SOTU

 

SOTU

Good news from the SOTU.

Biden can speak for an hour; better than expected. This unbelievably low bar has been met and we now can return to politics as usual. That is exaggeration, distortion, and mendacity.

Biden's message in the State of the Union Address--also known as the Get Off my Lawn speech--loudly reestablished his norms. The speech was soaked in "exaggeration, distortion, and mendacity" but there are some interesting examples. The 8% taxation rate of the wealthy is a fascinating one. Tax rates in 2023 were the same as the last several years: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. The richest pay 37%. Your filing status and taxable income, including wages, will determine the bracket you're in. So where did Biden get the 8% rate he said last night? He included in taxable income all of a person's unrealized capital gains, gains on property that has increased in value over time but not yet sold. Like your house. This is a notion held only by the most peripheral of "thinkers." But that was a centerpiece of the speech.

And IVF. There were "guests" in the building who were introduced who had IVF therapy. This was somehow connected to a case in Alabama regarding the management of stored embryos and, consequently, a vague and distant reflection of "a woman's right to choose." (This management of embryos is actually a reasonable concern, although hardly new. A number of years ago, two recently orphaned siblings--I think in Austrailia--sued to have their parents' embryos destroyed so they could not share in their inheritance.) But in the SOTU? In a speech about NATO, the economy, inflation, AI, China, North Korea, Afghanistan and government control over our shower heads?

The good news is that Biden can hold a thought when prompted. The bad news is that an entire political party thinks the substance and truth of those thoughts are unimportant.