Friday, October 24, 2008

The new math. Or should I say: the new Obamath?


According to the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center (TPC), Barack Obama has promised:

$1,320,000,000,000

in new spending. That's $1.32 trillion. He says he'll do this in conjunction with a "middle class tax cut". Oh. And that 95% of Americans will receive this "tax cut".

According to the Census Bureau, there are approximately 100 million households in the U.S. Five percent would, of course, be five million households in the U.S. Translated: the top 5% of 100 million households will fund all new spending.

If five million households are going to fund $1.32 trillion in new spending, how much does the government have to increase taxes on each of the unlucky households? Anyone have a calculator handy?

Break out the 1977 Texas Instruments calculator, Bucky! Dividing $1.32 trillion by 5 million households comes out to:

$264,000 per household!

You read that right. More than a quarter million dollars per household.

Legacy media can't bother with these complex calculations, possibly because their IT budgets have been slashed what with the Times stock price and all. Suffice it to say that Barack Obama's new math doesn't survive even the most cursory review. Put simply, every working person in America will receive a monstrous increase in taxes when the Bush tax cuts expire. Tack on the "WealthSpreader™" tax and we've got a surefire recipe for economic disaster.

Does the name "Jimmy Carter" ring a bell? 18% inflation wasn't all bad because I got some great raises.

Update: The Wall Street Journal asks, "How's Obama Going to Raise $4.3 Trillion?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

State of the Union address 2013:
OBAMATH: Wish List + (teleprompter '/,writers) - truth x compliant media/Fed + executive orders = UTOPTIA. shazam!