Retired University of Kentucky professor Marty Solomon, a frequent contributor to the Op-Ed section of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington, Ky., is on the ultra-left fringe of whatever party, if he claims one, and can be relied on to spout Democrat Party boilerplate, i.e., that the United States must become a socialist rather than a capitalist society.
Solomon’s main hang-up, understandable for class-warfare folks, seems to be that no one should make much money; however, if he/she should manage to do that, the gains, no matter how legally earned, should be confiscated by the government and given to someone else. This makes Solomon a soul-brother to President Obama, who has inveighed heavily against the U.S. Constitution because it does not allow for redistribution of wealth.
The founding document also doesn’t allow for unlimited access to condoms for women at government expense, as Obama seems to think it should as evidenced in his campaigning with Sandra Fluke (who allegedly insists upon government-provided “transgender” surgeries, also) concerning this matter, but that’s another story. Suffice it to say that Obama, if allowed to do so, as he did concerning his war on Libya, would pay absolutely no attention to the founding document and most laws, having claimed publicly, for instance, that his Judicial Department will not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act of 1998 and has repudiated it further by claiming that homosexuals should marry each other. This is weird, unseemly and unnatural, but so be it.
In a column of 04 September, Solomon went through the usual litany of “progressive thought” and made some firm statements for which he gave no backing/explanations…sort of facts taken right out of thin air. One remembers when then-Defense Secretary Gates said of Obama’s campaign against Libya (of which Gates, the main man, was ignorant) that it was done “on the fly,” i.e., unplanned and poorly executed. Obama said the end of Libya would come in days, not weeks. The U.S. and NATO bombed Libya for seven months. Perhaps Solomon is as reliable as Obama.
Solomon said the republican plan for Medicare not affecting anyone age-55 or older is a wash since repeal of Obamacare would make it so. He didn’t mention logical legislation resulting from the repeal that could guarantee the “as is” element for the 55-and-older crowd and continuing provisions for prescription drugs as they stand now. In other words, he speculated.
Here is a statement by Solomon that has to do with his veracity or lack thereof: “Bush-era tax cuts, the largest in history, combined with sweeping government deregulation resulted in the largest drop in GDP ever.” Last item first: The GDP when Bush was elected in 2000 was less than $10 trillion. In 2008 when Obama was elected, the GDP was at $14.3 trillion, so there was no decrease at all, much less the largest in history. Instead, there was a 43% increase. These are facts, not speculation, and can be quickly and easily verified through examining government documents; so, either Solomon is woefully uninformed or willfully prevaricates.
The drop in the top tax rate between 2001 and 2003 under Bush was 10%. In 1963, the top rate was 91%. In 1964, it was 77%, meaning a drop of 15.4%, much larger than 10%. In 1986, the top rate was 50%. In 1987, it was 38.5%, a drop of 23%, much larger than Bush’s. Check it out…these are facts. So, Solomon is ignorant of tax history or he lies.
Solomon didn’t mention that under President Clinton the top rate went from 31% to 39.6%, a whopping increase of 27.7%. Clinton was lucky to have had the benefits of the Reagan cuts to fuel the economy of the 1990s but by the end of the decade, concomitant with his huge increase in taxes, the economy was spiraling downward and inherited by Bush, who did what Reagan did in order to turn it around. These are facts, not speculation, and can be easily checked by examining U.S. documents.
Strangely, since his kind of guy has been president for four years and is now being held accountable for his stewardship (including an outrageous unemployment rate of about an actual 16%), Solomon characterized the current financial situation as an “economic malaise.” Where has that term been used before? It was used to describe the administration of Jimmy Carter, which, though it took some time to straighten out, was turned around by Ronald Reagan. When Carter left office the top tax rate was 70%. At the end of Reagan’s term, it was 28%, for a drop of 60% and an introduction to prosperity. Bush 41’s slight increase (31% for just two years) meant virtually nothing.
There’s no excuse for the kind of misinformation – euphemistic term for “lies” – that Solomon has attempted to push off on the public. Perhaps he sees Obama flaming out in his attempt to bring a “transformation” to government, better defined as an in-your-face to the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the nation. Senator Mitch McConnell was right years ago when he said the number-one job was to defeat Obama, who has done enough domestic damage and destroyed the credibility of this nation abroad.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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