Cap and Trade: Stand Up Today; Take Back Your Government – Make A Call

As you may have noticed, I’ve been twittering quite a bit about the Waxman Markey (Cap and Trade) bill.

Please contact your representative and tell them to vote no on this massive taxing/spending bill.

Rep. Robert Latta had a great video on this bill and it’s impact:

The Heritage Foundation has analysis.  Among the ramifications:

1.    Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $9.6 trillion
2.    Destroy an average of 1-3 million jobs, every year
3.    Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation
4.    Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent
5.    Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent
6.    Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500 annually
7.    Increase the federal debt by 26 percent, which is $29,150 per person

Newt Gingrich provides a forum for finding your representative, their contact information and recording how many of us call, here. Or call the main switchboard at (202)224-3121.  Vote expected today as you are finishing up a weeks’ work and looking forward to the weekend.  Don’t let them slip this through when you aren’t looking.

Call and tell your representative they work for YOU, tell them YOU want them to vote NO and YOU will actively organize to ensure they do not get re-elected if they do not represent YOUR wishes.  This is YOUR country, take it back, take back YOUR government.

Now go, get busy.

Finally! Someone grows a spine…

Lots of scary stuff going on out there right now.

And amazingly, there seems to be increasing push-back against it.  One of which is the number of states proposing state sovereignty. 

http://www.therightsideoflife.com/?p=5944

More amazing, my state of Ohio is one of them.

http://ohiorepublic.blogspot.com/2009/05/state-sovereignty-resolution-to-be.html

You know the federal government has gone too far when states (which typically have their hands out for every penny they can get regardless of the repercussions) are passing legislation tell Washington to keep their mitts off.

Bravo!  Right choice, I’m not taking down my “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, but right choice!!

Technorati Tags: State’s rights,state sovereignty,Ohio,Oklahoma,Tennessee

The Value of Beauty…The Beauty of Value

I have something to say:

Probably most of you have seen (or at least heard) of Susan Boyle’s first audition on Britain’s Got Talent.  If not, here it is:

It reminded me so much of the Paul Potts audition a couple of years back on the same program.

Because they are both talent people, you say?  Well, yes.  But that’s not why.

It’s because of the initial reaction of the judges and the audience.  It is the mockery, the disdain, the ridicule of the audience over the appearance of the contestants.   And, I’d like to note, especially toward Ms. Boyle.

Neither Mr. Potts nor Ms. Boyle are from the “beautiful people crowd”.  They are everyday people.  They are the people we work with or live down the block from.  They are people we can identify with.   They are average.  So why are these everyday folks treated this way?  Because our society (not just America but Britain and elsewhere) are obsessed with youth and beauty and fame.  Without that, it follows that you have nothing to offer.  You must be exceptional.

We are fascinated with Paris Hilton who is young and rich and famous and, I guess, beautiful.  We are attracted to Britney Spears, who is young and rich and famous and beautiful.  We build up the George Clooney’s and Leonardo Di Caprio’s and Johnny Depp’s and David Beckham’s; the Angelina Jolie’s and Halle Berry’s and Jennifer Aniston’s.  Then, at some point,  we want them to stumble – to fail at something –  and we wait to watch them fall.  When they do, we revel in it.  And we are vicious toward them.  Whether it’s weight gain, a nasty divorce, a substance abuse problem, bad or too much cosmetic surgery or (horrors) just getting older.  Why?  Because we covet beauty and fame and riches.  We want it for ourselves, but if we can’t have it, we want to live vicariously through someone who does have it.  Then we resent them.

Mr. Potts and Ms. Boyle possessed something that cannot be seen in an instant.  Talent, yes, but heart and courage too.  They put themselves on the line, and faced the judgment of the panel and audience.  How quickly the smirks and eye-rolls stopped when these two started to perform.   Suddenly they weren’t the jokes they were expected to be, they were special.

This is the kind of behavior we expect from children.  Who among us can’t recall an incident in high school where someone on the ‘outside’ was treated repulsively from the in-crowd?  The problem is that this behavior now extends to adults as well.

Are we so shallow that we only appreciate those who are pretty (as we define that)?  Do we really believe that a person’s value is measured by their appearance?  Is success only measured in dollars or the number of magazine covers someone is on?  Can we not appreciate the individuality and gifts of every single person?

My mother said beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes clear through to the bone.    She was right.  Beauty was present on stage – a man in an ill-fitting suit who was working every day to support his family.  Beauty was a 47-year old woman with heavy eyebrows and a not-too-svelte figure who put her aspirations of singing on hold for years to care for her elderly mother.  Beauty was the grace they showed in the face of incredible odds and their passion in pursuing their dream.  The ugly was sitting in the audience.

I watched Mr. Potts on You Tube after he won and I teared up each time.  I choked up every time I watched Ms. Boyle as well.  Beautiful voices to be sure, but so much more.

We need start looking beyond the surface.  There are many beautiful people out there and we are missing them.  We would be more beautiful people for knowing them.

On Tea Parties & Tyranny

Newt Gingrich has some interesting and depressing numbers here.

An ever-lasting legacy

Your obligation on the INTEREST (not principal) of the Obama budget deficit:

If you’re 50 years old: $81,000
If you’re 40: $132,000
If you’re 20: $114,000

Why so many people remain okay with this outrage is mystifying.

Please find a tea party. Attend it. Focus on what’s right, not a person or party. Make connections and follow through. This cannot be a one time event…it’s too important to be a passing fancy. It will take time to take back out country, but we must remain focused and committed.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

The Great Divide

From Pew:

Barack Obama has the widest margin of approve/disapprove in 40+ years.

Partisan Gap in Obama Job Approval

Huh. I’m sure it has nothing to do with his sprint toward socialism or his arrogant “blame America” first, last, always stance.

I’m sure that’s not it.

Job Approval Ratings For First Year Presidents

Some old fashioned common sense – Wake Up America!

That Thomas Paine, he still speaks common sense.

Please view this video – it’s excellent!  Then send your tea bags.  I will be addressing my envelopes tomorrow.

It’s our country, take it back now!

We the People stimulus package

• All laws that apply to us should apply equally to congress.
• No more allowing them to vote themselves raises.
• Balance the federal budget – we have to live within our means, so must they.
• Make them pay into the social security.
• Term limits! The President is limited to two terms, so too should Congress be.
• Get your own 401 K plan.  No more lifetime benefits for part time service
• Pay your own insurance premium.  Maybe you’ll be more interested in how things really work.
• Throw them all!  Vote out any member of Congress who did not read the spending bill before voting for it.
• With the saving from the above actions, take the money away from the corrupt and give it to the real defenders of our freedom – the armed forces, they never fail you
• Start no war unless you intend to win it.
• Make English the official language of the country
• Stop rewarding lawbreakers!  No money for illegal aliens.
• Let the people elect the president – not special interests, PACS, media…
• Bring back Universal Service.

Obama and his Bear Market

This report from Bloomberg today:

March 6 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama now has the distinction of presiding over his own bear market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 20 percent since Inauguration Day, the fastest drop under a newly elected president in at least 90 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gauge has lost 53 percent from its October 2007 record of 14,164.53, slipping 4.1 percent to 6,594.44 yesterday.

More than $1.6 trillion has been erased from U.S. equities since Jan. 20 as mounting bank losses and rising unemployment convinced investors the recession is getting worse.

…

“It’s the Obama bear market,” said Dan Veru, who helps oversee $2.8 billion at Palisade Capital Management in Fort Lee, New Jersey. “We don’t know what the rules are in so many different areas the government is touching.”

…

“Obama should be listening to the stock market more than talking to it,” said Kenneth Fisher, the billionaire chairman of Woodside, California-based Fisher Investments Inc., which oversees $22 billion. “He hasn’t gotten out of the gate well.”

See the full story here.

For those Obama apologists out there, the “market” pretty much factored in Obama’s presidency before he took office and, frankly, well before he was elected.  Blaming George Bush for the majority of the economy’s decline is illogical.   This is Obama’s mess.  The reaction of the market, investors as well as degrading consumer confidence is centered around Obama and his actions.

Just say No!

We’ve been going over our budget here recently. The realization that our incomes will be going down (due to any number of Obama stimulus related initiatives) and that the economy around here is so poor there’s a possibility that at least one of us may lose our job necessitates strict scrutiny of our expenses.

We’ve modified our behavior over the last several months – left-overs are required to be eaten, trips to the grocery store are focused on items on the list, we changed our phone carrier and modified our cable television plan. There’s more we can do, and will, that will be annoying; there is more we can do, and will, that will be painful.

So here we are. Regular citizens with full time jobs, a mortgage to pay, responsibilities to meet. The cost to us is rising – more fees, higher taxes, increased prices on goods is coming (especially with the lunacy of cap & trade) and we are having to tighten our belts along the way.

Personal responsibility is an inherent part of personal freedom. You cannot have one without the other…

Unless you’re in government.

A quick look at the stimulus plan shows that my state of Ohio has put dibs on $4,233,069,611 of stimulus dollars. That four billion. With a ‘B’.

And it’s for stuff like a $3 millon bike path in Columbus and $40,000 tennis courts in Cincinnati.

My little town has no stimulus requests in, but the urban center near me (Toledo) has $395,089,391 (that’s million) of requests in. $600,000 worth of bridge painting, $26,400,000 for public housing modernization, $4,500,000 for wheelchair ramps, $2.5 million for arena/stadium pedestrian malls.

While the value of these projects can be debated (I guess), the fact remains: the government cannot say no. The government thinks that your money, is their money. They are just letting you keep some of it and when they want it back, they come for it, regardless of it’s impact on you.

It’s time for the government to say no. It’s time for them to realize that they need to make the ‘sacrifices’ that they are continuing to tell us that we must make for the greater good.  But not them.  How difficult is it for us to say “Well, I’d like a new car but the old one is still running.   Times are unstable and I’ll just have to put that new car (or TV or vacation or whatever) is going to have to wait.”  We don’t like it, but it’s part of our personal responsibility.

What government official is saying, “Well, that bridge needs to be painted, but it can wait.  I don’t want to add any more money to the federal budget than is absolutely necessary.”

It just doesn’t happen.

They are selling you, your future, and future generations down the river.  And they don’t bat an eye.  They want what they want – regardless of its’ impact on you or the country.

Tell your elected representatives – local, state and federal that it’s time for them to make sacrifices for the ‘greater good’.   Tell them you are doing you’re part and you have little left.  Tell them it’s time for them to do their part. Tell them they are required to take personal responsibility too.

By the way, the only state not to request stimulus funds?  New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die state.  No wonder there is a movement afoot to get people to move their.

Stimulus Watch

Free State Project

Time to Stand Up

It’s time to stand up.  It’s time to reclaim our country.  It’s time to stop being afraid.  It’s time to stop thinking it’s someone else’s job to do the work.   It’s time to stop letting political correctness erode our constitution.  It’s time to let our government know they have overstepped their bounds.  It is time to declare that their arrogance has awakened the sleeping giant and filled it with a terrible resolved and the giant is us, the American people.  It is time to stop allowing the government to see us as taxpayers and start treating us as citizens and their employers.

Wake Up America

Glenn Beck has provided a rallying point for good men (and women) to stand up and do something.  Whether or not you like Glenn or not; whether you agree with his political views or not, ask yourself:

Do you agree with all or most of the following:

9 Principles, 12 Values

The Nine Principles

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

12 Values

• Honesty
• Reverence
• Hope
• Thrift
• Humility
• Charity
• Sincerity
• Moderation
• Hard Work
• Courage
• Personal Responsibility
• Friendship

Will you defend these principles and values?  Will you stand against those who are determined to change the foundation of this country?  Will you insist that the Constitution of the United States be upheld by the people who take an oath to support and defend it?

Now is the time to stand up and be counted.

See Glenn Beck’s website for more information.  Send your photo to wesurroundthem@foxnews.com.  Host or attend a viewing party.  Contact every government official you can think of – local, state, federal.  Talk to your friends and organize.  Be prepared.  Be informed.  Be determined.

You are not alone!

What To Do Now

There is no doubt that the anger and frustration we are feeling about current events have us wanting to do something.

But what to do?

With so many of us fuming and understanding that we are not being listened to or considered by our elected representatives, we feel we need some big action to relieve the pressure. I say, PLEASE DON’T. All that will happen is 1. You, and like-minded folks will be called crazy and dismissed and 2. You run the risk of becoming that which you despise; citizens with no respect for the law.

Hate the lawmaker, not the rule of law.
Elect lawmakers who understand they are public servants.

That is the longer term solution here.

But, you say, how do I know they aren’t lying or won’t become drunk with power? You don’t. All we can do I’d let them know we will watch them and hold them accountable. And then to that. Vote them out when they stop representing you.

Go to Govtrack.us. Track legislation you are interested in or find out what you representatives are doing. Get alerts when something changes. Get with a group of like-minded friends. Let them watch a set of issues while you watch a different set. Don’t fall for the head-fake. Be vigilant. Watch everything and be prepared to act.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Public Discourse and the 1st Amendment

Police prepare for unrest

Republican HQ Manager’s Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs

The fact that my first amendment rights only apply if I agree with you and if I don’t, I can be the target of violence is sad and disturbing.

Luckily, the second amendment still applies (at least for now).

I have a weapon and I will use it.

Technorati Tags: Public discourse,1st amendment,2nd amendment

"Gov. Palin – Who are you wearing???"

Much ado about the Palin wardrobe brouhaha. 

Is this worth the time the MSM is spending on it?  Only insofar as it allows them to pile on once again.

Here’s my opinion.  Sarah Palin is a governor of a remote (geographically speaking) state.  Her wardrobe is sufficient for the type of business she does in Alaska, and she has access to laundry and dry cleaning facilities whenever she needs them.

However, she’s plucked out of Alaska a few short weeks ago; offered the Vice President slot on the McCain ticket and is “put on the bus” right after the announcement.

What’s her schedule?  Endless appearances – several per day.  Informal and formal functions which require different wardrobes.  Nights on the bus or in a hotel room and out again the next morning.  While she may be able to rinse out her pantyhose, I doubt she has time to wash, fluff and fold her dirty laundry.

I’ve been in a job where I did a lot of traveling.  A lot.  It’s not fun and it’s not convenient. 

So Sarah Palin received money to bulk up her wardrobe – good and, so what?

As far as the amount she spent on that jacket or suit, please.  If she had grabbed something off the rack at Penney’s, she’d get criticized for looking wrinkled or frumpy or lacking fashion-sense.   She’s dressing in well-made clothes (which hold up better and fit nicer) and she’s getting pummeled for that. 

“Why do you need to pay for it?” Forest told CBS News from her boutique Susanna Beverly Hills saying that most designers would offer to clothe a candidate for free.

“It’s an honor, you are going to design for someone who could be the president of the United States,” noting that the exposure any designer would get from dressing someone as famous as Clinton or Palin would be worth much more.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that Senator Clinton’s custom made pantsuits from Forest were worth about $6,350 a piece retail. Clinton’s spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.

If Palin had clothing donated by designers (as if that would ever happen) she would be accused of forsaking her ‘down home’ image or cozying up to the rich…she can’t win and if the uber-lefties can’t at least acknowledge that, they aren’t being honest.

I wouldn’t mind if Sarah Palin came out in jeans and a tee shirt, but that’s not the expectation for high profile women.  A male politician can wear a flannel shirt and Levi’s at a barbeque and people call him homey and say “he’s just like me”.  A woman does it and she’s called unprofessional.

There doesn’t seem to be the same outrage at Hillary Clinton being provided $6,000.00 pantsuits or actresses who get millions of dollars per picture walking the red carpet at the Oscar’s or Emmy’s not paying a dime for that gown they are wearing.

Please…can we move on to something of substance?

 

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,Palin,Vice President of the United States,CBS News,clothes,politicians,designers,fashion

Car Loans, Main Street, Sweet Pork

Where are we headed?  Here’s a clue for ya from MotorTrend:

Are you the type who regularly checks your credit score and stays on top of every little change at the major credit bureaus? If you’re like many Americans, the answer to this is probably no, but you might want to start being a little more diligent. Recently, Chrysler, Ford, and GM all made new-car leases harder to get, and it looks like loans are next. Reeling from the current credit crisis, financier GMAC now says it will lend money only to customers boasting a credit score of 700 or above.

Corporate greed, unsound business practices and government meddling are becoming painfully obvious at the ‘main street’ level. 

Auto lenders are tightening their standards to put themselves at less risk that’s good, but shouldn’t that have been the practice in the mortgage business before we got into this mess?  

How’s that a main street concern?

So what does this mean for people in the market for a new ride? Considering that, according to credit bureau Experian’s 2005 National Score Index, the average American boasts a rating of 678, those planning to buy a GM car or truck will need to double-check their credit to see if they qualify. Estimates are that GMAC’s move could kill one in four car loans, and Experian says that in 2008 customers with credit scores of 700 or better accounted for 74.3% of all auto financing purchases. This is up slightly from a year ago, when this same group made up just 71.1% of all new-car business.

Less new car loans available?  The need for fewer new cars.  The need for fewer cars?  Fewer workers needed to build cars.  Fewer workers needed?  Fewer workers mean fewer paychecks and less spending.  Less spending at the grocery store, clothing stores, restaurants, etc., etc.  Fewer workers there or businesses closing down.

Government needs to get out of the bailout business, it can only make things worse and prolong this mess.  What government should do is cut taxes on everyone, stop spending tax dollars on crap and get out of the way.

What crap?  Well, for Fiscal year 2008, my state of Ohio has received $211,698,486.00 in earmarks.  Projects include Fire Fighters’ Hall, Columbus (National Park Service – Save America’s Treasures) and Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens’ programs for at-risk youth, Akron (Discretionary Grants – Juvenile Justice Programs).  Those may important programs, but are they taxpayer programs?  Couldn’t those projects have sought funds elsewhere?  Like, maybe from private donations?  Are those project important enough to add to the collapse of our economy?

Citizens Against Government Waste identifies pork barrel (oh, I’m sorry, it’s  “sweeteners” now) projects from the U.S. Senate within the 2008 Federal Budget here.

Here’s a rundown of those calculations:

Number of projects – 10,286

Total amount of projects – $18,261,200,000.00

That’s just the Senate.

Number of Senators with zero earmarks –

Coburn Oklahoma R
McCain Arizona R
McCaskill Missouri D
DeMint  South Carolina R
Feingold Wisconsin D

As Governor Palin said, when you’re in a hole, quit digging.  I don’t think that the U.S. government could cut spending, let alone quit spending during the bleakest financial times.

Technorati Tags: GMAC,credit,Pork barrel,Pork,Citizens Against Government Waste,Senate,credit score

Michelle Obama slams down the race card…

Interesting (and scary) if true.  Read the entire story.

From the African Press International (API) website;

Shocking development:  Mrs Obama decides enough is enough: “My husband was born in Hawaii and adopted by his stepfather, does that make him unpatriot; she asks”, on a direct telephone to API.

Note:  Byron York, from NRO’s The Corner reports:

That Michelle Obama Report   [Byron York]

I’m sure a lot of you have seen references this morning to statements allegedly made by Michelle Obama in an interview with an organization called African Press International.  I just asked the Obama campaign whether Michelle Obama did in fact speak to that organization, and spokesman Tommy Vietor answered:

“The answer is no, it’s not real, the report is made up.  She did not speak to the organization.”

Given the Obama’s history of rewriting their history, take that for what it’s worth. 

Quotes of note:

• Michelle Obama’s assertion that API was helping “spread rumours created by American bloggers and other racist media outlets
• Michelle Obama’s hope that “African Media was mature enough to be in the front to give unwavering support to her husband, a man Africans should identify themselves with.
• Michelle Obama expects: “African press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view,”
• Michelle Obama believes that “American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband’s adoption by His step father.”
• On the issue of Jerome Corsi’s detainment in Kenya while investigating Obama’s American citizenship, Michelle Obama told API not to dig that which will support evil people who are out to stop her husband from getting the presidency.
• Michelle Obama said:  “it was unfortunate that Mr Farakhan came out the way he did supporting her husband openly before the elections was over.” That was not wholehearted support but one that was calculated to convince the American people that my husband will support the growth of muslim faith if he became the president, adding “even if my husband was able to prove that he is not a Muslim, he will not be believed by those who have come out strongly to destroy his chances of being the next President. Do real people expect someone to deny a religion when 80 percent of his relatives are Muslims?; Mrs Obama asked.
• Finally, Michelle Obama promised that a positive story “will earn API an invitation to her husband’s inauguration ceremony.

 

Technorati Tags: Obama Truth,African Press International,API,Michelle Obama,American citizenship,religion,Muslim,race card,racists,racism,conservatives,bribery,Jerome Corsi

Truth about taxes…room for the middle class at the poor house

From the New York Post today OBAMA TELLS THE TAX TRUTH (below):

Original source story here.  Emphasis in red is mine.

By the way, as regards the checks from Washington sited below – where I live, that’s called welfare.  I am insulted to think that anyone wants to suggest I can’t make it without government welfare.  I am appalled to realize that Obama will tax me to the point that I would qualify for welfare. 

As has been the case for most tax cuts/deductions/incentives from any candidate that has come along in recent years, I don’t qualify for any of ’em.   I don’t have children, so the dependents, child care, college tax cuts don’t go to me.  I don’t fall into that married category so the marriage tax benefits don’t apply to me.  I don’t have enough money to be able to invest and receive capital gains – so that’s out.  I just keep getting taxed more at the local, state and federal level.   I pay to educate other people’s children.  I pay to fund art museums and symphonies I don’t go to.  I pay for parks I don’t visit.  I pay for other people’s mortgages.  I pay for other people’s defaulted loans and credit cards.  I pay to support causes and countries that I am diametrically opposed to and, in some cases, find offensive.

I can’t invest in my own retirement because I am paying for someone else’s.  I pay for someone else’s food, even if it means I have to cut back on my own groceries.

I pay for AIGs spa retreats, even though I can’t afford to go on vacation.

Obama is going to make sure he taxes me into the welfare state.  This is not the America most of us thought we would be living in.

 

OBAMA TELLS THE TAX TRUTH

October 15, 2008

An unscripted moment with an Ohio plumber produced a startling confession from Barack Obama Sunday: The Democrat’s “middle-class tax cut” is in fact a scheme to “spread the wealth around.”

Obama dropped the mask long enough to tell the truth to Toledo plumber Joe Wurzelbacher – who had asked the Democratic nominee why he wanted to jack up his taxes just for “fulfilling the American dream.”

“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” Wurzelbacher had told Obama. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that I want to punish your success,” Obama replied. “I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

At last! The truth outs!

Obama’s plan isn’t about sinking hooks into Wall Street CEOs and other fat cats, as he usually says. Fact is, there’s not enough of them to raise the cash necessary to finance his other grand plans.

No, to do that, he’ll have to go after ambitious working-class guys like Wurzelbacher – who’s been a plumber for 15 years and is looking to better himself and his family while just maybe creating a few jobs.

The American Dream?

Wurzelbacher personifies it – but Barack Obama seems determined to tax it to death and be done with it, period.

That’s been the case all along, of course. What’s different is that the Democrat finally said so.

Heretofore, Obama has sought to paint himself as a tax-cutter – claiming he’ll slash taxes for 95 percent of Americans.

As we noted yesterday, that’s a flat-out lie – not least because nearly half of all tax filers pay no income tax at all. So how can he “cut” their taxes if they don’t pay any to begin with?

Answer: tax “credits.”

To wit, in part:

* A $1,000 “make work pay” credit.

* A $4,000 college-tuition credit.

* A $6,000 child-care credit.

* A $1,100 bump in the earned-income tax credit.

These aren’t to be income-tax deductions – which would be worthless to those who pay no income taxes.

These are to be checks from Washington – with the subsidies expected to grow to more than $1 trillion in 10 years.

That’s a massive transfer of wealth.

How does Obama justify it?

“Fairness,” he says.

But that’s an absurdly radical view of what’s “fair.”

Remember, Obama’s tax hikes target folks who already bear the brunt of the burden: The top 20 percent of earners already pay 69 percent of all federal taxes – and 88 percent of income taxes.

(Contrast that with John McCain’s call yesterday for real tax cuts – halving the capital-gains levy, scrapping taxes on unemployment benefits altogether – designed to prime the economic pump.)

Monday, Obama promised a tax policy that would restore “a sense of fairness and balance that will give every American a fair shot at the American dream.”

But just a day before, he told Joe Wurzelbacher the truth: No American dream for you, buddy!

Nor anybody else, it seems.

Technorati Tags: Income tax,Obama,American Dream,taxes,Democrats,New York Post,Poor House,Middle Class