Are you in need of talking points for your coffee shop conversations and PTA meetings?  John Karch, communications director for Americans for Tax Reform, the group founded Grover Norquist, has done the legwork of prepping and footnoting a fantastic rundown of President Obama’s initial fifty days in office with respect to the effect on taxpayers and the financial markets.  You can read the entire timeline on the ATR blog, but here’s a quick excerpt:

January 20: The Dow opens at 8,279.63. Obama is inaugurated. The Dow falls 330 points.

January 26: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is confirmed despite his tax problems.

February 2: In order to ensure “What happens in Chicago, stays in Chicago” by preventing corruption and kickbacks arising from the “stimulus” bill, ATR asks each Member of Congress planning to vote for the bill to sign a statement promising that they, their family, and the members of their staff will not personally benefit from the bill. All refuse.

February 3: Health & Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle withdraws his nomination due to tax problems. Chief Performance Officer-designate Nancy Killefer withdraws her nomination due to tax problems.

February 4: On the sixteenth day of his presidency, Obama breaks one of the central promises of his campaign by singing into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco, a hike of 61 cents per pack, to take effect April 1. Obama promised repeatedly on the campaign trail that he would never raise any form of taxes on those making less than $250,000 per year, for example:

“I can make a firm pledge.  Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.  Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes”

(September 12, 2008, Dover, NH — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8erePM8V5U )

This tax increase will fall squarely on the shoulders of the middle- and low-income Americans Obama said he would not raise taxes on: 55 percent of smokers are “working poor”, one in four smokers live below the poverty line, and on average, smokers, whose median income is a little more than $36,000 make about 30 percent less than non-smokers.

During the customary honeymoon period (Honeymoon?  If honeymoons went this badly every bride would be sobbing in the corner and clutching a rape whistle before the sun broke on the first day) the agenda of Congress and the President has been aggressive and virtually unstoppable.  With almost $2 trillion of so-called stimulus-related spending (after adding interest) authorized, and more to come, the accumulation of daily reports of massive outlays is numbing to the mind.

Since this is still only the honeymoon, can we, the people, ask for a quickie annulment?

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