The AP reports that President Obama is going to push his Buffet tax and attack the house-passed budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) later today at “a luncheon of 900 editors and publishers following The Associated Press’ annual meeting.” Senate Democrats want to vote on this tax hike when the Senate returns from recess. According to Roll Call, Democrats are eager to return to their “theme of income inequality,” which they think attacking the Ryan budget and pushing yet another tax hike will “underscore.”

So with unemployment still over 8% and gas prices approaching an average of $4 per gallon nationwide, the president is instead going to spend time attacking House Republicans for producing a budget that attempts to seriously reform entitlements and tackle the deficit. Of course, the president won’t be mentioning what a contrast this is to his own budgets, which have so far failed to attract a single vote from either party in either the House or Senate. Not to mention that Senate Democrats have failed to produce a budget for 3 years running now.

Not only that, President Obama is doubling down on his Buffet tax, something that will do nothing to lower gas prices nor will it create jobs. It’s worth recalling that the AP reported just a few weeks ago, “A bill designed to enact President Barack Obama’s plan for a “Buffett rule” tax on the wealthy would rake in just $31 billion over the next 11 years, according to an estimate by Congress’ official tax analysts obtained by The Associated Press. That figure would be a drop in the bucket of the over $7 trillion in federal budget deficits projected during that period. It is also minuscule compared to the many hundreds of billions it would cost to repeal the alternative minimum tax, which Obama’s budget last month said he would replace with the Buffett rule tax.”

Roll Call adds, “A senior GOP aide questioned Democrats’ decision to move the Buffett Rule while the chamber has done nothing to address rising gas prices. ‘Who thinks the Senate has finished its work on gas prices or jobs?,’ the aide asked. ‘It’s like they don’t even care about either topic. If one job was created every time Democrats tried to change the subject, America would be well on our way to full employment.’”

Polls consistently show that the economy and gas prices dominate Americans’ concerns. Just last week, Gallup found that “[a] variety of economic-related issues dominate Americans’ top concerns on a list of 15 issues facing the country today. The economy and gas prices lead the list, with 71% and 65% of Americans, respectively, saying they personally worry ‘a great deal’ about each. These are followed by federal spending and the budget deficit (60%), the availability and affordability of healthcare (60%), unemployment (55%), Social Security (48%), and the availability and affordability of energy (48%).”

And yet inexplicably Democrats return over and over to “inequality” and tax hikes. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “This is yet another proposal from the White House that won’t create a single job or lower the price at the pump by a penny, but may have the opposite effect. Just as with the President’s proposal to raise taxes on American energy manufacturers and increase the cost of energy, this is yet another sign that the White House is out of ideas and is simply focused on tax hike show-votes rather than pushing for the dozens of jobs and energy bills that have passed the House but are stalled in the Democrat-led Senate.”

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 34% Say U.S. Economy Getting Better, 46% Say Worse

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