WHEN IS RAISING TAXES NOT SUPPOSED TO BE CALLED, RAISING TAXES?

There’s an old adage that says, “You can call me anything you want, just don’t call me late for dinner.” And that now seems to be the same approach that the Democrats are now trying to apply to their desire for raising taxes, you know, you can call it anything you want, just don’t call it raising taxes. You can call it eliminating unfair tax breaks, or removing unjust loopholes, or even "taking a balanced approach." Just don't you dare call it raising taxes. So as our stellar band of Democrats work diligently toward arriving at what they continue say is a must-do deal with Republicans, regarding the paring of trillions from the deficit in order to raise the nation's debt limit, Barry "Almighty" and his fellow Democrats are saying almost anything to avoid the politically toxic pronouncement that they want to increase your taxes. But taxes are hardly the only issue that should be discussed, but it's always the only issue that Democrats ever want to talk about and it's where they are being their most intransigent selves. Of course they are being equally intransigent when it comes to cutting any of their massive spending that has occurred over the course of the last 30 months. Republicans are going to need to remain resolute and to communicate where it is, exactly, that they are coming from as the days tick down to the much talked about, August 2 deadline. That very same deadline for raising the federal government's borrowing limit when we're told that all Hell is going to break loose and we'll face what the doomsday forecasters are all calling an unprecedented default of Biblical proportions. If we can believe recent polling data, it would appear, however, that a majority of the American people DO NOT want the debt ceiling raised. Now I know that us folks outside of that brain trust referred to as Washington DC, we're just not seen as being as bright as say, Timmy "The Tax Cheat," but they are talking about the spending of our money, after all. Barry, while insisting that he won't agree to any "slashing" of benefits, a vague word the White House refuses to define with any specificity, and that is being vaguely applied, thus can be seen as his leaving room for benefits to be cut without ever actually saying it. But he appears to be just as adamant in his desire to raise taxes at a time when taxes are already going to be raised roughly $400 Billion because of Obamacare. Just how high, in Barry's opinion, do taxes need to go?

Then there's the problem of the debt limit itself, and the real or imagined urgency with which it really needs to be addressed. To Barry everything is a crisis, usually of his own making, for which the rest of us must now be willing to sacrifice so that it can be adequately addressed, and usually in the most extreme manner. When listening to the Republicans, the level of our current debt problem was created by the out-of-control spending binge that has taken place and now demands to be addressed. Democrats, on the other hand, are more likely to cast the issue as one requiring an urgent increase in revenue, and that solution needs to be put in place soon if the U.S. is going to be able to make good on its growing list of obligations. From their rather skewed perspective the only problem that what we have here, is a growing revenue problem. Well with nearly 50 percent of households now paying absolutely no income taxes whatsoever I suppose to a certain extent that could be a viable argument. However, that's not the direction from which they are coming. They are focused primarily on those of us who do pay taxes, wanting us to pay even more. Which is strange coming from a group which so loudly touts that it's all about what's fair and equitable. So it is very difficult not to side with the Republicans point of view in this continuing discussion when looking at the astronomical amount of spending that has been underway, practically nonstop, for over the last two and a half years. But it is on the topic of taxes that the Democrat rhetoric always becomes the most heated, it's never about their rabid level of spending. Some our more liberal "analysts" like to argue the point that in recent decades Republicans have largely succeeded in turning taxes into a dirty word, and the government it pays for is increasingly viewed with disfavor, too. So that even while voters like some of the taxpayer-funded services they get, such as Social Security, arguing in favor of taxes hikes is pretty much of a nonstarter. For opponents, "it's an easy argument to win because nobody wants to pay higher taxes," said Brendan Daly, former spokesman to House Democratic Leader Nancy "Botox" Pelosi and now a public relations executive at Ogilvy Washington. My question to this moron is, why should they? When they see the blatant irresponsible manner in which their tax dollars continue to be spent.


Proposals under consideration include raising taxes on small business owners and potentially low-and middle-income families. You won't hear about that from Barry and the Democrats. Instead the president remains focused on the very rich, and speaks euphemistically. Here are a few of the phrases the president has used of late to talk about what amounts to raising taxes for some:


— "What we need to do is to have a balanced approach where everything is on the table."


—"We need to take on spending in the tax code."


—"The tax cuts I'm proposing we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires; tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners."


—"You can't reduce the deficit to the levels that it needs to be reduced without having some revenue in the mix."


And here's how Republicans respond:


—"Tax hikes on families and job creators would only make things worse." — House Speaker John Boehner.


—"The focus for us is to make sure that we are not increasing taxes on individuals who are the job creators, and like it or not, the job creators are those who can be successful in a small business context." — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.


—"Democrats seem to think the solution to our debt crisis is to ask taxpayers and struggling businesses to reward their economic stewardship with even more money to spend as they please." — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.


So our buddy Barry "Almighty" came out and challenged Republican lawmakers to present a plan for a smaller-scale deficit reduction program as he continues in his attempt to steer them toward his much larger $4 trillion goal, a Democratic aide said. But If I'm not mistaken, and I certainly could be, the House Republicans have already put that plan together plan, that very same smaller-scale plan to which Barry refers, with their budget negotiators having now essentially abandoned plans to pursue Barry's more massive $4 trillion, 10-year deficit reduction package. That was done in the face of stiff GOP opposition to any plan that would increase taxes as part of the deal. Speaker Boehner informed Barry that a smaller agreement of about $2 trillion was something that was much more realistic. Boehner said: "Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes." Boehner's statement came a day before he and seven of the top House and Senate leaders were scheduled to meet at the White House in a negotiating session and iron out their remaining differences. A deficit reduction deal is crucial to win Republican support for an increase in the nation's debt ceiling. The government's borrowing capacity is currently capped at $14.3 trillion and administration officials, doing their best "Chicken Little" impersonation, continue to make wild and outlandish claims regarding our going into default if no action is taken by August 2 to raise our already too high debt ceiling. Barry has tried to build political support for an ambitious package of spending cuts and new tax revenue that would reduce the debt by $4 trillion over 10 years. But from the moment he proposed it, Republicans said they would reject any tax increases and Democrats objected to making the level of spending cuts that are necessary, especially in some of their most prized benefit programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.


Not all that long ago a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by "Slow Joe" Biden, identified, but did not sign off on, just such a $2 trillion plan in deficit reductions, most of which being accomplished through spending cuts. But after holding a "secret meeting" with Speaker Boehner, that idea was quickly scuttled because Barry and his top aides essentially, and quite arbitrarily, had decided to kill the whole idea saying that they believed an even bigger figure was attainable if both parties made politically painful, but potentially historic, choices. "I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase," Boehner said. The White House, in its effort to paint the Republicans as being nothing more than stubborn obstructionists, are the ones who are truly doing all of the dragging of the feet here. In one of his weekly radio and Internet addresses, Barry appealed to Democrats and Republicans to "make some political sacrifices" and take advantage of an extraordinary opportunity to tackle the government's budget crisis. He said that it will take a "balanced approach" that mixes limits on domestic programs and the Pentagon, curbs to Medicare and elimination of some tax breaks for the wealthy. However, the Democrats definition of a "balanced approach" is always geared in such a way as to have a little less balance coming from them and allot more coming from the opposition. Battle lines in federal debt talks sharpened markedly Thursday when the Senate's top Democrat, "Dingy" Harry, rejected any proposal for $2 trillion in budget cuts as demanded by Speaker Boehner, saying any cuts must be accompanied by action on closing tax loopholes. "You can't do $2 trillion just in cuts," Senate Majority Leader "Dingy" Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in an interview in his Capitol office. "There has to be a mix of spending cuts, including defense. There has to be a more fair apportionment of tax policy in this country." Says who? All "Dingy" Harry wants to do is take taxes through the roof and slash defense spending. What kind of a plan is that, exactly? That my friends, is the typical Democrat plan.


So they remain very much divided over taxes and spending cuts. Republicans reject Democrats’ call for more tax revenue and instead are pressing to cut entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Democrats insist even the Republicans’ proposal for a smaller deficit-cutting plan must include more taxes from higher-income Americans. Those very same folks who create the majority of the jobs that Democrats claim they are so interested in creating. Barry has said he is willing to cut entitlements in exchange for a Republican agreement to increase taxes. Democrats want to “enact an agreement that ensures America pays its bills and reduces the deficit in a balanced way without putting all of the burden on seniors and the middle class,” Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the second-ranking House Democrat, said in a statement after a 75-minute negotiating session yesterday at the White House. It is painfully clear that it's the Democrats who are the ones constantly changing the rules by which the game is to be played. Even though recent polling data, if you can believe it, very clearly shows that the American people "DO NOT" want the debt ceiling raised, Democrats still see failing to do so as a winning political argument for them. They continue in their ongoing endeavor to bring about as much economic destruction as possible, to kill any possibility whatsoever of a viable economic recovery before the election. It's a pure attempt by the Democrats to increase the size of their base by forcing as many people as is possible into being completely dependent upon government. That is their sole motive in all of this.