What is a tax increase??

This is an interesting exchange between George Stephanopoulos and President Obama debating "Is Health Care Mandate a Tax increase?". This interview took place on Sunday 9/21/2009.



It is a no-brainer to me that it counts as a tax increase. While it may be a responsibility of a model citizen to buy insurance that covers himself / herself, the mandate part of it makes it a tax. It essentially says: Spend money on insurance, or pay the fine. So one way or the other the government is making you spend money. There's no choice. Not calling it a "tax" or spinning it as "responsibility" does not make this an exception. For that matter, any tax that is paid is supposedly a "responsibility", for the betterment of society as a whole. In the clip, the part where Stephanopoulos quotes from Webster's dictionary, although weird to pull off in an interview, is interesting.

It's one of the few times the President has been challenged (in the mildest of ways possible)by the main-stream media and rightly so. I am sure not many people with a thoughtful mind will fall for the President's spin on the issue. And towards the end, just as usual, the moment he gets a chance to blame others, he blames his critics for "mis-representing" his views and policies.....good strategy: when cornered, blame it on others.

Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal about this issue.

Looks like he did not have a great day like he hoped to in his media blitz on Sunday. Here's a review of all the five shows he was on Sunday. Yup, you heard that right......5 shows in a day by a President. Do I hear "desperate" and "over exposed"??