Obama Fails To Lead; Dems Propose Trivial Tax Increases

Negotiations over raising the debt ceiling have taken a turn for the worse over the past week or so. The Democrats want to raise taxes, the Republicans want no part of that. The debt ceiling shouldn’t be raised, it’s irresponsible to raise it considering our $14 trillion debt. It’s fairly clear that the House will not pass any tax increases. Any Republican who supports tax increases is likely to be voted out of office next year, so none of them appear interested in taking on that sort of battle. That hasn’t stopped the Democrats from stamping their feet for tax increases.

As usual, the President is largely uninvolved in the negotiations. Apparently he may be participating this week. For the last several weeks he’s left matters to Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats. This continues Obama’s streak of never getting involved in actual leadership. Rather than take the lead, Obama remains a passive bystander who occasionally comments on matters. It’s been fascinating to watch the President essentially play the role of television talking head when it comes to major pieces of legislation.

That said, the proposals coming from the White House and Congressional Democrats are ridiculous. One proposal calls for eliminating all sorts of deductions for those making over $500,000. The Democrats claim it will raise $210 billion in revenue over 10 years. That comes out to a paltry $21 billion a year. The current budget deficit is $1.6 trillion. The Democrats proposal doesn’t even make a dent in the deficit and that’s assuming it will actually raise the funds they claim it will raise. Tax increases have a nasty habit of not producing anywhere near the revenue government would like.

The fact is, the Democrats proposal isn’t serious at all. It’s just a political game. They’re trying to set up the Republicans as the party of the rich, protecting them from increased taxes. But the facts are clear, the Democrats plan isn’t serious and will have little to no affect on the deficit. The country needs serious cuts in government spending, in the hundreds of billions if not trillions this year. Not two hundred billion over 10 years, we need cuts today.

The Federal government must cut spending. They need to cut back on farm subsidies, that do little more than funnel tax money into large agribusinesses at the expense of consumers. They need to cut back on welfare, food stamps and other federal welfare programs. It is absurd that we have 40 million Americans on food stamps, the number has skyrocketed since Obama took office. Food stamp fraud is rampant. We need to cut tax expenditures for oil companies, ethanol producers, makers of electric cars and a laundry list of big businesses that get paid by the government to produce goods or services Americans in the free market generally don’t want.

These are the cuts government needs to make. The Democrats want to play politics with tax increases at a time when unemployment is high and the private sector isn’t hiring. It’s absolutely absurd. Even more absurd is the hands off approach Obama is taking on yet another major issue. Is this President capable of leading? I’m beginning to think that Obama cannot lead unless he’s in a room filled with people who agree with him. The second someone voices opposition, Obama either folds or storms off to the corner in a huff. $21 billion in tax increases isn’t leadership when the deficit is $1.6 trillion.