"This Is Going To Be Some Trick!!"

That title is actually a line in a Wall Street Journal article (thanks for sending it to me, Cloud). Since it is about paying for the famed Stimulus Package, I think you can guess what the gist of the article is.

If you are one of those people who are still on board with the package, still say you trust the new president, you have hope for change, etc -BUT you haven't actually taken the time to read and learn about the president's claims, I strongly suggest you TAKE THE TIME to read this article.

Here are some highlights copied from the article just for the heck of it:

""Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can't possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama's new spending ambitions.""

""These combined increases [Note: higher taxes on top earners, increasing capital gains and dividend rates] won't come close to raising the hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue that Mr. Obama is going to need.""

""A tax policy that confiscated 100% of the taxable income of everyone in America earning over $500,000 in 2006 [Note: 2006 was chosen because it was a good year for incomes] would only have given Congress an extra $1.3 trillion in revenue. That's less than half the 2006 federal budget of $2.7 trillion""

""Even taking every taxable "dime" of everyone earning more than $75,000 in 2006 would have barely yielded enough to cover that $4 trillion...Fast forward to this year (and 2010) when the Wall Street meltdown and recession are going to mean far few taxpayers earning more than $500,000."" [Note: here is a NYTimes article speaking of the same thing. My own observation is the shock at seeing the DOW below the TSX! Is the DOW going to be at 6000? That is my bf's projection.]

""The bottom line is that Mr. Obama is selling the country on a 2% illusion.""

""On that point, by the way, it's unclear why Mr. Obama thinks his climate-change scheme won't hit all Americans with higher taxes. Selling the right to emit greenhouse gases amounts to a steep new tax on most types of energy and, therefore, on all Americans who use energy.""
[Note: If people are happy about saving a few extra dollars in the middle-low income brackets, how are they going to feel when they get their utility bills with a higher increase than they got 'back' from the 'tax cuts'?].

""...the reality is that the only way to pay for Mr. Obama's ambitions is to reach ever deeper into the pockets of the American middle class.""