Our president has a funny way with words when it comes to describing the lousy economy. Even for an election year, some of his whoppers would be laughable — if they weren’t coming from a man who wants to remain in charge of the country and its floundering economy for another four years
Speaking after last Friday’s jobs report, President Obama said the economy is taking a “step in the right direction.” Really?
Economic growth as measured by gross domestic product is falling; it’s now less than 2 percent. The Friday report showed that 80,000 jobs were created last month, vs. 77,000 the month before. So, yes, there was an increase — but, earlier in the year, the economy created an average of 226,000 jobs a month. The trend line is actually falling — i.e., we’re headed in the wrong direction.
In fact, in order to keep up with population growth, the economy needs to produce around 125,000 jobs each month, so we’re now losing ground.
That’s why the unemployment rate remains about 8.2 percent — and closer to 15 percent when you account for people who’ve given up looking for work.
Then, Obama came out yesterday with a new tax plan that once again calls for higher taxes on the people he considers rich, including families making more than $250,000 a year, and a “tax cut” for families making less.
Of course, the plan was hardly new. It’s a theme he’s hit on endlessly these past three years: Taxpaying families who earn less than $250,000 (and individuals who make less than $200,000) should pay the same tax rate as now (not exactly a cut), while everyone else should pay their fair share — that is, more.
Yesterday, the president did finally notice the criticism that such hikes hurt small businesses (which often file as individuals), and thus will harm job creation. Obama insisted: “The proposal I make today would extend these tax cuts for 97 percent of all small-business owners in America. In other words, 97 percent of small businesses fall under the $250,000 threshold. So this isn’t about taxing job creators, this is about helping job creators.”
But he’s using bogus numbers — counting as “small businesses” the millions of Americans who run one-man shops: freelance writers, consultants, etc. His plan really does tax job creators.
The Heritage Foundation recently crunched some of the Obama Treasury’s own statistics and found the following: The small businesses that make the most money and do the most hiring fall in the higher tax brackets that will get hammered the most by the Obama plan.
So while 97 percent of “all small businesses” may not see a tax hike, he really would hit the ones that count for job-creation.
As Heritage’s Curtis Dubay puts it, the Treasury’s own numbers show that the Obama tax plan takes aim at “91 percent of the income earned by small businesses that actually employ workers . . . The biggest most successful small business fall in the target of his tax increase.”
How’s that for “a step in the right direction”?
Charles Gasparino is a Fox Business Network senior correspondent.