“According to a report published by a private organization that tracks government spending, Open the Books reveals that Melania Trump has saved more money with her staff than Michelle Obama did as the first lady. Melania has 19 fewer staffers dedicated to her office than Michelle did in the White House. Mrs. Trump has five staffers versus the 24 staffers who served Michelle Obama,” reports Inquisitr.
Melania could have 24 staffers, like Michelle, but part of the Trump plan was to streamline the White House staff, which under the Obamas had become a bloated bureaucracy. Michelle was such a prima donna that she employed numerous staffers, including schedulers, directors, planners, associates, social and press secretaries, and other assistants.
So, how much is Melania saving tax-payers? Approximately $5.1 million dollars a year, but that’s not all. Overall, the Trump White House is saving a total of $22 million dollars. “President Trump’s ‘leaner White House payroll,’ as reported by Forbes, is saving taxpayers $22 million overall. This information is verified by the fact that the current salaries for White House employees was made public on Friday. Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner are taking a total salary of zero dollars,” according to Inquisitr.
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Government spending has already hugely increased, and so has the size and scope of government, but next year there will also be substantial tax increases for a great many Americans. The first reason will be the expiration of the Bush tax cuts . The top personal income tax rate will rise next Jan. 1 to 39.6% from 35%, a hike of nearly one-eighth. The dividend tax rate will rise to 39.6%, more than 2½ times the current 15%. And the capital gains tax rate will rise by a third, to 20% from 15%. If the House health care bill had passed, all three of these rates would have risen to 45%.
The estate tax, which fell to zero this year under the Bush tax cuts, will return in 2011--or sooner, if Congress acts to restore it. Another likely tax increase will be on the income of private equity and hedge-fund managers, from the capital gains rate of 15% to the new higher income tax rates. It has already been passed by the House and is supported by the Obama administration, as is an additional 10-year, $90 billion tax on banks aimed at "rolling back bonuses for top earners." It would affect some 50 banks, insurance companies, and large broker-dealers.
Meanwhile a number of last year's tax deductions have disappeared due to the failure of Congress to extend them into this year. The tax deduction for state and local sales taxes is one; the deduction for college tuition and fees is another; and the 50% write-off for small businesses for capital purchases--equipment, machinery or building a new plant--has disappeared as well, which will have a negative effect upon the construction of new business operation facilities.
Add on to all of these increases the biggest government deficits and spending increases (to 26.5% of gross domestic product from 21%) in half a century, the protectionism of free trade downsizing through the "buy American" requirements, China import restrictions, and the administration limitations of Columbia, South Korea, and Panama free trade agreements, and we have a very different, and not very prosperous, America ahead of us.
Or as economist Arthur Laffer wrote in his January Economic Outlook, we "cannot have a prosperous economy when government is overspending, raising tax rates, printing too much money, over-regulating and restricting the free flow of goods and services across national boundaries." We are, in his words, simply "moving in the wrong direction."
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But what Mr. Laffer sees as most important is a substantial American economic collapse coming to us in 2011...
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HAT TIP: InstaPundit...as large as the on going Tea Party protests have been and remain, rest assured they are indicative of a much broader trend. Moving through political seasons and on to 2010 and 2012, the Tea Party movement represents We The People's best chance of taking back control of the nation's political direction and processes we have. Americans haven't seen anything quite like it since the Vietnam War.
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Alias Barack Obama: a lie is born: The greatest identity fraud in history Paperback – July 10, 2012
