President Obama uses the class warfare tactic to imply that if only the rich paid "their fair share" then we would have a secured Social Security and medicare system, we would be able to rebuild our infrastructure, extend unemployment benefits and offer American's all kinds of other goodies..
According to Forbes magazine the grand total of the combined net worth of every single one of America’s 400 billionaires is roughly $1.3 trillion. (that includes people like Gates, Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Trump etc). It does indeed sound like a “ton of cash” until one considers that the 2011 deficit alone was $1.6 trillion. So, if the government were to simply confiscate the entire net worth of all of America’s billionaires, we’d still be $300 billion short of making up that year’s deficit. So if we tax all the wealth of these people we still would not have an extra dime to expand any existing program or to create a new one. Once these 400 are left with no wealth, then who do we go after to "pay their fair share" in subsequent years when the deficit is projected to top 1.3 trillion. What if we just tax income only and have the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over 250K. The treasury would get an additional $70 billion a year..less than 6% of this years projected deficit, meaning the government would still be borrowing $1.230 trillion this year alone.

No President Obama, it's not that we are taxed too little, its that the government spends too much

+1 above
Agree with President that tax rules should be "fair and applied equally". BUT To me that means EVERYONE should pay some federal income tax. Am ok with progressive rate but when 51% pay no - $0 - federal income tax, how can that be considered fair? No one needs a tax cut in the current economy. The Republicans are fools to pursue that canard. Sure ask the uber wealthy to may some more. But everyone should have "skin in the payment " game to be fair.

the "51%" who pay no taxes are primarily children, the aged, and the disabled; plus the Duggars

no, has nothing to do with children disabled etc..actually its 47% of adult wage earners who do not pay any income tax..they pay social security and medicare tax but no income tax..the top 1% of wage earners pay 38% of all income tax and the top 10% pay 70%. by the way the top 10% earn 58% of all earnings...

It was not a State of The Union address. It was a campaign speech and a poor one at that. Where were all these ideas like developing our natural gas reserves is his first three years? Very little on foreign policy and the threats we face. I could go on but its rather futile.

Fighting for the crumbs. We are all sheep to the ruling class. But keep supporting both parties. They are playing us like fools.

As to Carolyn's question -- "And you wonder why we have no money and so much debt?" We have no money not because we have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem! And if you give the insatiable government more money they won't spend it more wisely, they will continue to waste. Making the rich "less rich" will in no way help the poor.

The fact is there will be winners and losers in a capitalistic society, but Obama;s vision for a perfect America will never recognize and accept that fact. Not everyone is going to be rich, not everyone is going to own a home! But, the people who aren't at the top are going to live a heck of a lot better than they would anywhere else in the world AND they will have a permanent chance of bettering their lot. Herman Cain is a perfect example of what anyone is capable of in this country if they put their mind, their talents, and hard work into it. Libs are going to argue the other side, but this IS what this country is founded upon and what makes this country unlike any other. It's worth fighting for.

For the life of me, I can't understand why they couldn't put in place the "Gang of Six" proposals from last spring - Obama even gave credit to Tom Coburn (who with Mark Warner led the gang of six) - Summary of their plan: 3 tax levels with highest at 26%, national sales tax of 10-12% (excluding major capital purchases like a house), removal of most deductions and a full repeal of the AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax), plus plug all corporate loopholes and change the carried interest (Romney tax) to a regular tax. IF they simply did that they average person making $75,000 a year would have an extra $9,000 a year to spend.... and the consumption tax plus the eliminated deductions would create the needed revenue balance and simplify the tax code...YES, IT is that simple - and would reduce the annual deficit by between $400 and $600 million per year to start...