Obama’s First 150 Days: New Taxes. Higher Spending. More Debt. Protectionism. Government Intervention. Broken Promises.
To mark President Barack Obama's first 150 days in office, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) today released a taxpayer timeline covering Obama's most recent 50-day period -- Day 101 through Day 150:
Day 108 – May 7: President Obama releases a misleading budget document that claims to consist solely of spending cuts, but in fact contains
$26.4 billion worth of energy taxes.
- Some families making less than $250,000 per year will see an income tax hike, yet another violation of Obama’s tax pledge
- American families will bear the brunt of the Obama tax blueprint’s energy tax hike
- Small businesses will shed jobs to pay for the higher small business tax rates
WBAL TV in Baltimore reports that thousands of dead people are receiving “stimulus” checks in the mail.
Day 116 – May 15: Americans for Tax Reform releases an
overall review of Obama’s energy tax hikes, a total of
$968 billion in new taxes.
Obama marks
100 days since the passage of the “stimulus” bill.
According to the Administration, $112 billion from the “stimulus” has been spent or obligated at this point. Assuming that the President’s unsubstantiated claim that the legislation has “saved” 150,000 jobs is correct, each job “saved” cost taxpayers $746,600.
President Obama makes official his support of government-run health care in a
letter to Senators Baucus and Kennedy.
“Buy American” language in the “stimulus” causes Canadian municipalities to pass
their own protectionist legislation. "If one country starts to build protectionist barriers that hurt businesses in another country, there will be an impulse to retaliate, and I would like to see this resolved at the executive level in the United States," states
Canada’s Trade Minister Stockwell Day.
Day 137 -- June 5: The Bureau of Labor Statistics
employment report shows steep job losses under President Obama:
- 345,000 jobs lost in the month of May
- 1.5 million jobs lost in the three full months since the “stimulus” bill passed
- 9.4 percent unemployment, the highest level since 1983.
Day 140 -- June 8: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
says Obama’s double-tax proposal will cause the company to move jobs out of the U.S.
“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive…we’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S.”
Day 141 – June 9: President Obama submits a
PAYGO proposal which would give a built in excuse to raise the short- and long-term cost of government AND practically require Congress to raise taxes to "pay for" it.
Day 142 -- June 10: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announces a new campaign to
support free enterprise “in the face of rapid government growth and attacks by anti-business activists.”
Day 143 -- June 11: President Obama
reiterates his support for a public health care
option. During the same town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, President Obama also
claims he doesn’t believe in expanding the government’s role:
“The reason is not because we want a government takeover of health care…I've already said, if you've got a private plan that works for you, that's great. But we want some competition. If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it'll keep them honest, and it'll help keep their prices down.”
Day 146 -- June 14: On Meet the Press, Vice President Biden admits the “stimulus” was based on incorrect assumptions about the economy and they cannot measure whether it has “saved or created” any jobs:
"Everyone guessed wrong at the time the estimate was made about what the state of the economy was at the moment this was passed."
On Meet the Press, Biden
confirms the taxing of employee health care benefits is on the table:
“MR. GREGORY: Will the president sign a bill that taxes health care benefits for employees?
VICE PRES. BIDEN: We made it clear we do not think that is the way to go. We think that is the wrong way to finance this legislation.
MR. GREGORY: So if the bill comes with that...
VICE PRES. BIDEN: But--no, no, no.
MR. GREGORY: ...the president wouldn't sign it?
VICE PRES. BIDEN: I didn't say that.”
Day 147 -- June 15: Obama again asserts he does not want to expand the role of government, this time during a
speech to the American Medical Association:
“When you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this – they are not telling the truth”
Day 148 -- June 16: In an
interview with Bloomberg News, Obama states he is “confident” he will not have to raise taxes on “ordinary working families”:
“One of the biggest variables in this whole thing is economic growth. If we are growing at a robust rate, then we can pay for the government that we need without having to raise taxes.”
“I’m confident that we don’t have to raise taxes on ordinary working families.”
Earl Devaney, head of the Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency (RAT) Board, estimates that at least $55 billion of “stimulus” funds may be lost to waste, fraud and abuse.
Obama once again claims he has a limited government philosophy during an interview with the
Wall Street Journal:
"I think the irony … is that I actually would like to see a relatively light touch when it comes to the government."
(We find it ironic too, Mr. President.)
Posted by John Kartch
on Thursday, June 18, 2009 2:40 AM EDT
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