President Obama did it again while off the teleprompter yesterday saying “[P]eople like me can afford to pay a little bit more,” the president said. "Now understand, we’re talking about the top 1, 2 percent of people at the very top of the income scales. And we can afford it. We don’t need a tax cut. We didn’t ask for a tax break. You got corporations who are getting special deals on their tax codes. They don’t need a special deal. Let’s give a good deal to hardworking men and women who are out there struggling to make ends meet.
O.K. just who are the top 1 or 2% of people? According to the IRS, the top 1% of households begin at $380,000 per year and is very bottom heavy. A very quick check for statistics shows that the top 5% of households begins at $160,000 per year. Assuming that the top 2% of households is somewhere in the middle, you are right back to aggressively talking about raising taxes on households in the area of $200,000 per year, who apparently are not hardworking men and women. In fact, I would venture to say that many in professions not usually associated with affluence will fall into this category when household income is considered. Is "we" a proper pronoun for this claim? Now I am neither a billionaire, millionaire, upper class nor upper middle class. I am right smack in the middle of middle class, so why should I care? A breech of liberty for anyone is a loss of liberty for everyone.
Pastor Martin Niemoller:
First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews but I was not Jewish so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
