Category Archives: Government
Oil Slam
In his radio address today, President Obama blamed greedy oil companies for your pain. The Washington Post was on top of it.
“When oil companies are making huge profits and you’re struggling at the pump, and we’re scouring the federal budget for spending we can afford to do without, these tax giveaways aren’t right,” Obama said. “They aren’t smart. And we need to end them.”
Here are Obama’s approval ratings from the various polls as listed on Real Clear Politics (the numbers in the cartoon were as of noon Saturday 4/30).
Carnival Barker-in-Chief
The president accused the media of being carnival barkers who focused on silly distractions rather than serious issues like the budget. Then he flew off in Air Force One for an Oprah appearance. As it happens, according to Poynter, 39% of stories last week were about the economy while only 4% were about the birther thing. James Carville hopes this is a shrewd move by Obama to make Trump look good enough to win the Republican nomination.
Reality Based Election
Opposition research shows that in the past The Donald has supported single payer health insurance.
Don’t Tax You, Don’t Tax Me, Tax that Fellow Behind the Tree*
According to The IRS, 45% pay no income tax. The richest 1% earn 22% of all the money and pay 38% of all the federal income taxes. The richest 5% pay 60% of all the income taxes.
You could squeeze them for more but, as Walter Williams points out, the rich are smart with their money. Since 1960, whether the top marginal rate was 91% or 35%, the government take never varied more than 15-20 percent of GDP.
