military power, it must remain a preeminent economic power. That is why it is so important to manage the costs of war wisely.
... Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting for the people of West Virginia. For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students.

We could be fighting to put the American dream within reach for every American – by giving tax breaks to working families, offering relief to struggling homeowners, reversing President Bush’s cuts to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and protecting Social Security today, tomorrow, and forever. That’s what we could be doing instead of fighting this war.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to make universal health care a reality in this country. We could be fighting for the young woman who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford medicine for a sister who’s ill. For what we spend in several months in Iraq, we could be providing them with the quality, affordable health care that every American deserves.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to give every American a quality education. We could be fighting for the young men and women all across this country who dream big dreams but aren’t getting the kind of education they need to reach for those dreams. For a fraction of what we’re spending each year in Iraq, we could be giving our teachers more pay and more support, rebuilding our crumbling schools, and offering a tax credit to put a college degree within reach for anyone who wants one.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to rebuild our roads and bridges. I’ve proposed a fund that would do just that and generate nearly two million new jobs – many in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by our housing crisis. And it would cost just six percent of what we spend each year in Iraq.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oil, and saving this planet for our children. We could be investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs. And we could be doing it all for the cost of less than a year and a half in Iraq.

These are the investments we could be making, all within the parameters of a more responsible and disciplined budget. This is the future we could be building. And that is why I will bring this war to an end when I’m President of the United States of America.
... This election is our chance to reclaim our future – to end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for good jobs and universal health care. To end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for a world-class education and retirement security. To end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for opportunity, and equality, and prosperity here at home.

http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2008/09/fun-with-numbers-barack-obamas-tax.html

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Fun With Numbers: Barack Obama's Tax Proposals

All right, now that I have had a chance to read some of Obama's advisor's explanations of the plan as well as him defend it on the O'Reilly Factor, I am ready to analyze the plan in the best way possible, by the numbers. Let's look at some of the most important numbers in Barack Obama's tax policy.

1)95

That is for the 95% that Barack Obama claims that will receive tax cuts under his plan while the other five percent receive a tax increase. Now, first of all, this 95% figure comes directly from his own campaign. There is no way to fact check such a number because the number is entirely a projection. Here is what we know. Barack Obama plans on raising the top two tax brackets, the capital gains tax, the payroll tax on anyone making 250,000 and more, and re instituting the inheritance tax. We know this, and so that 5% figure depends entirely on very few people earning a lot of money, investing a lot, and dying. If of course, we have a lot of people that make a lot of money, invest a lot, and die, then that 95% figure is nothing more than a campaign slogan.

2) 40

That is for the percentage of the population doesn't pay any taxes at all. Under his plan, these folks will get what he considers a tax cut, though you can't get a tax cut if you pay no taxes. These folks will get a government welfare check. Barack Obama is fond of saying that 95% of the population will get a tax cut. Of course, that isn't entirely accurate. Five percent of the population will get a tax increase, 55% will get a tax cut, and the other 40% will get a government welfare check. What Barack Obama is really proposing is no different than an expansion of welfare, food stamps, and unemployment insurance. In other words, he is proposing that nearly half the population now become even more dependent on the government to survive. Talk about a disincentive to work. Here is someone making 25k per year. They pay no federal taxes at all, except payroll taxes, and they will get a thousand dollars from the government each and every year. What Barack Obama is proposing is no tax cut but rather a massive expansion of the welfare state.

3) 1 trillion, 120 billion, 100 billion, 780 billion
1 trillion

That's approximately how much all of his spending proposals will cost yearly. Whether it is these wefare checks, universal health care, infrastructure improvements, better funding for No Child Left Behind, and mortgage bailouts what we have are new government programs that will cost a lot of money. He wants to provide health insurance to 47 million people that currently can't or won't get it on their own. He wants to revolutionize our transportation system and beef up funding for NCLB. All of these things cost money, a lot of money. They cost a lot more than he pretends they will cost. Here is how the costs break down so far.

$65 billion-a-year health plan $15 billion in green energy spending
$85 billion in tax cuts and credits A $25 billion-a-year increase in foreign aid
$18 billion a year in education spending $3.5 billion for a national service plan

We still have no idea how much he is going to spend on renovating our highways, No Child Left Behind, or for the next round of mortgage bailouts. Furthermore, these are his estimates. Does anyone really believe that it will only cost 65 billion a year to provide 47 million people insurance they either can't afford or won't get on their own? Eighteen billion dollars is only about $300,000,000 million in increase per state. Does anyone really think that's all it will take? The reality is that Barack Obama believes that every answer can be solved by government spending. That costs money and in reality his spending increases will be more like a trillion dollars yearly. Here is how Dick Morris put it.

Now the election will hinge on a referendum on Obama. Is the extra healthcare coverage he would pass worth the huge tax increases he will impose? Nobody buys his claim that he will only increase taxes on a few rich people and give the rest of us tax cuts. Voters can add, and they realize that his spending plans and tax-cut promises come to a trillion dollars and that his tax increases represent only one-tenth as much. They know that everyone who pays taxes will end up paying more if Obama is elected. The question will be: Is it worth it?

120 billion

Barack Obama is fond of saying that he will pay for all of this stuff by ending the Iraq War. The Iraq War costs about 10 billion dollars monthly or 120 billion per year. Furthermore, he plans on increasing our presence in Afghanistan. Thus, some of the money saved in Iraq will be tansferred to Afghanistan.

100 billion

He also says that the tax increases on the wealthy will pay for it. Of course, that would bring in an extra 100 billion in tax receipts tops. Furthermore, it is impossible to know what such a tax increase would bring. These are all projections. As O'Reilly pointed out, government tax receipts went up 20% after the Bush tax cuts. Counting on extra taxes from the rich to pay for a trillion dollars worth of spending increases is fool's gold.

780 billion

Thus, what we have is about a 780 billion dollar yearly shortfall. How does Barack Obama plan on paying for it? He doesn't say because he pretends it doesn't exist. He claims that nebulous government actions like closing tax loopholes (the IRS tax program is about 65,000 pages so good luck), cutting wasteful government programs, and other efficiency matters will do the job. These sorts of proposals have been promised by nearly every administration since I have begun following politics. So, as soon as his spending increases cause an explosion in our deficit, we'll see just how many of that 95% actually get a tax cut.

We cannot even get our local and state governments to craft a 0 increase budget, and Obama is going to find $780 billion extra dollars of fat in the Federal budget to fund his wish list?

Obama could not tell Jim Lerah ??? what cuts he would need to make from his campaign's promises because of the faltering economy. Instead he insisted on keeping pre-K!

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