No Laughing Matter

October 13, 2012

No Laughing Matter

Middle Class Families are Suffering Under the Democrats’ Failed Economic Policies, But Vice President Biden and President Obama Think It’s Funny

Vice President Joe Biden embarrassed himself and his fellow Democrats Thursday night with his boorish behavior and apparent inability to hold a serious conversation about the struggles facing working families after four years of the Democrats’ economic failure.
It’s not clear what Democrats think is so terribly funny. Millions of Americans are unemployed, one in seven are in poverty, household income is sinking and the middle class faces a growing price tag for Democrats’ $5.5 trillion increase in the national debt.
These cruel economic facts haven’t stopped Democrats from demanding more job-destroying tax hikes to feed their spending spree, even though these tax increases will make the economic suffering worse.

Vice President Joe Biden embarrassed himself and his fellow Democrats Thursday night with his boorish behavior and apparent inability to hold a serious conversation about the struggles facing working families after four years of the Democrats’ economic failure:

“BIDEN REGULARLY SMILED AND LAUGHED OUT LOUD WHILE RYAN WAS SPEAKING, AND OFTEN CHUCKLED AT TIMES WHEN IT WASN’T CLEAR WHAT HE WAS SMILING ABOUT”: “During the vice presidential debate here Thursday, Biden regularly smiled and laughed out loud while Ryan was speaking, and often chuckled at times when it wasn’t clear what he was smiling about.” (Chris Moody, “Paul Ryan Didn’t Prepare for Laughing Joe Biden in Debate Prep,” Yahoo! News, 10/12/2012)

CNN’S PIERS MORGAN: “JOE, SERIOUSLY, STOP SMIRKING. THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF. BE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL.”(Piers Morgan, Twitter Feed, 10/11/2012)

TOM BROKAW: “I JUST DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD BE LAUGHING DURING A DISCUSSION ABOUT THERMONUCLEAR WAR WITH IRAN. THAT’S WHAT HE WAS DOING.”:(Charlie Spierling, “Tom Brokaw: I don’t think you should be laughing during a discussion about nuclear war with Iran,” The Washington Examiner, 10/12/2012)

CNN’S GLORIA BORGER: “CONDESCENDING,” “COULD’VE DONE WITH A LOT LESS EYE-ROLLING AND CHUCKLING ON THE PART OF JOE BIDEN”: “It was condescending at times, to Paul Ryan and I think I could’ve done with a lot less eye rolling and chuckling on the part of Joe Biden.” (CNN’s “Inside The Spin Room,” 10/11/2012)

NBC NEWS’ BETSY FISCHER MARTIN: “BIDEN CONSTANT SMILING IS REMINDING ME OF GORE CONSTANT SIGHING IN 2000”: (Betsy Fischer Martin, Twitter Feed, 10/11/2012)

UVA’S LARRY SABATO: “SNL WILL HAVE TO DEVOTE ENTIRE SHOW JUST TO BIDEN’S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS.”(Larry Sabato, Twitter Feed, 10/11/2012)

NBC NEWS’ MIKE O’BRIEN: “BIDEN REALLY HAS TO REIN IN HIS MANNERISMS”:(Mike O’Brien, Twitter Feed, 10/11/2012)

TAKING HIS LEAD FROM OBAMA? “OBAMA SMILED AND INTERJECTED, ‘SHOVEL READY WAS NOT AS… UH… SHOVEL-READY AS WE EXPECTED’”: “Obama smiled and interjected, ‘Shovel-ready was not as … uh .. shovel-ready as we expected.’ The Council, led by GE’s Jeffrey Immelt, erupted in laughter.” (“Obama Jokes at Jobs Council: “Shovel-Ready Was Not as Shovel-Ready as We Expected,” Fox News, 6/13/2011)

It’s not clear what Democrats think is so terribly funny. Millions of Americans are unemployed, one in seven are in poverty, household income is sinking and the middle class faces a growing price tag for Democrats’ $5.5 trillion increase in the national debt:

23 MILLION UNEMPLOYED, UNDEREMPLOYED AND DISCOURAGED WORKERS: (“The Employment Situation—August 2012,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10/5/2012)

UNEMPLOYMENT ABOVE 8% FOR 43 STRAIGHT MONTHS UNDER OBAMA, MORE THAN 11 PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9/7/2012)

“US POVERTY RATE 15 PERCENT; RECORD NUMBERS PERSIST”: (Hope Yen, “US Poverty Rate 15 Percent; Record Numbers Persist,” Associated Press, 9/12/2012)

EVEN JOE AGREES: FOUR YEARS OF FAILED DEMOCRAT POLICIES HAS “BURIED” THE MIDDLE CLASS: (Patricia Zengerle, “Biden: U.S. Middle Class ‘Buried the Last Four Years,’” Reuters, 10/2/2012)

AP: “ECONOMIC RECOVERY IS THE WEAKEST SINCE WORLD WAR II”: (Paul Wiseman, “Economic Recovery is the Weakest Since World War II,” Associated Press, 8/15/2012)

MEDIAN INCOME WAS $55,198 WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE; IT IS $50,678 TODAY: (“Household Income Down 8.2 Percent Since Obama Took Office,” Fox News, 9/26/2012)

U.S. INCOMES FELL MORE AFTER STIMULUS THAN DURING RECESSION: (Jeff Kearn, “U.S. Incomes Fell More in Recovery, Sentier Says,” Bloomberg, 8/23/2012)

REPORT: MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES “STRUGGLING TO ADVANCE” IN OBAMA ECONOMY: (Ronald Brownstein, “Struggling to Advance,” National Journal, 9/28/2012)

75% SAY GETTING AHEAD IS HARDER THAN IT HAS BEEN FOR PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: (Ronald Brownstein, “Struggling to Advance,” National Journal, 9/28/2012)

$5.53 TRILLION INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 10/12/2012)

STUDY: ANNUAL COST OF OBAMA’S DEBT AMOUNTS TO $4,000 A YEAR IN HIGHER TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: “In a new paper, AEI’s Aspen Gorry and Matt Jensen look at the real annual cost of servicing the debt for households at various levels of income — including a potentially higher tax burden. As the table below illustrates, a household making between $100,000 and $200,000 a year could find its tax liability higher by roughly $2,400 every year. Over ten years, that works out to $24,000. And when you add in the debt already accrued the past four years under President Obama (the second table), that’s another $1,600 a year. So now we are now talking about $4,000 a year, $40,000 over ten years.” (James Pethokoukis, “Study: Obama’s Big Budget Deficits Could Mean A $4,000 A Year Middle-Class Tax Hike,” American Enterprise Institute, 10/2/12)

These cruel economic facts haven’t stopped Democrats from demanding more job-destroying tax hikes to feed their spending spree, even though these tax increases will make the economic suffering worse:

TAX HIKE WOULD BE A $201 BILLION HIT TO THE ECONOMY: (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)

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)

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)

Democrats’ Economic Failure is No Laughing Matterhttp://ow.ly/ersRe