HONOLULU (Reuters) - Barack Obama's presidential campaign said on Thursday a potential hike in payroll taxes for wealthy Americans under an Obama administration would not occur for 10 years while taxes on dividends and capital gains would be capped at 20 percent.
(snip)
"Sen. Obama believes that one of the principal problems facing the economy today is the
lack of discretionary income for middle-class wage earners," Obama economic policy director Jason Furman and senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
"That's why his plan would not raise any taxes on couples making less than $250,000 a year, nor on any single person with income under $200,000 -- not income taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend or payroll taxes."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080815/pl_nm/usa_politics_obama_dcI am hoping that someone with a little more economic smarts can explain to me a couple of things:
1. If 200-250K is not enough (discretionary) income, than what is?
2. How does putting something off for 10 years (given that he could serve for eight) help anything?
3. Does he truly believe that the economic problems facing this country are due in large part to a "Lack of discretionary" income?
-If this is the case, then I'm a little concerned about the out-of-touchness of the campaign...