Editor
I thought Obama's "hopey, changey" mode was as dead as his failed programs of the past three years. Certainly the anemic 1.7% growth in GDP in 2011, and persistent high unemployment, should be enough to make him try Plan B.
But then came his State of the Union address, and it was the same-old, same old. Just another big grab bag of promises to take our minds off failed past promises. His speech was full of Occupy items, even as Occupy dies a lingering death. The only place Occupy persists is in Oakland, where it is draining an already empty budget.
Of course Democrat class envy still rules, even with an expiring Occupy movement. The latest numbers show Mitt Romney paid 42% of his income to taxes and charities. Vice President Biden paid $326 to charity, which put him on par with other Democrat stalwarts such as Al Gore and Bill "tax deduction for used underwear" Clinton. Most of Romney's taxes are paid as capital gains at the 15% rate, the same as other wealthy folk like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. To pay a higher rate discourages investment, since in inflationary times a significant portion of capital gains are inflation, and corporate profits are double taxed, once as corporate income, and then as dividend income.
Mitt Romney chooses to pick where he wants his charitable donations to go, rather than turning his money over to the government to waste. Democrats have an aversion to letting people choose how to spend their own money, because they always think they know where other peoples' money should be spent. Like on Solyndra, and on "Enron1" as Joe Biden called it, a company that was going to make batteries for electric cars that just announced filing for bankruptcy after blowing $100 million of our taxes. And there are a lot more of these government-supported companies heading down the same hole. There's no hope, and small change, for them.
Mike Combs
Gualala
