class warfare Archives

Class Warfare – What Did Ronald Reagan Say About It

President Obama proposed what he calls The Buffett Plan, a bill that asks the rich to pay the same tax-rate as middle class Americans. The bill is sitting in Congress with no way forward, because Republicans have promised…no, pledged to Grover Norquist that they will not agree to any tax hikes, no matter how small it is, no matter what the circumstances.

They call the President’s proposal – asking the rich to pay what they paid under the Clinton Administration – “class warfare.” But these same Republicans have no problem cutting benefits from seniors and the poor to make sure that the rich gets more tax cuts. This taking from the poor and giving to the rich, as far as these Republicans are concerned, is not “class warfare,” it’s what every poor and middle class American should be willing do to make sure the rich are happy.

But what exactly did the god of these same Republicans think about the class warfare argument. Was Ronald Reagan in favor of taking from the poor and giving to the rich, like his Republican offspring now propose?

Let’s go to the video tape!

Obama – This Is Not Class Warfare, It’s Math

Today, President Obama outlined his plan for deficit reduction. He again called for a balanced approach to reducing the nation’s deficit through both spending cuts and raising revenue by asking the top 3% of the wealthiest Americans to pay the same rate middle class Americans already pay. Of course, Republicans used the last few days to get their talking points out, calling the President’s proposal “class warfare.”

But President Obama had an answer for them;

It comes down to this: We have to prioritize. Both parties agree that we need to reduce the deficit by the same amount — by $4 trillion. So what choices are we going to make to reach that goal? Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes, or we’re going to have to ask seniors to pay more for Medicare. We can’t afford to do both.

Either we gut education and medical research, or we’ve got to reform the tax code so that the most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don’t get. We can’t afford to do both.

This is not class warfare. It’s math. The money is going to have to come from someplace. And if we’re not willing to ask those who’ve done extraordinarily well to help America close the deficit and we are trying to reach that same target of $4 trillion, then the logic, the math says everybody else has to do a whole lot more: We’ve got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor. We’ve got to scale back on the investments that have always helped our economy grow. We’ve got to settle for second-rate roads and second-rate bridges and second-rate airports, and schools that are crumbling.

That’s unacceptable to me. That’s unacceptable to the American people. And it will not happen on my watch. I will not support — I will not support — any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans. And I will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on Medicare but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to pay their fair share. We are not going to have a one-sided deal that hurts the folks who are most vulnerable.

But explaining simple math to a group who thinks teachers are the enemy and wants to eliminate the Department of Education, may not be the easiest thing to do, but based on the President’s attitude today, I think he’s up for the challenge.