By Richard Roberts
President Obamaís speeches have been about class envy. He admonishes us that the fat cats, the millionaires, billionaires, those who fly in their corporate jets, should pay their fair share in support of this new bobs bill, but what he is really saying is how we, meaning the taxpayer, should pay. I find at least two things wrong with his thinking about the countryís financial dilemma.
First, presidential candidate Obama stated he was going to ěbring togetherî Democrats and Republicans and the people in a new era and spirit of compromise. Now I ask you, have you ever seen this countryís political parties further apart or the people more divided? Today, many of you reading this are convinced the rich arenít paying their fair share. Let me share these facts from the IRS:
The top 25 percent of tax paying Americans pay 86 percent of taxes.
The top 50 percent of tax paying Americans pay 97 percent of taxes.
The top 1 percent of tax paying Americans pay 39 percent of taxes.
The bottom 47 percent pay no taxes.
How much is enough, and just who should decide that? If you will think carefully and study the above facts youíll see who will pay for Obamaís jobs bill, and it will not be just the fat cats. It will be all of us. This is a deception being played upon the people by President Obama and is not worthy of the high leadership required by someone aspiring to be or remains our president.
Almost daily we read that President Obama is on Air Force One flying somewhere, mostly campaigning for re-election. This is not like you or I taking a flight somewhere. The president requires a cadre of security around him. He would do well not to speak of the fat cats flying in their aircraft because this is a great example of his hypocrisy. Incidentally, have you wondered who is paying for all this campaigning for re-election? you can bet itís not the Democrats.
Second, President Obamaís speeches are not conciliatory but divisive ó an effort to further divide the country, to create envy and hatred between the people, between the rich and the poor (as defined by the government), and to further divide the political parties.
When President George W. Bush began his second term his approval ratings were high. The Democrats, however, were determined to bring him down, and with the help of the liberal media and the bloggers, it wasnít long before they had done just that. President Bush could do nothing right, and soon that perception was being shared by the public. His approval ratings began to fall; and soon with little or no support from the Republican party it seems that indeed Bush had messed up and his job as the President was headed in the wrong direction. Iím not here to champion Bush; I think he did some things he should not have done. But on the whole, he was not as bad as the Democrats, Obama, or the media portrayed him. Many of Obamaís policies are, in fact, the continuation of President Bushís policies that had been portrayed by Obama and the Democrats as being bad and out of touch.
What we need to understand and Obama will never admit is this call for new investments, which should be interpreted as new taxes, for teachers, firefighters, construction people for our highways and bridges, does not create new jobs. What we need are more people being hired by business owners. People making money for themselves and the owner of the business will pay taxes; the owners will pay taxes. The economy, if left alone, will in time recover, provided the government stops spending and regulating.
We need more people going into business, becoming successful in what they do and hiring people to become even more successful. These are the ideas that will foster recovery,not spending by Washington, which is really just political spending; an effort to buy votes, to appease and increase Obamaís political base. We all should hope this kind of thinking will absolutely fail and not continue to be a part of politiciansí thinking.
Finally, a major overhaul of the IRS tax code ó not just tinkering around the edges ó would be a blessing. A major overhaul should be the call.

Richard Roberts lives in Kannapolis.
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