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Barack

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    • Edwards screwing around on his dying wife

      Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught up in a love child scandal, a blockbuster ENQUIRER investigation has discovered.

      The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Rielle Hunter, a woman linked to Edwards in a cheating scandal earlier this year, is more than six months pregnant — and she's told a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her baby!

      The ENQUIRER's political bombshell comes just weeks after Edwards emphatically denied having an affair with Rielle, who formerly worked on his campaign and told another close pal that she was romantically involved with the married ex-senator.

      The ENQUIRER has now confirmed not only that Rielle is expecting, but that she's gone into hiding with the help of a former aide to Edwards. The visibly pregnant blonde has relocated from the New York area to Chapel Hill, N.C., where she is living in an upscale gated community near political operative Andrew Young, who's been extremely close to Edwards for years and was a key official in his presidential campaign.

      And in a bizarre twist, Young — a 41-year-old married man with young children — now claims HE is the father of Rielle's baby! But others are skeptical, wondering if Young's paternity claim is a cover-up to protect Edwards.

      Meanwhile, Edwards' cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth has joined him on the campaign trail.

      In a statement issued to The ENQUIRER through her attorney, Rielle said: "The fact that I am expecting a child is my personal and private business. This has no relationship to nor does it involve John Edwards in any way. Andrew Young is the father of my unborn child."

      But a source extremely close to the 43-year-old divorcée says Rielle has told a far different story privately: "Rielle told me she had a secret affair with Edwards. When she found out that she was pregnant, she said he was the father."

      Rielle loves Edwards and will do anything to protect him, the source says.

      In The ENQUIRER's Oct. 22 issue, we revealed that Edwards, 54, was involved in a mistress scandal and the shocking allegations — if proven true — could devastate the Democratic hopeful's campaign.

      http://www.nationalenquirer.com/john_edwards_love_child...

      Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught up in a love child scandal, a blockbuster ENQUIRER investigation has discovered. ... more

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      12 minutes ago
    • Iraq Leader Maliki Supports Obama's Withdrawal Plans

      In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Barack Obama's 16 timeframe for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right one.

      Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

      Maliki was careful to back away from outright support for Obama. "Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business," he said. But then, apparently referring to Republican candidate John McCain's more open-ended Iraq policy, Maliki said: "Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems."

      Iraq, Maliki went on to say, "would like to see the establishment of a long-term strategic treaty with the United States, which would govern the basic aspects of our economic and cultural relations." He also emphasized though that the security agreement between the two countries should only "remain in effect in the short term."

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      In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Barack Obama's 16 timeframe for a withdrawal from Iraq is the ... more

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      3 days ago
    • Obama $52 Million Haul in June

      There is a sense of elation in the Obama campaign as it was announced that their candidate raised $52 million in June. It's a massive haul for the presumptive Democratic nominee -- $3 million short of the historic mark he hit earlier in the cycle but much larger than the $22 million that John McCain brought in this past month.

      The majority of donations, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in an email to supporters, were of the small variety, with the average amount being $68.

      An aide to the Senator was ecstatic when asked about the June numbers and said of an earlier Wall Street Journal report that Obama had raised "only" around $30 million: the paper is "embarrassed."

      Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo noted that the June haul puts Obama on track to achieve his goal of raising $300 million during the entirety of the general election - a total needed to match the likely loot of McCain and the RNC. And yet, Obama and his allies at the DNC still lag behind their counterparts. The Democrats have $72 million on hand, compared to the roughly $100 million brought in by the GOP.

      "We remain at a massive disadvantage to our opponents," Plouffe wrote in an email before asking for additional $25 donations. "As I mentioned in my video message earlier in the week, the McCain Campaign and the Republican National Committee finished June with nearly $100 million in the bank.

      We can't stop now. It's going to take everything we've got to defeat John McCain and his allies in November."
      There is a sense of elation in the Obama campaign as it was announced that their candidate raised $52 million in June. It's a massive ... more

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      3 days ago
    • I guess saying the N word is Ok for Jesse, but no one else.

      CHICAGO - For decades the Rev. Jesse Jackson has rallied against the use of the N-word — an ethnic slur he has repeatedly told the American public is hateful and degrading. But the longtime civil rights activist used the term in what Jackson thought was a private conversation during a break from a TV interview.

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      Jackson has already come under fire this month for crude off-air comments he made against presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that were recorded during a taping of a "Fox & Friends" news show.

      In additional comments from that same conversation, obtained by the blog TVNewser and published Wednesday, Jackson is reported to have said Obama was "talking down to black people," and referred to blacks with the N-word when he said Obama was telling them "how to behave."

      Fox News did not air the comments, taped for a July 6 show, but a spokesman confirmed TVNewser's account to The Associated Press.

      Jackson — who was traveling in Spain to attend an interfaith conference on Wednesday — apologized in a statement for "hurtful words" but didn't offer specifics.

      "I am deeply saddened and distressed by the pain and sorrow that I have caused as a result of my hurtful words. I apologize again to Senator Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, their children as well as to the American public," Jackson said in a written statement. "There really is no justification for my comments and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me. I also pray that we, as a nation, can move on to address the real issues that affect the American people."

      A spokeswoman for Jackson's civil rights organization, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said she could not confirm that Jackson used the slur.

      For more than 100 years, the N-word has been used against blacks and is a potent symbol of racism. Last year, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held a symbolic funeral for the word, similar to one the civil rights organization held in 1944 for Jim Crow laws.

      At the same time, blacks also use the term when referring to other blacks, a practice both Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have fought. Both have called on the entertainment industry, including rappers, actors and studios to put an end to its use.

      They renewed their efforts in 2006 when actor Michael Richards was taped using the word during a rant at a Los Angeles comedy club.

      At the time, Jackson called on the public to boycott purchasing DVD copies of the TV sitcom "Seinfeld," which starred Richards as the goofy friend Kramer.

      Sharpton said Wednesday he wanted to hear the comments for himself and declined to discuss Jackson specifically.

      "I am against the use of the n-word by anyone and I think we must be consistent," he told The Associated Press. "We must not use the word."



      CHICAGO - For decades the Rev. Jesse Jackson has rallied against the use of the N-word — an ethnic slur he has repeatedly told the Ame... more

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      17 minutes ago
    • Obama details foreign policy plan

      Barack Obama laid the foundations for a new US foreign policy today ahead of his trips to Europe and the Middle East, promising to work with allies to tackle the threats of the 21st century with a push comparable to the Marshall Plan, a policy enacted after the second world war.In his biggest speech on foreign policy since he entered the presidential race in February last year, he said the US has "paid a price for foreign policy that lectures without listening".Ranging over the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa and the United Nations, he set out five goals for his presidency: ending the war in Iraq; finishing the war with al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan; ending US oil dependency; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; and rebuilding US alliances."As president, I will pursue a tough, smart and principled national security strategy - one that recognises that we have interests not just in Baghdad, but in Kandahar and Karachi, in Tokyo and London, in Beijing and Berlin," he told an audience at the Ronald Reagan building in the heart of Washington.Just as he did earlier this year when he devoted lengthy speeches to race and patriotism, Obama spoke at length and in more detail than before. He has already built up a team of scores of foreign policy advisers.Obama, who is planning to visit Europe as well as Iraq and Afghanistan, said he wanted to work with European countries, an implicit criticism of the alienation of Germany and France in the early years of the Bush administration."It's time for America and Europe to renew our common commitment to face down the threats of the 21st century just as we did the challenges of the 20th," he said. The US Marshall plan provided the massive investment to rebuild post-war Europe.He envisaged Europe and others allies helping more in Afghanistan as well as in rebuilding Iraq. He praised Britain, France and Germany for their diplomatic efforts with Iran and said it was time for the US, which, initially at least, refused to participate, to play a full part in that.As part of his Marshall Plan, he saw weak and vulnerable countries being strengthened and he promised he will double US foreign assistance, to $50bn by 2012, most of it going to Africa.He confirmed his intention, as he signalled yesterday, to switch military resources from Iraq to Afghanistan, saying that one of his first steps as president would be to ask the military to find a way out of Iraq.Obama has said he intends to have all US combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of becoming president whereas John McCain says setting a timetable risks undoing the gains made by the yearlong "surge" policy that he says has helped reduce violence.Obama was a frequent critic of the surge policy. His campaign team, sensitive to attacks made by McCain yesterday, wiped all Obama's criticism of the surge from its website today.A Washington Post poll today showed US voters divided, with 50% in favour of Obama setting a timetable and 49% backing McCain's view that a timetable would be counterproductive. He is to follow up his speech with another one tomorrow concentrating on what he portrayed as the biggest risk facing the US today, the potential for nuclear weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists.He put out a television ad in 18 battlefield states in the US today warning of the danger. Barack Obama laid the foundations for a new US foreign policy today ahead of his trips to Europe and the Middle East, promising to wor... more

      bansheewail

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      4 days ago
    • New Yorker Cover Stirs Campaign Controversy

      Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is ``tasteless and offensive.'' Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim a... more

      ebindelglass

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      2 days ago
    • Afghan warlords, now turn their guns on U.S. troops, formerly backed by CIA

      KABUL—The war in Afghanistan reached a wrenching milestone this summer: For the second month in a row, U.S. and coalition troop deaths in the country surpassed casualties in Iraq. This is driven in large part, U.S. officials point out, by simple cause and effect. Marines flowed into southern Afghanistan earlier this year to rout firmly entrenched Taliban fighters, prompting a spike in combat in territory where NATO forces previously didn't have the manpower to send troops. "We're doing something we haven't done in seven years, which is go after the Taliban where they're living," says a U.S. official.Related NewsBush's Pool of Goodwill is Dry Mashek: Jesse Jackson Needs to Be Quiet Now Interpol's Chief on Beijing Olympics Security Video: Australia Celebrates Withdrawal From Iraq But amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here—what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate—composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency. "You could almost describe the insurgency as having two branches," says a senior U.S. military official here. "It's the Taliban in the south and a 'rainbow coalition' in the east."Indeed, along with a smattering of Afghan tribal groups, Pakistani extremists, and drug kingpins, two of the most dangerous players are violent Afghan Islamists named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to U.S. officials. In recent weeks, Hekmatyar has called upon Pakistani militants to attack U.S. targets, while the Haqqani network is blamed for three large vehicle bombings, along with the attempted assassination of Karzai in April.Ironically, these two warlords—currently at the top of America's list of most wanted men in Afghanistan—were once among America's most valued allies. In the 1980s, the CIA funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition to help them battle the Soviet Army during its occupation of Afghanistan. Hekmatyar, then widely considered by Washington to be a reliable anti-Soviet rebel, was even flown to the United States by the CIA in 1985."He was the most radical of the radicals," recalls former Rep. Charlie Wilson, immortalized in the recent film Charlie Wilson's War for his role in directing U.S. military aid to anti-Soviet Afghan warlords. "He didn't hate us as much as he hated the Soviets," he adds, "but he sure didn't like us much." In his early years, the warlord distinguished himself by throwing acid in the faces of unveiled women. Today, a senior defense official says Hekmatyar is "as vicious as they come." In 2002, the CIA shot a Hellfire missile from an unmanned drone in an effort to kill him.....there's more KABUL—The war in Afghanistan reached a wrenching milestone this summer: For the second month in a row, U.S. and coalition troop deaths... more

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      2 days ago
    • Obama NASCAR driver sponsor

      Apparently aiming for blue-collar white voters he had trouble attracting during the Democratic primary campaign, presidential candidate Barack Obama is reportedly in discussions to sponsor a driver in an upcoming NASCAR race.SportsIllustrated.com's Tom Bowles has the scoop on the first politician's foray into the fastest growing sport in the US.SI.com has learned that for the first time in history, a major presidential candidate may sponsor a race car in NASCAR's premier series. According to sources, Barack Obama's campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor of BAM Racing's No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race on August 3. Details of the agreement are expected to be worked out over the coming days.A BAM spokesperson has revealed the team will hold a press conference July 23 in Miami to reveal the partnership, currently a proposed one-race deal with an option to continue. Obama will be at the briefing, which will be tied to the "Get Out The Vote" campaign message he spread throughout the 2008 primary season.An Obama campaign spokeswoman did not immediately return RAW STORY's request for comment. Bowles says one sponsorship option would give Obama supporters a chance to have their names printed on the race car in exchange for donations as little as $100. Such a move would seem to coincide with Obama's populist campaign themes and might encourage more giving from the army of small dollar donors who already have helped the Illinois senator shatter fundraising records. While so-called "NASCAR Dads" were seen as a key demographic four years ago, no campaign has made such a direct foray to communicate with fans in a forum where they are more used to seeing advertisements for alcohol or energy drinks.In 2004, NASCAR drive Kirk Shelmerdine placed his own Bush/Cheney decal on his car, although the ad space was not purchased by the campaign. He was later admonished by the FEC for the display.Should the deal come off with BAM Racing's car No. 49, it would mark the first time a major US presidential candidate has been a primary sponsor on a vehicle in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) series.Ken Schrader would drive the Toyota-powered entry at Pocono in a state thought to be a battleground for US electoral college votes in November's election between Obama and Republican rival John McCain.The team has raced only once since March 30 in Martinsville for lack of sponsorship money and the car must qualify at Pocono on speed. BAM Racing has only six top-10 showings in 167 starts since 2002. Apparently aiming for blue-collar white voters he had trouble attracting during the Democratic primary campaign, presidential candidat... more

      bansheewail

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      1 day ago
    • CAUGHT ON VIDEO: "I wanna cut [Obama's] nuts off." - Jesse Jackson

      Yes, here is the video that was aired showing Jesse Jackson saying "See, Barack been, um, talking down to black people on this faith based... I wanna cut his nuts off." Regarding Obamas recent support of faith based charities working with government. Yes, here is the video that was aired showing Jesse Jackson saying "See, Barack been, um, talking down to black people on this faith b... more

      bornfreeid

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      1 day ago
    • Voices from a Raid

      Immigration arrests from worksite raids have increased tenfold in the last five years. As politicians on both sides of the aisle grapple with the issue, families are caught in the middle. ANP went to Annapolis, Maryland to see how people were coping in the aftermath of the state's largest immigration roundup in years. Immigration arrests from worksite raids have increased tenfold in the last five years. As politicians on both sides of the aisle grapp... more

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      2 days ago
    • US exports to Iran rose ten fold in Bush years

      WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused Iran of nuclear ambitions and helping terrorists. America sent more cigarettes to Iran -- at least $158 million worth under Bush -- than any other products.

      Other surprising shipments to Iran during the Bush administration: brassieres, bull semen, cosmetics, fur clothing, sculptures, perfume, musical instruments and possibly even weapons. Top states shipping goods to Iran include California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of seven years of U.S. government trade data.

      Despite increasingly tough rhetoric toward Iran, which Bush has called part of an "axis of evil," U.S. trade in a range of goods survives on-again, off-again sanctions originally imposed nearly three decades ago. The rules allow sales of agricultural commodities, medicine and a few other categories of goods. The exemptions are designed to help Iranian families even as the United States pressures Iran's leaders.

      "Our sanctions are targeted against the regime, not the people," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the sanctions. The government tracks exports to Iran using details from shipping records, but in some cases it's unclear whether anyone pays attention.

      Sanctions are intended in part to frustrate Iran's efforts to build its military, but the U.S. government's own figures show at least $148,000 worth of unspecified weapons and other military gear were exported from the United States to Iran during Bush's time in office. That includes $106,635 in military rifles and $8,760 in rifle parts and accessories shipped in 2004, the data shows.

      Also shipped to Iran were at least $13,000 in "aircraft launching gear and/or deck arrestors," equipment needed to launch jets from aircraft carriers, according to U.S. records. Iran's navy is not believed to own or operate any carriers.

      Those numbers may seem small, but military items can sell for pennies on the dollar compared with what the Pentagon paid. Last year, federal agents seized four F-14 fighter jets sold to domestic buyers by an officer at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Calif., for $2,000 to $4,000 each, with proceeds benefiting a squadron recreation fund. When F-14s were new, they cost roughly $38 million each.

      Szubin said it was unlikely exports of military gear occurred, but added that the government was looking into it to be certain after the AP raised questions. He said shipping records are subject to human error, such as citing wrong commodity codes or recording "Iran" as the destination rather than "Iraq." The Treasury Department said Monday it was still checking to see whether it could offer an explanation.

      "That's something that would obviously concern us greatly and concern the whole administration," Szubin said in an interview with the AP. "And so when you presented us with the question in the last day we have called over to our colleagues in other government agencies and you can be assured they're looking very carefully into it."






      WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused Iran of nucl... more

      bansheewail

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      1 day ago
    • Obama Accepting Nomination at Football Stadium

      Barack Obama will accept the Democratic presidential nomination at Invesco Field at Mile High, a 76,000-seat stadium home to the Denver Broncos, the Democratic National Committee announced Monday. Barack Obama will accept the Democratic presidential nomination at Invesco Field at Mile High, a 76,000-seat stadium home to the Denve... more

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      13 days ago
    • Uganda Primate says Barack Obama is ‘unAfrican’

      US Presidential hopeful Barak Obama is un-African, the primate of Uganda said, and advocates moral positions at odds with the religious and cultural values of the continent.
      US Presidential hopeful Barak Obama is un-African, the primate of Uganda said, and advocates moral positions at odds with the religiou... more

      TravG73

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      9 days ago
    • Obama got discount on home loan

      Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois.

      The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

      Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the rate was adjusted to account for a competing offer from another lender and other factors. "The Obamas have since had as much as $3 million invested through Northern Trust," he said in a statement.
      Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mans... more

      Future_America

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      16 days ago
    • Wes Clark ... Carry On Baby!

      Wes Clark decries shenanigans! Let's get real people.

      Ret. Gen. Clark: McCain lacks command experience
      4 hours ago

      WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate now supporting Barack Obama, said Sunday John McCain's military service does not automatically qualify him to be commander in chief.

      Underscoring during a national television appearance a position he has been expressing for several weeks, Clark said performing heroic military service is not a substitute for gaining command experience.

      "In the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.

      "He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn't held executive responsibility," Clark said. "That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn't a wartime squadron."

      (full article: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iYBdOQK_nuxk0sWQWPLg... )
      Wes Clark decries shenanigans! Let's get real people. Ret. Gen. Clark: McCain lacks command experience 4 hours ago ... more

      Amber_LaStrega

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      4 days ago
    • Barack Obama's team: Real change?

      The people on Barack Obama's political team seems to have very similar ideas to politicians in power today. Is this change we can believe in?

      Hopefully Barack Obama is not like them.
      The people on Barack Obama's political team seems to have very similar ideas to politicians in power today. Is this change we can beli... more

      Future_America

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      19 responses

      4 days ago
    • Q: Clinton & Obama Campaign Together in Unity, NH: Is Hillary Clinton using Ba...

      It's a poll. I haven't voted. I'm not sure how I lean on the issue. Just thought I'd share.

      Amber_LaStrega

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      19 days ago
    • Obama's Social Security Fine Print

      By DONALD L. LUSKIN
      June 25, 2008; Page A15 Wall Street Journal : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121435112024101581.html

      Last week, Barack Obama revealed his plan to shore up Social Security's shaky finances by raising the income level on which the payroll tax is applied. Currently, incomes above $102,000 are exempt, with that threshold rising every year indexed to wage inflation. Mr. Obama would keep that limit in place, but then assess payroll taxes on incomes above $250,000, which his campaign claims would apply to only the richest 3% of Americans.

      Mr. Obama angered liberals last year when he admitted that there was a "Social Security crisis." But at least Mr. Obama's base should be appeased now that his solution to the "crisis" is to soak the rich. One liberal columnist actually noted with glee the fact that this would take us back to top tax rates not seen since the 1970s.

      According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr. Obama's new tax would siphon off 0.4% of gross domestic product annually. Combined with Mr. Obama's other tax-hike initiatives, "the total tax on labor would be close to 60 percent. In high-tax states like California and New York, the top rate would be even higher."

      Would it help Social Security's financing problems? Mr. Obama has no idea. One of his senior economic advisers admitted to me that no one on the campaign has run any detailed models or performed any rigorous analysis. When one proposes an enormous tax increase, shouldn't there at least be a spreadsheet somewhere?

      But the most alarming thing about Mr. Obama's proposal is that the $250,000 threshold, above which the payroll tax would be applied, refers to household income, not individual income. So it's quite deceptive when he claims that the $250,000 threshold will "ensure that lifting the payroll tax cap does not ensnare any middle class Americans."

      Suppose your household consists of you and your spouse, each earning wages of $150,000 per year. Currently, you are each subject to the payroll tax up to $102,000 of wages, so together you are taxed on $204,000. Under the Obama plan, you'd be taxed again on another $50,000 of wages.

      At the current payroll tax rate of 12.4% – 6.2% from wage-earners and 6.2% from their employers – your household would be looking at a tax hike of $6,200 per year. You probably didn't consider yourself rich before, and you certainly won't after paying that tax bill.

      But that tax bill could be higher still. While the payroll tax has always been calculated just on wages from labor, Mr. Obama hasn't decided yet what forms of income will be included in the $250,000 threshold. It's an open question whether it might include interest on savings and capital gains income.

      And neither has Mr. Obama said whether the rich – and, truth be told, the middle class – paying his new higher taxes will get correspondingly higher Social Security benefits when they retire. Throughout the history of the Social Security program, there has always been a connection between what you contribute in taxes and what you get back in benefits. If Mr. Obama uncaps the wages subject to tax, but doesn't uncap benefits, then he has severed the link between them. Social Security would stand revealed not as a work-related contributory retirement system, but simply as a tax-funded welfare and income-redistribution program.

      And for all that, Mr. Obama's proposal won't help Social Security's long-run solvency problems.

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121435112024101581.html
      By DONALD L. LUSKIN June 25, 2008; Page A15 Wall Street Journal : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121435112024101581.html ... more

      BretByron

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      1 day ago
    • Obama's New TV Ad

      The ad is titled "Country I Love" and it is airing throughout the country.

      Future_America

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      12 days ago
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