The venue was Philadelphia. The occasion was the ABC News organized Democratic presidential debate between Clinton and Obama. Charlie Gibson questions Candidate Obama on tax policy. The transcript is available on the internet. Retrospectively, this one is a gem.
Charlie Gibson presses Obama on his intention to raise the capital gains tax, citing historical evidence that lower capital gains tax actually lead to increase tax revenue because lower taxes propels economic activity. Unflinchingly, Obama says that he would raise the tax for "purposes of fairness". When I heard him say this that night, my immediate thought was that here's a guy whose ideological bent easily trumps national economic prosperity.
Obama went on to ramble that Wall Street executives are burdened with a lower tax rate than their secretaries, brazenly ignoring the fact that the income tax rate paid by the "fat cats" (a moniker that Obama did not officially unveil until nice and comfy in the oval office) is actually much higher than their secretaries' and that the capital gains tax is just an additional tax. Not to mention that 50% of Americans pay $0 income tax. Obama was telling us that what really matters is his hell-bent desire to spread the wealth regardless of the best economic calculation.
And there's more: Obama said that he wanted to be "...able to finance health care for Americans who currently don't have it. And you can't do that for free". Okay then, but when ObamaCare was being peddled to us, we were told it would pay for itself, and even save money. Square that one, President Obama.
Wait, there's more: Candidate Obama donned the mask of a fiscal conservative and exclaimed that the country "can't take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children and grandchildren". Really now?
And, yes, still more: "I believe in the principle that you pay as you go ...and you don't increase spending unless you're eliminating some spending or finding some new revenue". That's good to know.
Last one now, and it's a doozy: "That's how we got an additional $4 trillion worth of debt under George Bush. That is helping us to undermine the economy. And it's going to change when I'm president of the United States".
With regard to the last comment, Candidate Obama spoke the truth. Our national debt has indeed changed.
Change. Yes he did.
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