Obama's Trick & Treat

 Happy Obama Halloween 2012

Benjamin Franklin

NOTHING IS CERTAIN BUT DEATH AND TAXES - 1799

American-born Franklin was a statesman, scientist, and writer who frequently corresponded with the prominent international figures of his time. In 1789, at the age of 83, Franklin was still corresponding with Jean Baptiste Leroy, a French physicist and writer. Many of Franklin's personal letters contained simple maxims-the kind found in his Poor Richard's Almanack-and they prove that his wit and wisdom were not impaired by age. One of these comments was: "Our Constitution is in actual operation. Everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."

Obama Death Tax Resurrection Obsession

Obama is so obsessed with redistributing income that he thinks it is unfair to leave behind a family business for the kids. What is truly unfair is when a family-owned enterprise has to be sold at auction to pay the death tax to the IRS.

Thanks to the Bush-era tax cuts, this much-loathed levy fell to zero in 2010, but President Obama insisted on bringing it back and Republicans compromised with him after the 2010 election on a 35% rate and a $5 million exemption for 2011 and 2012.

In 2013 the Death Tax Rate is scheduled to rise all the way back to 55% with a meager $1 million exemption—where it was in 2001 before the President George W. Bush tax cut.

Americans who have worked a lifetime to accumulate $1 million of savings or other assets will be surprised to learn that Washington thinks they are plutocrats.

A Forrest Gump Fact

Forrest Gump quotes are uncomplicated, basic and true. They are almost Zen-line in their simplicity. One of the best Forrest Gump quotes is "stupid is as stupid does" which may not be poetry or very deep, but it ends up being true and a more workable metaphor for life than the movie's tag line "life is a box of chocolates". It may be even more apropos here to say, "Life is not a bowl of cherries" with this "Night of the Living Death" 55% death tax rate. 

President Obama's 2010 budget called for the largest increase in the death tax in U.S. history. The announcement of this tax increase was buried in footnote 1 on page 127 of the President's 2010 budget. By raising the estate tax in the name of fairness, Obama won't merely bring back from the dead one of the most despised of all federal taxes, it will literally splinter many family-owned enterprises. He will also forfeit half the jobs he hopes to gain from the Obama $787 billion stimulus bill. Maybe that's why the news of this unwise tax increase was hidden in a footnote.

A 55% Death Tax is "candy corn" nobody likes to eat!