Well, the POTUS has declared that he has a plan to reduce the deficit by $1Trillion to $4 Trillion over the next 10 years, depending on what part of his marketing you're reading. He has said that it's time for all of us to pay our "fair share," and pointed to the words of one of his biggest contributors: Warren Buffett. Buffett is an astute investor who was able to put together a few million in campaign donations for Obama (and for Hillary) in 2008, ensuring they backed TARP which netted Buffett a few billion more in net worth.
Buffett has campaigned for higher taxes on the rich, for as long as he's been an Obama supporter. To hear the spin, Buffett is paying less in taxes than his secretary, but Buffett doesn't say that being rich, he doesn't need (and likely doesn't take much of) an income. He doesn't say how much he pays his secretary, but evidently, this translates into needing to raise taxes on those that make $250k/year, as opposed to the tens of billions that Buffett has in wealth. At any rate, the reported increase in taxes on the small segment of America would supposedly increase tax revenue by $35 Billion, less than the worth of Warren Buffett, and a small part of the total claimed deficit reduction. At best, it's a token (<1% to 3.5% of the claimed savings) and a slogan, to politicians, but a helluva cut in takehome pay for the people that employee others.
So, who are these miscreants that aren't paying their fair share? The ones that will pay to balance the budget deficit? Well, Military Retirees are evidently a big part of those not paying their fair share. While the POTUS and his SecDef talk out of both sides of their mouths, the POTUS plans to slash military retirement pay and benefits. Evidently, Twenty years of risking life and limb, of sacrificing comfort, and time with family, is insufficient to earn a full retirement. He wants an "independent" commission to rubber stamp his idea of cutting up to 44 years of retirement pay($21 Billion). And he wants those that do retire to pay for it themselves, with a 401k plan, instead of a retirement plan.
And those health benefits, earned by wounds, injuries, and constantly beating up their bodies? To get those, the military retirees should pay $200 more in the first year (and increasing every year) to get those treated. That's $7 Billion more Obama sees in new taxes, er, "savings." He also wants to increase, again, the amount Combat Veterans pay for their prescriptions to get another $20.6 Billion out of our Veterans. It seems our Veterans will pay more than the "evil" rich people that sign our checks.
And the $500 Billion he's already asked to be cut from the Department of Defense? Oh, that's only part of what he thinks should be cut. He wants to cut another $260 Billion cut and claims another $1 Trillion will be saved by retreating from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevermind that he's already planned to retreat from both, and already claimed those savings from doing so. Nevermind that we're talking about a 10 year plan in a city where only the budget for next year is sometimes approved.
He also wants to cut Medicare ($248 Billion) and Medicaid (and TriCare for Troops and Veterans). These are likely as much smoke and mirrors as the rest, but he claims his plan will cut $320 Billion over 10 years, beginning in 2017, when someone else would take the blame, if it ever got passed by the 2017 Congress, and it won't. Oh, yeah, he'll veto it, if he doesn't get to tax the rich, but the 2017 budget won't be passed until at least 2016, so this isn't going to happen.
So, evidently, the biggest portion of people that Obama thinks are not paying their fair share are the Troops, Veterans, the Elderly, Farmers($2Billion), and the poor. Those are the people from whom he expects to extract 96+% of his budget savings ($965 Billion to $3.65 Trillion), not those "evil" rich people like Warren Buffett and the guy that signs your paycheck($35 Billion).
And, yeah, a portion of that money he's claiming is based on his speculation that the economy will grow over the next 10 years, increasing the taxes we all pay. Supposedly, the way that will happen is that by increasing our debt, we'll get more tax revenue. We all saw the signs for that in 2009. He told us then that if we didn't spend twice as much as he wants to charge us now, unemployment would be 8+%. When he got his party to pass that, unemployment jumped from 7% to 10% and we haven't seen less than 9% since.
So, when Obama and Panetta, look the Troops in the eyes, and say "We can't break faith" with those fighting Our "contingency operations," that's called a poker face. When they say they will fight to preserve the DoD Budget, now that they've already cut it by $500 Billion? That's a bald-faced lie.
So, per his claims:
$1 Trillion from retreat from Iraq/Afghanistan.
$320 Billion from Medicare/Medicaid ($248 Billion Medicare)
$260 Billion more from the DoD Budget (on top of the other $500 Billion he already cut)
$47.5+ Billion from Military Retirees
$35 Billion from taxing employers (i.e. the "evil" rich)
And with all that, (or the bigger $4Trillion), he still won't have cut as much in 10 years, as he has increased the debt in 3 years. ($5 Trillion) while cutting the DoD by $500 Billion.
Stumble It!
