Democrats Celebrate One Year of Occupying Failure
Democrats Celebrate One Year of Occupying Failure
The Year-Old Occupy Movement Has Fizzled, But Democrats Are Still Pushing Occupy’s Radical Agenda of Even Bigger Government
- Today’s one-year anniversary of the Occupy demonstrations is an uncomfortable occasion for the many top Democrats who repeatedly showered praise on the radical protestors.
- Democrats had hoped the Occupy movement would help build support for more big government policies, but a year later, that goal remains as unpopular as ever.
- Occupy may not have helped Democrats, but Democrats are still pushing a destructive Occupy agenda that punishes the middle class and hurts small businesses.
Today’s one-year anniversary of the Occupy demonstrations is an uncomfortable occasion for the many top Democrats who repeatedly showered praise on the radical protestors:
OCCUPY TURNS ONE TODAY:(Tina Susman and Andrew Tangel, “Occupy Wall Street Marks 1st Anniversary With Marches, Party Hats,” Los Angeles Times, 9/17/2012)
“A YEAR LATER, OCCUPY MOVEMENT STRUGGLES FOR RELEVANCE”: (Annie Gowen, “A Year Later, Occupy Movement Struggles for Relevance,” The Washington Post, 9/15/2012)
OCCUPY BRAGS: 7,254 ARRESTS AND COUNTING:(Occupy Arrests, Accessed 9/17/2012)
CRICKETS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, PELOSI: (“Press Releases,” Office of the Democratic Leader, Accessed 9/17/2012; “Statements and Releases,” The White House, Accessed 9/17/2012)
OBAMA TO “OCCUPIERS”: “YOU ARE THE REASON I RAN FOR OFFICE”: ”A few minutes later, Obama acknowledged the Occupy protest movement again, saying: ‘You are the reason I ran for office.’” (Bernie Becker and Alicia Cohn, “Obama Heckled by Protestors at New Hampshire Speech,” The Hill, 11/22/2011)
PELOSI ON OCCUPY WALL STREET: “GOD BLESS THEM”: “‘God bless them,’ Pelosi said, ‘for their spontaneity. It’s independent … it’s young, it’s spontaneous, and it’s focused. And it’s going to be effective.’” (John McCormack, “Pelosi on Occupy Wall Street Protestors: ‘God Bless Them,’” The Weekly Standard, 10/6/2011)
MORE PELOSI: OCCUPY POLITICALLY HELPFUL TO DEMOCRATS: ”Despite some unfavorable polling, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi still thinks the Occupy movement has been politically helpful to Democrats.” (Brian Beutler, “Pelosi: Occupy Movement Enhances Dems’ National Message,”Talking Points Memo, 12/5/2011)
DCCC STILL HOSTING PETITION CALLING FOR “100,000 STRONG STANDING WITH OCCUPY WALL STREET”: (“Goal: 100,000 Strong Standing with Occupy Wall Street,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Accessed 9/17/2012)
Democrats had hoped the Occupy movement would help build support for more big government policies, but a year later, that goal remains as unpopular as ever:
GALLUP: “MAJORITY IN U.S. STILL THINK GOVERNMENT DOING TOO MUCH”: “A majority of Americans (54%) continue to believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, although that is down from the record high of 61% earlier this summer. About four in 10 Americans (39%) say the government should do more to solve the nation’s problems.” (Frank Newport, “Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much,” Gallup, 9/17/2012)
OBAMA OMITTED DISCUSSING HIS POLITICALLY TOXIC STIMULUS AND GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER IN CONVENTION SPEECH:
POLITICO: “OBAMA DNC SPEECH ALL BUT IGNORES OBAMACARE”:(Joanne Kenen, “Obama DNC Speech All But Ignores ObamaCare,” Politico, 9/6/2012)
ZERO MENTIONS OF “OBAMACARE,” “AFFORDABLE CARE ACT,” “HEALTH CARE REFORM” OR “HEALTHCARE LAW” IN OBAMA CONVENTION SPEECH: (“Remarks by the President at the Democratic National Convention,” The White House, 9/7/2012)
ZERO MENTIONS OF “STIMULUS” OR “RECOVERY ACT”: (“Remarks by the President at the Democratic National Convention,” The White House, 9/7/2012)
ZERO MENTIONS OF OBAMACARE OR STIMULUS IN BIDEN SPEECH EITHER: (“Remarks by the Vice President at the Democratic National Convention,” The White House, 9/6/2012)
Occupy may not have helped Democrats, but Democrats are still pushing a destructive Occupy agenda that punishes the middle class and hurts small businesses:
DEMOCRATS’ TAX HIKE PLAN WOULD FALL HEAVILY ON SMALL BUSINESSES:
JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION: 940,000 SMALL BUSINESSES TO GET HIT BY DEMOCRATS’ LATEST TAX HIKE: “Congress’s Joint Tax Committee—not a conservative outfit—estimates that in 2013 about 940,000 taxpayers will have enough business income to meet Mr. Obama’s tax increase threshold.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)
MORE THAN HALF OF NET BUSINESS INCOME WILL BE HIT BY HIGHER TAX RATES UNDER OBAMA PROPOSAL: “And of the roughly $1.3 trillion in net business income, about 53% will get hit with the higher tax rates. This is because millions of businesses report their income as sole proprietors and subchapter S corporations that file under the individual tax code.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)
OBAMA’S NEW TAX HIKE WOULD HAVE SOME SMALL BUSINESSES PAYING HIGHER TAX RATES THAN GENERAL ELECTRIC AND J.P. MORGAN: “So Mr. Obama wants these businesses to pay higher tax rates than the giant likes of General Electric or J.P. Morgan. Does that qualify as ‘tax fairness’?” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)
TAXMAGEDDON WILL COST AVERAGE FAMILY $4,138 IN 2013: (“Taxmageddon Costs Average Family $4,138 Next year,” The Heritage Foundation, 6/14/2012)
710,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY DEMOCRATS’ TAX HIKE PLAN: (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012, Appendix C)
1.8% DROP IN WAGES: “Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8%, reflecting a decline in workers’ living standards relative to what would have occurred otherwise.” (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012)
OBAMACARE IS PUNISHING THE MIDDLE CLASS AND SMALL BUSINESSES EVERY DAY:
CBO AND JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION: AT LEAST 75% OF MANDATE PENALTIES WILL FALL ON INDIVIDUALS MAKING UNDER $60K AND FAMILIES MAKING UNDER $120K: (“Estimated Distribution Of Individual Mandate Penalties Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Budget Office & Joint Committee On Taxation, 11/20/09)
UBS RESEARCH: OBAMACARE IS “ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT TO HIRING”: “Arguably the biggest impediment to hiring (particularly hiring of less skilled workers) is healthcare reform… By raising the cost of labor, healthcare reform systematically discourages hiring, especially of low-wage workers whose mandated benefits are high relative to their wages.” (“Great Suppression II,” UBS Research, Pgs.1, 5, 9/19/2011)
73% OF SMALL BUSINESS JOB CREATORS CITE OBAMACARE AS AN “OBSTACLE TO HIRING NEW WORKERS”: (Peter Schroeder, “Survey: Uncertainty, Gas Prices Slowing Hiring by Small Business,” The Hill, 4/16/2012)
“NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF EMPLOYERS EXPECT TO SEE A COST HIKE IN THEIR HEALTH PLANS”: “Nearly two-thirds of employers expect to see a cost hike in their health plans when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014, and a quarter say they will have to make changes to their coverage to avoid penalties, according to the survey by the Mercer consulting firm.” (Kathryn Smith, “Businesses Brace for Health Care Cost Increase, Report Says,” Politico, 8/8/2012)
57% OF SMALL BUSINESSES ARE “VERY” OR “SOMEWHAT” LIKELY TO DROP HEALTH COVERAGE FOR WORKERS: “Should employees begin to leave for an exchange, 26 percent of currently offering small employers are very likely to explore dropping their health insurance plans and another 31 percent are somewhat likely to do so.” (“Small Business and Health Insurance: One Year After Enactment of PPACA,” NFIB, 5/24/2012)
1 N 8 SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ALREADY SEEN THEIR HEALTH COVERAGE TERMINATED DUE TO OBAMACARE: “One in eight small businesses told the National Federation of Independent Business that since the health law passed in 2010, their health insurer had either terminated their plan or notified them it is going to be eliminated. … Dennis said the NFIB was ‘not aware of any data that suggested’ insurers had dropped coverage of small businesses in such large numbers in years before the passage of the health law. For this reason, they felt confident the health law was the cause, he said.” (Bara Vaida, “Some Small Businesses Say Health Insurers Are Dropping Their Coverage,” Kaiser Health News, 7/25/2011)
NFIB STUDY: 150K SMALL BUSINESS JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: (“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)
13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)
INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION: “3.2 MILLION JOBS AT FRANCHISE BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO BE PUT AT RISK”:(“High Court Ruling Puts Jobs at Franchise Businesses at Risk,” International Franchise Association, 6/28/2012)
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