Below are some of the major excerpts of President Obama’s State of the Union address. After each section, I will clarify what the President means and how his proposals contradict his own rhetoric, namely, that the government should encourage free enterprise.
But — but we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs, but too many people still can’t find full- time employment. Corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs, but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged. It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth: a rising, thriving middle class.
If the President believes that the economy is in sad shape, then we need more—not less—free enterprise, less—not more—government spending, much lower taxes, less–not more—government mandates, no more Federal Reserve manipulation of interest rates, and a downsizing of the military-industrial complex so more consumer goods can be produced instead of the weapons of war. In short, the private sector is the economy’s engine; government spending is a drain on the economy. As Ludwig von Mises asserted, “Government spending cannot create additional jobs. If the government provides the funds required by taxing the citizens or by borrowing from the public, it abolishes on the one hand as many jobs as it creates on the other.”
It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country, the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like or who you love.
If you work hard in America and make oodles of money, the federal government punishes you by taxing you at higher and higher rates. This is the foundation of the progressive income tax. America did not have an income tax for more than 100 years, except for brief period during the Civil War, and the economy grew by leaps and bounds. Let’s return to our roots, an income tax free America.
The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party.
Obama crystalized the issue: government has become the primary “problem solver” in society. The federal government is trying to solve virtually “problem” in society, at home and abroad–from health care, retirement income, welfare, education, energy, the “climate,” job creation, preschool education, crime, spreading democracy; the list is endless.
But we can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and the most powerful.
Obama believes upper income Americans are cows to be milked to pay for other people’s benefits. In other words, redistribution of income, a benign word for legal plunder (legalized theft), is the essence of Obama’s worldview.
And I am open to additional reforms from both parties, so long as they don’t violate the guarantee of a secure retirement. Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep, but we must keep the promises we’ve already made.
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, but Obama won’t admit it, so he wants to perpetuate what Madoff did who is rotting in prison for creating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. In other words, government can engage in fraud because it has the legal power to do virtually anything to the people no matter how egregious financially, that is the nature of government. In this case, taxing people for a program that clearly cannot keep its promises because it is an intergenerational chain letter.
To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and the well-connected. After all, why would we choose to make deeper cuts to education and Medicare just to protect special interest tax breaks? How is that fair? Why is it that deficit reduction is a big emergency, justifying making cuts in Social Security benefits, but not closing some loopholes? How does that promote growth?
There are no tax “loopholes” in the tax code; there are exemptions, deductions and credits. A loophole is a political term. People who use the word loophole believe other people should pay higher taxes. As Ludwig von Mises pointed out: “Nothing is more calculated to make a demagogue popular than a constantly reiterated demand for heavy taxes on the rich. Capital levies and high income taxes on the larger incomes are extraordinarily popular with the masses, who do not have to pay them.”
So tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of 15 of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made right here in America. We can get that done.
Ay yes, crony capitalism. Obama believes entrepreneurs left alone cannot create wealth and jobs and therefore enlightened government officials have the insight and knowledge to micromanage the economy. One of the enduring myths of leftists and economists like Paul Krugman.
So, tonight, I propose a “Fix-It-First” program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country.
With all the money government collects from the gasoline tax and other taxes, they still cannot maintain the infrastructure. Government is the worst manager of resources. The monopoly post office is hemorrhaging money and prices still go up. No enterprise could stay afloat with that business model.
And that has to start at the earliest possible age. You know, study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than three in ten 4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives… So, tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America.
Obama is blowing smoke here. There are innumerable studies showing the benefits of pre-K schooling begin to dissipate by age 8. The real reason for early public childhood education is political. As economist Richard Ebeling noted: “The parent is viewed as a backward and harmful influence in the formative years of the child’s upbringing, an influence that must be corrected for and replaced by the ‘enlightened’ professional teacher who has been trained, appointed and funded by the state. The public school, therefore, is a ‘reeducation camp’ in which the child is to be remade in the proper ‘politically correct image’.”
And I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a — a living equal to their efforts and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year….Tonight, let’s declare that, in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty — and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.
This is Obama’s perception of free enterprise: the federal government dictating wages in the marketplace. There is a name for Obama’s proposals: economic fascism.
In defense of freedom, we’ll remain the anchor of strong alliances, from the Americas to Africa, from Europe to Asia. In the Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights, and support stable transitions to democracy.
According to Obama we are the world’s policeman so suck it up people. We have to support the military-industrial complex or they will turn on me.
It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence, but this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans — Americans who believe in the Second Amendment — have come together around commonsense reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun… senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they’re tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned.
There is no such thing “gun violence.” Inanimate objects do not commit crimes. There is no baseball bat violence, knife violence, etc. Moreover, the right to self-defense is the first human right of every individual. For Obama to lecture the American people on violence is disingenuous. The federal government has invaded countries that were not a threat to the American people, killing tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children and destroying scarce resources in Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombing territories in Pakistan, Yemen, etc.
We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all across this country. We should follow their example.
According to Obama, America is one big family and he is the “father” and members of Congress are the rich uncles who spend nearly $4 trillion on their well-being. What a bunch of selfless philanthropists! As Mises observed: “The Welfare State is merely a method for transforming the market economy step by step into socialism.”
President Obama is selling snake oil effectively to the American people. Let’s see if there are enough intelligent members of the Congress (a real stretch) and the public (another real stretch) who understand what the inevitable consequences of expanding the welfare-warfare state—lower living standards, less freedom and civil liberties, and endless conflict overseas.