Death Tax: Last week, the House passed a permanent extension of the Death Tax, setting the tax rate on any estates over $3.5 million at 45%, not indexed for inflation. The vote was 225-200 with ZERO Republicans voting in favor and 26 Democrats voting to oppose. The Senate is talking about a much preferable 35% on estates over $5 million, indexed for inflation. I favor complete repeal of the tax, although the Senate proposal would be a step in the right direction. Here is a clip of my 2 minute floor speech on why I oppose this bill and this tax.
Obamanomics: A couple of weeks ago, I challenged the readers of this missive to demonstrate their abilities to understand and apply the principles of what we are calling "Obamanomics" as exemplified by the "jobs saved or created" mathematics practiced by the administration. You may remember that the administration claimed a few examples like the 935 jobs ‘saved’ at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, when they really only employ 508 people. Or you may have heard about the 129 jobs that were said to have been ‘created’ at a childcare center in Florida when the money was actually used for raises, and not new hirings.
Well, many of our readers have already become expert Obamanomists. Here is one of my favorite examples, submitted by Len Frank.
Dear John:
Using Obamamath, I’ve just saved, nay, created a great deal of money. How? I had wanted to buy a new Lamborghini Gallardo roadster so that I could drive to the White House to personally thank our beloved President for all that he is doing to save us from financial ruin. The trip, via New Orleans in order to view the results of former President Bush’s failure to forestall Hurricane Katrina, would have been an approximately 6,000-mile roundtrip.
I didn’t buy the Lamborghini, as it wasn’t manufactured by Government Motors. I not only saved (created) some $243,000 (including tax) by not making this purchase, but I saved (created) an additional $1,500 by not purchasing fuel for the trip.
Since both the Gallardo and its fuel would have been imported, I’m sure that the Governmental Accountability Office would classify these as "green" savings.
Thus by not buying a Lamborghini Gallardo, and not driving it to visit our President, I will have created a total of $244,500 in Green Savings. Not bad for an amateur!
But think for a moment: If each of the approximately 4 million families who live in Barack Obama’s Illinois and Joe Biden’s Delaware were to NOT buy a new Lamborghini, and NOT drive to the White House (via New Orleans), we would create an additional $1 trillion in new Green Wealth. Now that’s Obamawealth with a vengeance!