Remember Those Predictions Of Tax Increases?

Well, here they are! In case you don't remember, refresh your memory here.

Now, let's set the stage a bit first.

Barack Obama seems to have caused the worst January stock market slide in 113 years:

[F]rom Nov. 4, 2008 through Feb. 12, 2009, the DJI overall fell 18% -- a larger drop than during the Sept-Oct plunge. In January, when the Obama plan, promising far greater deficits than the two much smaller “emergency stimulus” plans signed by Pres. George W. Bush in 2008, was unveiled, the market tanked – the worst January performance in 113 years.

More pointedly, key political victories for the Team Obama spending plan have not been viewed as buying opportunities on Wall Street. A string of negative market reactions began with the December 18 announcement of a stimulus bill of $700 billion (Dow down 2.5%), continued with the January 7 announcement that the actual plan would be “on the high side” (-2.7%) and continued with last week’s 61-36 Senate vote supporting the Administration’s fiscal plan. The White House victory and the new bank bail-out plan announced the following day by Treasury Secretary Geithner were met with a 5% wipe-out in the DJI, and a decline in Treasury bond yields, indicating a “flight to quality.”

As I've said before, the biggest problem with the American economy is Barack Obama. Just look at the history for yourself from when he wrapped up the Democrat nomination in June 2008 (remember, he was the front-runner against McCain the entire time, so the assumption was made that he would win):



That nosedive began before the housing market melted down (in September) - there's no other reason for such a decline at that point in time. The financial damage that Obama has caused is literally catastrophic - not only has he implemented the single largest taxpayer bill in the history of the planet (thus ensuring mountains of unrepayable debt for generations to come), but he has literally halved the stock market in just a matter of months, destroying savings and retirement for millions of Americans.

To add insult to injury, Obama is admonishing city mayors not to waste the 'stimulus' money they receive from the federal government. Gateway Pundit reported it this way:

President Obama warned mayors today not to blow any of the billions on doorbells, or golf courses, or streetcars, or snowmaking facilities, or dog parks, or water slides, or birth control, or millions for ACORN...

Oh... My bad.
That IS the stimulus.

The doublespeak is getting thick in here.

Anyway, we now come to the prediction that Obama and the Democrats were going to raise taxes. On July 11, 2007, I wrote the following:

One News Now reports on a little-publicized issue that will hit the pocketbook of every American: tax increases. Congress will try to hide this, though - in a brazen example of semantic wordplay, they'll say they're not raising taxes at all. Technically, that's true. They'll just allow Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire. If the appropriations bills currently in Congress go through, the American people will end up with a net increase of $100 billion in new spending. What does that mean to you? It means that, on average, each American household will end up paying another $3,026 in taxes every year. Plus, the effects that this increase will have on the economy at large will adversely affect on personal income to the tune of another $502 per year.

Obama propagated a myth throughout his entire presidential campaign that he would cut taxes for 95% of Americans. Any reasonable interpretation of that promise is that our taxes would be lower when he got done with his 'cuts' than before he started, right? Well, that was another lie (reference here, here), especially when compounded with his plan to allow Bush's tax cuts to expire - while it is technically true that allowing Bush's cuts to expire does not constitute a new tax increase, the net effect for millions of Americans is still higher taxes. That's not a tax cut to me...is it to you?

So, now Obama has finally come around to doing exactly what conservatives have been warning about for years: raising taxes. For all of you who voted for Obama because you bought his hooey about tax cuts for 95% of Americans...you got what you voted for, even if it wasn't what you were promised.

Told you so.

On top of that, Obama is also proposing some of the most economically disastrous legislation that he could possibly implement:

Along with raising taxes on businesses, raising taxes on the "rich," and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire...
President Obama will also announce the implementation of an expensive cap and trade energy policy this week to battle pretend global warming.
The plan could cost the US over a trillion dollars.
The New York Times is just tickled pink to report this news today:

Full details of Mr. Obama’s budget for the 2010 fiscal year will be released in April. The outline on Thursday will make clear that he intends to push ahead on promises to contain health care costs and expand insurance coverage, and to move toward an energy cap-and-trade system for controlling emissions of gases blamed for climate change.

The potential costs for a cap and trade plan are enormous.
Human Events reported:

The potential costs to America from cap-and-trade policies are enormous. The Department of Energy estimates that S. 2191, the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade proposal, will increase the cost of coal for power generation by between 161% and 413%. DOE estimates GDP losses (see chart) over the 21-year period they forecast, at between $444 billion and $1.308 trillion, with particular damage to the manufacturing sector. (This gives some hope that organized labor will, in a rare occurrence, oppose Democratic leaders on this issue.) Winegarden estimates that this bill could increase unemployment by 2.7% or about 4 million jobs. In fact, companies are already preparing to avoid increased level and volatility of American energy prices by setting up factories and partnerships in countries which won’t be subject to cap-and-trade restrictions…proving with real-world behavior of producers that no carbon-limiting regulation can succeed if it is not universal.

Is it any wonder that the stock market just had its worst January since 1896?
Is is any wonder Wall Street gave Obama a Big Fat "F" for his first month in office?
Is it any wonder the stock market is off nearly 10% from the day before the inauguration?
...Welcome to the age of hope and change.

Related... Jules Crittenden rips on Obama's teaser that he's going to cut the deficit in half... The same week he signed the largest spending bill in US history.

Does this mean that Obama is going to have to save or create 8 million jobs now? Because this would indicate an additional 4 million on top of the 3-4 million he's been promising throughout his campaign.

Oh, wait...never mind. That promise has now become inconvenient, so he's not going to bother with it anymore. Besides, now that we have such an ungodly high deficit, Obama is going to have to enact decisive measures to bring our economy back. Ace of Spades correctly suggests that perhaps Obama should have thought of this spiraling deficit before he pushed through the largest spending 'stimulus' bill in history which won't stimulate anything but Democrats.

But hey, at least some people are going to start getting their 'stimulus' checks within a couple months:

The president said his signature two-year "Making Work Pay" tax break will affect 95 percent of working families, and, in six weeks' time, a typical family will start taking home at least $65 more every month.

Taxpayers won't get a separate check mailed to them like many did with last year's one-time payment designed by the Bush administration to help boost the economy.

Instead, Obama's credit — up to $400 credit for individuals and up to $800 credit for married couples — is to be doled out through the rest of the year through paychecks. Most workers are to see about a $13 per week increase in their take-home pay. In 2010, the credit would be about $7.70 a week, if it is spread over the entire year.

People who do not earn enough money to owe income taxes are eligible for the credit...

Wow, so he's admitting that he's going to redistribute tax money from those who pay taxes to those who don't. Seems like that was predicted, too, wasn't it? But here's the really awesome part:

[T]he credit is phased out for higher-income taxpayers, defined as individuals who have a modified adjusted gross income of between $75,000 and $95,000, and married couples filing jointly who make between $150,000 and $190,000. Thus, the administration says many of them will see little or no change in their paychecks.

Um...wait a second...I thought he was supposed to raise taxes only on the 'rich', meaning people earning over $250,000. According to this report, it looks like that number has been reduced down to as little as $75,000! Hmmm...where have we heard that before? Oh, that's right...right here at 2Cents:

Hot Air posts a video from Barack Obama's run for Senate in 2003 in which he indicates that tax cuts should not be applied to anyone making more than $70,000...

So, let's see. Now it's gone down from $250,000 to $200,000, then $150,000, then $120,000, and now we see a glimpse into history that shows Obama believes the middle class tops out at $70,000. I should also point out that, if you look at Obama's record, he has voted to raise taxes in the past on people making just $42,000.

How many of you are thinking he'll only tax 'the rich' now?

So, let's sum up:
1. Since Barack Obama became the likely next President of the U.S., the markets have nosedived to half their previous value.
2. Barack Obama promised to provide tax cuts for 95% of Americans, but is instead redistributing wealth based on who he thinks deserves it.
3. Barack Obama promised to save or create 3-4 million jobs with his 'stimulus' plan, but an objective look shows it's mostly pork and has no chance of creating or saving anything remotely close to 3-4 million jobs.
4. Barack Obama is proposing legislation that has been proven to smother and stifle economic growth, and which will bludgeon the economy even further down and eliminate as many as 4 million jobs.
5. Barack Obama pledged not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000, but is also planning to let Bush's tax cuts expire, which will effectively raise the tax rates on people making well under $250,000.

Got it?

Once again: for those of you who bought Obama's hope-n-change rhetoric without bothering to look under the covers at his actual policies...you got what you voted for, though it's probably not exactly what you wanted.

So what in the world is going on here? I'm becoming more convinced with each passing day that Barack Obama is literally trying to destroy the American economy.

I think he's doing it to cause more and more Americans to enter into a hysterical panic mode, willing to jump at anyone who promises to fix their problems. Then, when the panic reaches a critical mass, he'll swoop in and fundamentally alter the American political and economic system into something closely resembling full-blown socialism. He's already doing it with all this talk of nationalizing banks, auto companies, and anyone else who accepts his 'stimulus' money.

How many other dots do we need to connect? What other reasonable explanation is there?

There's my two cents.