Our Populist President

President Obama took his act on the road today, hosting a Town Hall style (read: continuous campaign) event in Ohio. In this carefully managed bit of Kabuki, the President debuted his new Al Gore like populism, this time in the guise of going after the greedy Fatcats on Wall Street--specifically the banks who were "bailed out" by TARP, and who now have the temerity to pay their people bonuses while the rest of us are "hurting".

I like Barack Obama personally--or at least I think I'd like him. What I like about him is his intellect, his wide ranging mind. I disagree mightily with his politics, but I like him. I can tell you though, if he decides that this dip into Huey Long populism is his new schtick, I'll be unrestrained in my attacks. This is beneath him.

The FACTS are that the banks are paying back what was lent them, with interest. The American people are MAKING MONEY off of many of the TARP loans. Go ahead, Mr. President--get Congress to pass special taxes on investment transactions--yeah, that's it. Hit the Fatcats where they live! What was that? You mean the investment firms are likely to raise their fees to pass the tax along to the customer? You mean my 401K might become more expensive to administer because the President wants to screw the Fatcats? Why am I getting screwed? HOPE AND CHANGE!

Republican populism will target big government--Democratic populism will target big business. This is a race to the bottom.

2010 Could Be A Good Year To "Off" Grandma...

Since Congress has been kinda busy lately, there's a chance that the "inheritance tax" (hereafter referred to as the "death tax") will temporarily expire in 2010, providing an added incentive to hide Grandma's medicine or maybe to remove those little rubber sticky things from the bottom of her shower.

The Death Tax is an absolute favorite among Dems. They simply abhor the thought of inherited wealth, and are all too happy to redistribute the leavings of estates to the general funds of the US. Republicans on the other hand, aren't too happy with the Death Tax. They see--rightly--that the assets passed along in an estate have already been taxed--either as income, interest or capital gains held by the decedent.

Here's the lay of the land from the article: "Currently, the value of inheritances above $3.5 million for individuals and $7 million for couples are taxed at a 45 percent rate by the federal government. Smaller estates are exempt from the tax, leaving less than 1 percent of all inheritances subject to the tax. Because of the lack of action by Congress, the estate tax now goes away only to reappear in 2011 with a higher, 55 percent rate. "

That's right, folks. Nearly HALF of any estate about $3.5M goes to Uncle Sam CURRENTLY. If Congress does nothing, these estates would be untaxed in 2010, then the rate would go to 55% in 2011. I suppose there are alternate views of what "fairness" is, but I don't consider it fair for a man and woman to work hard their whole lives to create wealth (paying taxes along the way) only then to have Uncle Sugar step in and scoop up half of it for his coffers when they die. Libs/Dems would have you believe that "it is ONLY the top 1% of estates" that would fall under this tax. So I guess that makes it fair. By this logic I suppose (or an extension thereof), the gubment should be able to take ALL of the money--why leave any of it?