If you’re considered middle-class,

then it’s almost certain that Obama will soon break the promise that he made you,

when he wanted to get elected.

Taxes, The Stimulus Package And Unemployment

Higher Taxes

The projected deficit for 2010 is already $1.8 trillion, and a further $1+ trillion will be added to that, if the 10-year health care reform program gets added.

And even if it doesn’t get approved, then higher taxes still look inevitable.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently warned that even if the deficit-neutral plan that is presently being peddled by Democrats to fund government-run health insurance program were somehow passed, that it wouldn’t be enough to prevent higher taxes.

Speaking of the baby boomers that are currently signing up for Medicare he said, “We have to attack both the original shortfall and make sure we fund whatever new initiatives that occur in the health care area. It’s not adequate to be strictly revenue-neutral, because there’s a lot more to be done”.

And Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner agrees, “We will not get this economy back on track and the recovery will be not be strong and sustained, unless we can convince the American people that we’re going to have the will to bring these deficits down once recovery is firmly established”.

When asked if it was, “a matter of when, and not if, taxes would be raised, Geithner responded, “That is absolutely right”.

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. did not agree however, and said, “Under our statistics, 96% of small businesses would not be hurt by this tax. It’s less than 1% of the wealthiest people in the United States that would be taxed, and that’s at a 1% tax”.

The Stimulus Package

Administration officials say they hope to see positive economic growth before the end of the year, and they credit the $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act that was passed in February with preventing recession from going into a deeper depression.

Mike Pence, who is the No. 3 Republican in the House, insists however that the economy is recovering in spite of the stimulus plan, and not because of it, and he is adamant that to get out of the recession, that it is the American people that need to be spending money and not the Government.

“Borrowing a trillion dollars from future generations of Americans and spreading it around the economy is going to have some catalytic effect in the economy in the short term, but again, it’s no substitute for fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C. This piecemeal approach of government handouts through a government bureaucracy, is no substitute for broad-based tax relief and fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C.”.

Unemployment

The Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus package) which was opposed by all but three Republicans in the House and Senate, was intended to help save, and/or even create between 3-4 million jobs, but unemployment which is now averaging 9.5% and is between 10-14% in some states, is now expected to keep rising for at least another six months.

Expressing the administration’s hopes, National Economic Council President Larry Summers said, “Jobs are a lagging indicator, and once output increases, jobs will start to pick up. I think we have a ways to go. I want to emphasize the basic realities. Unemployment is still very high in this country”, and he went on to add that it wouldn’t be a good idea to rule out future taxes.

"There is a lot that can happen over time, but what the president has been completely clear on is that he is not going to pursue any of his priorities, not health care, not energy, nothing . In ways that are primarily burdening middle-class families.

That is something that is not going to happen".

P.S.

A few hours after writing the above, the following was published;

Just 16% of U.S. voters believe that tax increases help the economy.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds most voters (54%) say tax increases hurt the economy, a number that has been fairly consistent for more than a decade.

Fourteen percent (14%) say tax increases have no impact, and 16% are not sure.

(more…)