Axelrod Won’t Rule Out Tax Increase | washingtonpost.com — Gee, how could this happen with all the campaign promises of lower taxes.
President Obama’s top political adviser refused today to rule out the possibility that the White House might agree to a tax hike on health insurance plans that would hit middle-income Americans.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program, David Axelrod declined to repeat Obama’s “firm pledge” during the campaign that families making under $250,000 will not see “any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
Instead, Axelrod said the president has no interest in “drawing lines in the sand”
And, is Axelrod running the country now?
Found by Matthew Duvall.
It goes to show you that Woody Allen’s two comments about politicians ring true in today’s global situation. Guess its all about marketing even in today’s world wide web and internet.
The two comments / jokes were that he always admired politicians that they could do to the country what he could never do to his girlfriend.
The second line of advice and record was that overall in the scheme of things politicians were after all only one notch below child molesters
Its all about marketing , hype and spin I guess
Even if the the average American fell head over heels over Obama
“My daddy voted democrat and so do I”
Obama better be careful. Breaking a no taxes pledge is what sunk George Bush senior’s reelection.
This must be a mistake. Surely no President would ever raise taxes after getting elected by promising not to do so…
“Obama better be careful. Breaking a no taxes pledge is what sunk George Bush senior’s reelection.”
That’s because George H.W. Bush’s base was made up of fanatics who would rather see the country burn than see income taxes raised by a tenth of a percent. Clinton broke his pledge to cut taxes on the middle class (raising them instead) and he was re-elected by an 8.5% margin.
#3 – faxon – Surely no President would ever raise taxes after getting elected by promising not to do so…
Sure didn’t work for Bush.
Is it even possible to recognize that the president is not the same as his staff? When Obama starts…I guess *not* saying things in this case…himself, then it might be worth making note of. Though more noteworthy is the fact that until the bill is actually written, it’s all just sausage making; it’s always going to look bad before it’s done.
People keep damning this bill before it’s even remotely finalized, and they keep doing it over bad assumptions, or third hand information. You want to bitch about a bill, then do it about a bill that’s actually been written.
#7 Remotely finalized? Didn’t they just vote for it in the house? I hope it’s finalized before they vote on it.
Tax increases bad enough.
But doubling/tripling the current electricity rate for homeowners, thanks to the Obama Cap and Trade fiasco is even worse.
Why is it that people from the US seem to hate paying even the smallest of taxes?
Well, thinking about it, what would you expect of a country built solely on greed the pursuit of wealth.
And of course, they will start taxing health insurance benefits provided by employers, but I bet any government provided plan wouldn’t be considered income and therefore not subject to tax. Would be just another way of the government using it’s power to stack the deck to gain more support for a future government program.
#11 “Why is it that people from the US seem to hate paying even the smallest of taxes?”
Can you give any rational justification for needing to fund a $3 trillion dollar federal budget, on top of the hundreds of billions that go to state and local governments also?
#10 – jbenson2 – But doubling/tripling the current electricity rate for homeowners…
Stop whining. Buy some CLFs and/or LEDs… and be frugal.
#13 – Sea Lawyer
Play with the thought of not having any taxes… great, huh?! Well, 了解如何讲中文，因为美国将很快成为中国的一部分.
“And, is Axelrod running the country now?
… by Matthew Duvall” – No, but sleazy (or is it cowardly) politicians do not want their voice and face associated with the bad news…
The healthcare fiasco is doomed. It’s half assed at best, protecting too many special interests. Expand Medicaid for a few years and start rebuilding the system. You have to dismantle most of the system, and rebuild slowly. It should take five to ten years, bringing the new system on line slowly.
#15, Jägerbomb, It must take an extraordinarily large brain to invent positions not taken by others in an attempt to appear clever.
#18 – Sea Monster
I guess you could play with the thought. Good try though.
@#7 Is it even possible to recognize that the president is not the same as his staff?
Yes, but Obama’s staff just happens to write what Obama reads off the prompter.
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As to the no tax increase for Americans, I would like to know if Obama was only talking about income tax or all taxes? Govt has INCREASED taxes on cigs, a $.50 per 6 pack of beer increase, and now that wish to indirectly tax people with Cap and Trade.
@#15 Well one could cut cost using environmentally bad mercury filled CFL bulbs, what about the other things needing to be plugged to a outlet. Last time I checked, computers ran on electricity. Just wonder if John is going to be able to afford to keep this blog up and running if/when the cost of energy begins to increase? Maybe Obama will seek to control the web and then the government can determine what/who is given energy to power their severs.
More taxes are on the way for everyone but us. You see we are tax proof. If our taxes are raised (yes we do this at times for appearance sake) it is you who will be charged more to pay our taxes. Simple huh.
Please elect more tax and spend politicians, their easy to buy, easy to control and in the end it is you who will be taxed more and have to spend more for products/services that we provide to cover our taxes. TYM.
But John, it won’t be a tax. It will be a surcharge. A surcharge is nothing like a tax. Or a user fee. Now that’s not a tax either. There’s a difference, but for some reason I can’t explain what the difference is.
If we need to raise taxes instead of borrowing from China, so be it. The important thing is we are in good hands now.
What is missing is Obama needs to be a bit more like Bush. You know, that smug “fuck you, I’m president” attitude that Bush had when he invaded Iraq and squandered our freedoms.
Obama needs some of that smugness now. Steamroll the repugs and the health insurance mafia and drive that singe payer system. Make that happen now.
That is s GREAT BW portrait of Obama, I must say.
You may not like his policies, but we got the hottest looking leader in the world !
#24 “You may not like his policies, but we got the hottest looking leader in the world !”
Oh brother! Then why don’t you and him go get a room?
#10 – jbenson2 – But doubling/tripling the current electricity rate for homeowners…
Sure, that would be a problem, if it were true. but it’s not (Talking Points Memo article)
#24 You know, come to think of it…it is a good portrait.
It looks very much like a Mussolini or perhaps Cesar pose, doesn’t it? I can see our glorious leader wearing laurels…
Oh, the hell with it. Let’s just outsource our med care to Canada. That would be cheaper than doing it ourselves. And, at the end of their contract, if we don’t like it, we can contract with France or Cuba or…
Seriously, I’m resigned to a national health care system. If not this one then the next one of the one after that. It will come. I just want to be assured of two things:
1) That a huge Federal bureaucracy will not ensue (current trend does not look promising)
2) That members of Congress will be forced to participate. They already have an ironclad retirement program outside Social Security and have already included an exemption for themselves for health care in the proposed legislation. That just ain’t right!
We pay these people to take care of us but they invent programs so bad they refuse to participate in them and then demand we be grateful for the backdoor skewering.
My apologies. I intended this to be posted in the article titled “Why do Republicans continue to lie about Canadian health care?” A mixup caused by tabbed browsing and more than a little lapse of attention por moi. I will not repost but Mr Dvorak may move it if he so wishes. It could be appropriate for this post also, I suppose.
Yes, more taxes may be on the way, because the economy was left in such shambles by the previous administration that even fundamental services are being threatened. Public schools, fire and police departments, basic infrastructure are threatened by the lack of economic health of the country.
We expect a minimum level of services from our government… if that can’t be met by current government income, then either taxes must be raised, services must be cut, or debt must increase. Which will it be John Dvorak? I know… let’s cut the military budget drastically… or Social Security… or Medicare (used by seniors that are utterly uninsurable by ANY private program)… where are the necessary cuts coming from now that we moved into a ‘code blue’ economy?
#28, Nimby,
“We pay these people to take care of us… … “
That’s the problem right there, Americans have been taught to think that the government is the entity that is supposed to “take care of them” when people should be taking care of themselves.
#30, We expect a minimum level of services from our government… if that can’t be met by current government income, then either taxes must be raised, services must be cut, or debt must increase.
So I’ll ask the question again, what possible “minimum level of services” requires a $3 trillion dollar federal budget in addition to the billions spent by local and state governments?
Is ANYBODY the least bit surprised…..?
On another note, by “giving” unions the majority of GM/Chrysler – (nullifying legal agreements with creditors out of order) , he has done exactly what Article 1, Section 10 of the constitution was written to prohibit the states from doing – “impairing the obligation of contracts”.
I’m sure that there is more fun to come…….