State of the Union 2012-Part 2

[dustup]

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Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record

Obama 2010: "It's time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs.

Obama 2012: "Colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down."

***

Obama 2010: "And we should continue the work by fixing our broken immigration system."

Obama 2011: "I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration."

Obama 2012: "I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration."

***

Obama 2010: "We face a deficit of trust."

Obama 2012: "I've talked tonight about the deficit of trust . . ."

***

Obama 2010: "We can't wage a perpetual campaign."

Obama 2012: "We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign."

Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record

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[vel]

Oh good.

More "conservative" talking points.

 

[Case_Closed]

He actually brought up a high-speed rail system last night; didn't he?

*muffled chortle*

[Undecided]

I guess we'll continue to hear about the same issues until they start to be addressed.

[vel]

And there are a lot of other polls showing that the mopers' spin negative is going nowhere.

[Case_Closed]

[vel]

My chart is from CBS.

Yours is bullshit, like everything else you post.

[Case_Closed]

[Case_Closed]

[Case_Closed]

Warren Buffett's Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
 
Warren Buffet’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, served as a stage prop for President Obama’s State of the Union speech. She was the President’s chief display of the alleged unfairness of our tax system – a little person paying a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss.


Bosanek’s prominent role in Obama’s “fairness” campaign piqued my curiosity, and I imagine the curiosity of others. How much does her boss pay this downtrodden woman? So far, no one has volunteered this information.

We can get an approximate answer by consulting IRS data on tax rates by adjusted gross income, which would approximate her salary, assuming she does not have significant dividend, interest or capital-gains income (like her boss). I assume Buffet keeps her too busy for her to hold a second job. I also do not know if she is married and filing jointly. If so, it is deceptive for Obama to use her as an example. The higher rate may be due to her husband’s income.  So I assume the tax rate Obama refers to is from her own earnings.

Insofar as Buffet (like Mitt Romney) earns income primarily from capital gains, which are taxed at 15 percent (and according to Obama need to be raised for reasons of fairness), we need to determine how much income a taxpayer like Bosanek must earn in order to pay an average tax rate above fifteen percent. This is easy to do.

The IRS publishes detailed tax tables by income level. The latest results are for 2009. They show that taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffet’s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent. Therefore Buffet must pay Debbie Bosanke a salary above two hundred thousand.

We must wait for further details to learn how much more than $200,000 she earns. The tax tables tell us about average ranges. For all we know she earns closer to a half million each year, but that is pure speculation.

I have nothing against Debbie Bosanke earning a half million or even more. Buffet is a major player in the world economy. His secretary deserves good compensation. At her income, however, she is scarcely the symbol of injustice that Obama wishes her to project.

I imagine that there are any number of secretaries who would want her job and her place in the Congress gallery for the President’s State of the Union address.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2012/01/25/warren-buffetts-secretary-likely-makes-between-200000-and-500000year/

[lucy]

hmmm. Being someone's secretary isn't a bad deal then....

[Undecided]

hmmm. Being someone's secretary isn't a bad deal then....

That piece is almost entirely made up of completely unfounded conjecture and speculation, and as such is prety much worthless as information.

But being closely associated with a super-rich person very often has its benefits.

[Hollybaere]

Something to consider:

State of the Union 2012

Was Obama actually giving the SOTU speech or was he giving his campaign speech??

[Case_Closed]

That piece is almost entirely made up of completely unfounded conjecture and speculation, and as such is prety much worthless as information.

It was on Forbes, therefore, it's true.

The end.

[johnhp]

SOTU speeches are usually so a-political.