Tag: Lawrence O’Donnell

Something that always gets me furious is this debate about taxes, debt and the deficit in American politics. The very mention of increasing any taxes or closing tax loopholes for the wealthy is met with a Republican firestorm of accusations about class warfare, socialism, and job killing. Nobody likes paying taxes. That’s a given. But something must be done about our debt and wasteful spending they say. Taxes and other forms of government income is literally the only way these problems can be solved. Spend less tax money. Bring in more tax money. Pay off debt. Simple. A friend of mine on Facebook recently quoted a statistic that the US government pays $2.1 BILLION a DAY in interest on debt. Wow! Let’s take care of that shall we?

I REJECT the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a teacher or a plumber is class warfare”

-Barack Obama 2012

Compare with:

We’re going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. In theory, some of those loopholes were understandable, but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary, and that’s crazy. […] Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver or less?

– Ronald Reagan 1985

Further comparison in video form. Note – video does not include the Obama quote above because that is a recent quote and this video was made sometime last year.

So if Obama is on the same page with the almighty conservative Demigod action hero Ronald Reagan 27 years ago during his presidency of legend, then what’s the problem here? Could it be the messenger and the “Goonies never say die!” climate created by Fox News & Conservative talk radio. Nooo…that can’t be it! Now I don’t like Reagan, and you may not like Obama. But can’t we all just pay our fair share and shut up?

– Jeff

Photos & Video from: Think Progress & Being Liberal