The Next Hit on the Middle Class

RUSH: Mere moments ago, I asked you to consider what Obama said today to people in the automobile business, but I think this probably covers a lot of people outside the auto business, too. He said, (paraphrasing) ‘Look, your future’s over. Your purpose here is to make sacrifices for your children and grandchildren. More plants are gonna close; more parts suppliers are going to close; more dealerships are going to close; more jobs are going to be lost. I’d love to tell you it’s going to get better soon but I can’t. It’s gonna get worse. You have been called on to sacrifice.’

Now, when you tell the middle class to forgo their pursuit of the American dream, you effectively kill the US economy. The US economy is the middle class, the little guy that the Democrats have always claimed to care about, more than anybody else. And they make that point by claiming they’re going to punish the rich and they’re gonna tax these guys, and they allow protests at the execs’ homes who ran AIG, and so the little guy thinks Obama’s on their side. Meanwhile, the little guy keeps losing his job, to the tune of 600,000 jobs a month. And the little guy is supposed to be satisfied with the supposed pain that the rich people are experiencing. And every time Obama announces a fix to something he always tells us, it’s going to get worse. ‘Unfortunately, this isn’t going to make it better right away. I wish it was but it isn’t.’ We now know that 12 manufacturing plants, three parts suppliers shut down, 18 to 20,000 jobs lost just because of this GM decision today.

Okay, you want to hear the next hit on the middle class, the next obstacle that’s going to keep you in the middle class from aspiring and reaching the American dream? It’s from Politico.com today: ”Barack Obama’s Health Plan Takes Shape’ — Obama and congressional Democrats are considering an overhaul that could exceed $1 trillion over 10 years –‘ that we do not have, ‘– and spending cuts will get them only so far. That means some people will take a tax hit. The hot target at the moment: levying a tax on health benefits provided through employers, which currently aren’t subject to taxation.’ So The Politico’s the second news organization to make this something they’re officially considering after it has been long predicted by me and others that this would be a target for new tax revenue. Now, the vast majority of people in this country are the middle class, right? And the vast majority of the people who work have health insurance provided by their companies, right? That means the vast majority of the people in this country, middle class, are going to get a huge tax increase, because the value of your health plan at your job will be treated as imputed income or additional income to what you are paid.

So if it costs your employer 12 or $15,000 a year to give you a health plan, that 12 to $15,000 a year is added to your gross, and, bam, it gets taxed. So everybody, your take-home pay is going to get smaller to the tune of you getting a 12 to $15,000 raise. It will push you in another income range, too. I don’t know if they’re going to do it that way. They’re going to have to, Snerdley. They’re going to have to come up with the most important ways of raising taxes and the most varied ways they can because the Chinese are telling us, ‘You can’t keep printing money like this, you’re making our investment worthless.’ So Little Timmy and Pelosi are over there telling the ChiComs, ‘Don’t worry, your investment’s safe.’