Pinheads and Patriots (10 page)
Read Pinheads and Patriots Online
Authors: Bill O'Reilly
O'Reilly:
Here, here isâ
Obama:
âthat is fromâ
O'Reilly:
Here is what I gotâ
Obama:
âfrom independent analysts.
O'Reilly:
And, and, and it's not all about me, believe me.
Obama:
Go ahead.
O'Reilly:
Twenty percent more revenue coming in under Bush than Clinton, all right? And he cuts taxes, people invest more. And he cuts the capital gains. And the government gets 20 percent more than under Clinton. You want to raise it back upâit doesn't make sense. Secondlyâ
Obama:
Wellâ
O'Reilly:
Secondlyâ
Obama:
Okay, go ahead.
O'Reilly:
The payroll taxâover to 50? You are gonna hike it to infinityâ
Obama:
I am not.
O'Reilly:
What, what's the cap?
Obama:
That's not trueâ
O'Reilly:
What's the cap?
Obama:
And all, allâ
O'Reilly:
Hold it! What's the cap?
Obama:
[
Laughs.
] All I saidâ[
Laughs.
] All I said is that afterâ
O'Reilly:
Yeah?
Obama:
Right? Then we could raise the cap. Notâ
O'Reilly:
That we could, or we will?
Obama:
What I have said is, is that if we have got a set of options to stabilize Social Securityâwhich I think is importantâand I think you do, too, because there are millions of seniors out thereâ
O'Reilly:
I do. Right.
Obama:
âwho depend on it. And we have got a couple of options. We could raise the retirement ageâand I just leftâtalking to a whole bunch of guys who have been workingâ
O'Reilly:
Look, I have no beef on thisâ
Obama:
All right. So you don't want to do that. Numberâor number two, we could cut benefits. Try living on Social Security right now; that's no fun if you are a senior. Number three, we could just do nothing, in which case Social Security will beâ
O'Reilly:
Soâ
Obama:
And let me finishâand let me finish my point, Bill. Uh, in the upcoming years, it's gonna be essentially, uh, a reduction in benefits. We could raise the payroll tax on everybodyâ
O'Reilly:
Don't do that.
Obama:
Of course.
O'Reilly:
Don't do that.
Obama:
But there is no free lunch.
O'Reilly:
But what Iâ
Obama:
So my only point isâ
O'Reilly:
No, there is a free lunch.
Obama:
What is the free lunch?
O'Reilly:
The free lunch is thatâyou are taking the wealthy Americanâthe big earners, okay?
Obama:
Okay.
O'Reilly:
You are taking money away from them, and you are giving it to people who don't have. That's called “income redistribution.” It's a socialist tenet.
Obama:
No. Billâ
O'Reilly:
Come on, you know that.
Obama:
Bill, Billâ
O'Reilly:
You went to Harvardâ
Obama:
Teddy Roosevelt supported the “progressive income tax.” Uh, lookâ
O'Reilly:
Not at the level you do.
Obama:
Bill, well, here is my pointâlisten, you, you areâyou are making it out like I am talking about going back to 70 percent marginal ratesâ
O'Reilly:
You are above 50â
Obama:
No, I am not.
O'Reilly:
For me, you are.
Obama:
No, I am not. What I have said is you goâyou go up to 39, all right? That's what it was under Clintonâ
O'Reilly:
I am 39, and I am payroll-taxed.
Obama:
But thatâ
O'Reilly:
âuntil you decide I am not.
Obama:
But, but, but potentially, we have got to explore a raise in the capital gainsâ
O'Reilly:
Noâ
Obama:
But I have made a commitmentâ
O'Reilly:
I think it's “income redistribution.”
Obama:
Here, here isâhere is, here is theâuh, here is the general point that I have got to make. Look, I don't like paying taxes. What, you think I like writing a check? Why would I like to write a check any more than you do?
O'Reilly:
Because you love your country.
Obama:
Uhâ¦. What I believe is, is that there are certain things we have got to do. And we have got to help people who areâ¦who have a tough time affording college, so they can benefit like we have. People are having a tough time. They don't have health care. People who are trying to figure out, uh, how they are going to pay the bills. And there are certain things we have got to do. Our infrastructureâyouâlook at what happened in Beijing. You go to the Olympics, and these folks are building. And we have got, uh, sewer lines that are crumblingâ
O'Reilly:
Andâ
Obama:
And, and, and at, and at a certain point, we have got to pay for it. Now, I, I am notâI, I, Iâ
O'Reilly:
But it is only the very few that are gonna pay for it, okay?
Obama:
Right.
O'Reilly:
You are, you are not across-the-boarding it. You are goingâ
Obama:
But, but Billâ
O'Reilly:
“I am taking from the rich.”
Obama:
[
Laughs.
]
O'Reilly:
“And I am Robin Hood Obamaâ”
Obama:
Bill, if, if, ifâ
O'Reilly:
“âand I am giving itâ”
Obama:
All, all, all I am saying isâ
O'Reilly:
And then you want to raise corporate taxesâ
Obama:
All I, all I wantâno, I don't. That's not true.
O'Reilly:
You wantâ
Obama:
All, all, all I wantâ
O'Reilly:
You don't want to raise them? You don't want to raise corporate taxes?
Obama:
All, all I wantâall I am saying isâall I am saying is, is that, if we have got something that we have got to pay forâNow, George Bushâunder George Bush, the, the debt has gone up $4 trillion, all right? So that's the credit card we have taken outâon our kidsâfrom the Bank of Chinaâthat they are gonna have to pay forâ
O'Reilly:
The war on terror, though. Come on.
Obama:
Well, no, no, no. That, thatâthat's not true. Uh, the, uhâ¦that has to doâin partâwith the Bush tax cuts, and no cuts in spending.
O'Reilly:
No, it can't be, because the Bush tax cutsâ
Obama:
Soâ
O'Reilly:
âgenerated more income.
Obama:
No. No, no, no.
O'Reilly:
The spending is out of control.
Obama:
No. Well, uh, look, uhâ¦. The Bush taxâor the, the Bush recordâthe numbers areâwere there. Four trillion dollars. Now, we have got a choice. We can keep on just borrowing and dump it on our kids, that's option number one.
O'Reilly:
Or we can take it from the wealthy, and give it to everybody elseâ
Obama:
Bill, we could have an across-the-board tax cutâuh, or tax, uh, hikes, what you just talked about.
O'Reilly:
Which is not “income redistribution”?
Obama:
Bill, but the problem is, if I am sitting pretty, and you have got a waitress who is making minimum wage plus tipsâand I can afford it and she can'tâwhat's the big deal for me to say, “I am gonna pay a little bit more”? That is part of communityâ
O'Reilly:
Let me answer your question.
Obama:
That is part of what theâAmerica has always been about is, is that we rise and fall together. And that, I thinkâ
O'Reilly:
And Americans give a tremendous amountâmore than any in the worldâto charity.
Obama:
Butâ
O'Reilly:
Let me give you one moreâ
Obama:
All right.
O'Reilly:
âand then we'll go on to, uhâ
Obama:
Right.
O'Reilly:
âthe next thing. Listen, if you raise the cap gains tax, that's going to inhibit investment. I won't buy as many stocks, and many many more people won't, okay?
Obama:
If, if whatâ
O'Reilly:
If you do thatâ
Obama:
If we, if we went up, if we went upâ
O'Reilly:
âit's gonna, it's gonna come back to bite you, Senator.
Obama:
If, if we went up to a prohibitive rateâyou are right. But look, Iâ
O'Reilly:
Thirty percent on it. That's Vegas, man. I am not going with those odds.
Obama:
I, Iâ
O'Reilly:
Fifteen, I'll pay. Not 30.
Obama:
I, I, I didn't go there. Uh, I didn't say we would go that high. Well, let's say we go up to 20. I have talked toâ
O'Reilly:
Twenty is okay.
Obama:
That, thatâ
O'Reilly:
Not 25.
Obama:
Okay. Well, thereâwell, you and I agree.
O'Reilly:
All right. Good.
The most difficult part of researching this book has been trying to ascertain what will happen to America's economy under President Obama. Things are so shaky, so murky, so unpredictable that, like Afghanistan, just about anything could happenâwith the exception of a tax cut for me.
Here's what we know for sure:
- Unemployment hovers around 10 percent despite massive government spending to stimulate the economy.
- Because of that spending, the new ObamaCare health system, and corporate bailouts, the United States now owes more than 13 trillion dollars.
- The
New York Times
and other Pinhead Far Left organizations demand even
more
government spending. Apparently, owing 13 trillion is not enough. Let's go for it! Let's get that up to 15 trillion. - If President Obama is worried about this staggering debt, he is hiding it very well.
- Beginning on New Year's Day 2011, many, many taxes will rise in America. My federal income tax rate, for example, will go up to 39.6 percent. My payroll taxes will also go up. In fact, just about everything the feds can tax, they will tax. And all that additional revenue will not come even close to denting the deficit if the Obama administration continues its spending spree.
- Capital gains tax (the money you make when you sell profitable investments) will rise 5 percent to 20 percent, as Mr. Obama and I discussed.
- But interest on savings (yeah, sure, for many of us) will be taxed to the tune of almost 40 percent, a punishing situation.
- If you die in 2011 or beyond and leave more than a million in assets, the feds will take 55 percent of what you have over that amount. Thank you very much for expiring.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. President Obama wants our money even though higher taxation might put the economy back into recession. Higher taxes often mean that folks spend less in our consumer-driven economy. President Reagan got us out of a nasty recession by cutting taxes. President Obama is doing just the opposite.
The real danger down the road is a Value Added Tax (VAT). Even though the President is playing the Alfred E. Neuman (“What, me worry?”) card on government spending, his guys know there's a bad economic moon rising. The federal government is already almost broke; when ObamaCare finally kicks in, it could send us over the bankruptcy cliff.
So say hello to my little friend, the national sales tax. They do this in Europe to raise entitlement money so that workers can have eight weeks of paid vacation and call in sick every ten days. It does get chilly in Sweden, you know.
The VAT would be a promise-breaker for Mr. Obama, but he may have no choice. Remember, he said he would not
raise taxes on Americans making $250,000 or less a year. But a national sales tax stings everybody. Read my lips: a VAT is a broken promise.
Of course, all this could change if the Democrats continue to lose public support. If Republicans regain control on Capitol Hill, as many observers believe likely, all of President Obama's programs and economic visions will be carefully scrutinized.
Finally, I understand it is my duty as a citizen to pay taxes, so I do pay them and try to keep the whining to a minimum. But many Americans are not as fortunate as I am. They are struggling to keep their homes, but high and rising property taxes are killing them. They want to send their kids to college, but every time they turn around, the government is keeping take-home pay away from them. There has to be a balance.
Obviously, President Obama wants to redistribute income to the poor. But by creating an entitlement society, he hurts the working class. So how is that fair? One group of Americans gets free stuff from the feds, while the other group has to struggle to pay its bills. Senior citizens should not be worrying about being evicted from their homes because they can no longer pay school and general property taxes. Young families should not have their paychecks gutted by an endless series of government tax levies. Enough is enough with the entitlement society stuff. America gives people opportunities and most of us do well. Those who don't or can't do deserve to be treated fairly but should not expect the rest of us to support them. The struggle between traditional self-reliance and the potential nanny state is the most divisive issue in America today.