Obama Hits Bottom, Keeps Digging

Digging in a hole so deep he'll eventually hit China who will demand payment on all the debt we have that they've bought. Toxic assets if you will.

So far Obama has heeded none of the cautionary tales on what to do during a recession. Increase spending? It didn't work for FDR but Obama increased it so much it would make old Franklin cringe. Nationalize industries? Hugo Chavez is green with envy.

Now the man who has never met a tax he didn't like is contemplating really lowering the boom:

With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.

Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.

At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flurry of books and papers on the subject is attracting genuine, if furtive, interest in Congress. And last month, after wrestling with the White House over the massive deficits projected under Obama's policies, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee declared that a VAT should be part of the debate.

These people are shameless. We may just be seeing the Democratic party digging a hole that will swallow them for two decades. Should The One commit to this, he will be a one-termer and Congress will swing back to the GOP in record time. While that sounds great, we still have 3 1/2 years for Obama to cause potentially irreparable harm and an 80% majority in both houses couldn't fix what he could damage.

The current administration is in a pickle; tax revenues are at lows not seen since Reagan started dragging out of the mess Carter made and, as the wealthy are getting creative, the formerly wealthy are hiding what they can and the less wealthy are either out of work or too broke to buy anything. So the liberals in Washington revert to form and suggest a regressive tax that will stifle growth for years:

A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American -- a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families.

More pipe dreams and smoke and mirrors from liberal Democrats who will push this with all their might. It's time for a GOP hero to step up and yell enough. Who will it be?