The Audacity of Ignorance

"What I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. The top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year--$29 billion for 50 individuals. Those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair." – Barack Obama on Tax Reform

This statement is wrong in so many levels its maddening, let's go over it piece by piece.

"What I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness...

Maybe, I haven't been drinking the kool-aid, but I fail to see how raising taxes on anything can possibly be construed as fair, but let's see…

"The top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year--$29 billion for 50 individuals…
I think the correct term here would be: earned, the top 50 hedge fund managers earned $29 billion last year....

They earned this $29 billion by managing, probably, trillions of dollars after going through many years of college, where they probably paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. Perhaps, I'm just too much of a capitalist, but maybe the reason these people went through all the years of college and are willing to take the stress of managing this vast sum of money is to obtain the possibility to earn this amount, but that would involve common sense.

"Those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries….

Again with the clever term usage, Senator Obama; many of these hedge fund managers, who 'work' the stock market, wake before 5 a.m. (Jim Cramer wrote about never sleeping more than 3 hours, and I talked to a manager who spoke of drinking excess amounts of water, right before bed, so he would be forced to wake-up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, before checking the foreign markets). Their dedication to their job is immense, many putting in 16 hour days to keep up with the mass amount of money they are managing (oh, and for those who think these hedge fund managers don't need to work hard, think twice, many times, if they have just one bad year (even quarter or month) the majority of their Assets Under Management will be pulled and they can kiss their huge checks good bye).

The secretary comparison is cute (though I am surprised you didn't use the more politically correct term: administrative assistant, you're gonna have to pay more attention next time, Senator). However, you fail to mention that the amount of schooling it takes to answer phones and type 90 words a minute is probably a little less than that to manage billions of dollars. Of course, you know this, but refusing to use it on such grounds wouldn't get you the emotional response from your less educated supporters, would it?

Also, is it just me or would it make TOO MUCH sense to lower the secretary's tax rate?

"That's not fair."

Here's where I agree with you, Senator. It's not fair that the secretary has about a third of her money withheld from her paycheck each month.

Why should this secretary have to support lazy people on welfare, the impossibly terrible and inefficient Department of Education or the unwinnable 'war' on drugs?

The answer is she should not; it is not that her boss should have to pay twice as much in taxes.

When did this great country turn from the, "land of dreams," to the land of, "Be ambitious if you want, but when you become successful and make a bunch of money the government will take it from you, but on the other hand you could just not work and sit in your house all day, why else have the rich if they aren't to support the rest?"

Sounds like socialism to me.