One of President Obama’s proposed solutions for the debt and deficit is something he calls the Buffett Rule, or Buffett tax. The President said that if you enact the principles of the Buffett rule, "not only do we pay for our jobs bill, but we also stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade."

Here are some basic facts: During President Bush’s first term he ran deficits that totaled $0.8 trillion. During his second term his total deficits equaled $1.2 trillion. Now President Obama has been somewhat of an overachiever when it comes to deficit spending. During President Obama's four years his deficits totaled about $5.3 trillion. How much would the Buffett tax raise? The answer is $20 billion.

Now $20 billion does not stabilize deficits totaling of $5300 billion. I think the President of the United States has a duty not to mislead the American public. With his Buffett Rule comment, President Obama was misleading the American public. He continues to do it by implying that just making the rich pay their "fair share" will stabilize the debt and deficit. It simply won’t.

The most recent Democratic proposal in the Senate to increase taxes on the top 1 percent would have only raised $67 billion per year, when our deficit is about $1,300 billion.

I oppose tax increases because the federal government needs to be focused on economic growth. We shouldn’t do anything that would harm economic growth, because that’s the No. 1 component of the solution. If we’re going to create jobs we have to grow our economy, and we have to make sure that businesses have money available to reinvest, to increase wages, to pay for healthcare, and to fund 401Ks and retirement plans. When the federal government takes that money out of the pockets of small businesses, it severely hampers their ability to grow their business and create jobs – which we need to do if we’re ever going to get our unemployment rates down to acceptable levels.

Video courtesy of Chippewa Valley Community Television.

On September 30, 1987 – near the end of the Reagan Administration – total federal debt stood at $2.3 trillion. Our federal government took 200 years to incur $2.3 trillion dollars worth of debt. In the 2011 debt ceiling increase, Congress gave the President approval to increase the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion. I voted against that measure, but the federal government will use up that $2.1 trillion increase around Christmas of 2012. We will have gone through $2.1 trillion worth of debt in less than two years. It took 200 years to incur $2.3 trillion of debt, and we will incur $2.1 trillion dollars more in less than two years.

When President Obama came into office the national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. It recently surpassed $16 trillion, which is larger than the size of our economy - an extremely dangerous metric.

Here’s one way to think about this: If a family’s debt exceeds total income on an annual basis, and the family doesn’t have the assets to back it up – if they’re in debt over their head - how can they grow their "personal economy"? Every dollar beyond the basics goes towards paying off the debt.

The same thing is true for federal economy. It’s the same dynamic, on a massively larger scale. History tells us when that debt to GDP ratio exceeds 90 percent - and we’re over 100 percent - it harms the economy’s ability to grow out of that debt. President Obama’s budget estimates that our federal debt will grow to $26 trillion. I don’t think it will get to that point because I don’t think we’ll find creditors around the world that would loan us that money.

Video courtesy of Chippewa Valley Community Television.

On September 30, 1987 – near the end of the Reagan Administration – total federal debt stood at $2.3 trillion. Our federal government took 200 years to incur $2.3 trillion dollars worth of debt. In the 2011 debt ceiling increase, Congress gave the President approval to increase the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion. I voted against that measure, but the federal government will use up that $2.1 trillion increase around Christmas of 2012. We will have gone through $2.1 trillion worth of debt in less than two years. It took 200 years to incur $2.3 trillion of debt, and we will incur $2.1 trillion dollars more in less than two years.

When President Obama came into office the national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. It recently surpassed $16 trillion, which is larger than the size of our economy - an extremely dangerous metric.

Here’s one way to think about this: If a family’s debt exceeds total income on an annual basis, and the family doesn’t have the assets to back it up – if they’re in debt over their head - how can they grow their "personal economy"? Every dollar beyond the basics goes towards paying off the debt.

The same thing is true for federal economy. It’s the same dynamic, on a massively larger scale. History tells us when that debt to GDP ratio exceeds 90 percent - and we’re over 100 percent - it harms the economy’s ability to grow out of that debt. President Obama’s budget estimates that our federal debt will grow to $26 trillion. I don’t think it will get to that point because I don’t think we’ll find creditors around the world that would loan us that money.

Video courtesy of Chippewa Valley Community Television.

On September 30, 1987 – near the end of the Reagan Administration – total federal debt stood at $2.3 trillion. Our federal government took 200 years to incur $2.3 trillion dollars worth of debt. In the 2011 debt ceiling increase, Congress gave the President approval to increase the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion. I voted against that measure, but the federal government will use up that $2.1 trillion increase around Christmas of 2012. We will have gone through $2.1 trillion worth of debt in less than two years. It took 200 years to incur $2.3 trillion of debt, and we will incur $2.1 trillion dollars more in less than two years.

When President Obama came into office the national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. It recently surpassed $16 trillion, which is larger than the size of our economy - an extremely dangerous metric.

Here’s one way to think about this: If a family’s debt exceeds total income on an annual basis, and the family doesn’t have the assets to back it up – if they’re in debt over their head - how can they grow their "personal economy"? Every dollar beyond the basics goes towards paying off the debt.

The same thing is true for federal economy. It’s the same dynamic, on a massively larger scale. History tells us when that debt to GDP ratio exceeds 90 percent - and we’re over 100 percent - it harms the economy’s ability to grow out of that debt. President Obama’s budget estimates that our federal debt will grow to $26 trillion. I don’t think it will get to that point because I don’t think we’ll find creditors around the world that would loan us that money.

Video courtesy of Chippewa Valley Community Television.