An enthusiastic crowd of about 4,500 waited for President Barack Obama in the Florida Atlantic University gym.
Although Mr. Obama’s visit to FAU was an official White House event and not a campaign event, a few chants of “Four more years” and “O-ba-ma” were heard before the president spoke and the crowd cheered enthusiastically at several points in his remarks.
Much of the president’s remarks centered on economic fairness and the Buffett Rule which would limit the degree to which high-income taxpayers can take advantage of loopholes and tax expenditures in the tax code.
“Right now, the share of our national income flowing to the top 1% has climbed to levels last seen in the 1920s,” Mr. Obama said. “And yet those same people are also paying taxes at one of the lowest rates in 50 years. You might have heard this, but Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary.”
It’s wrong and it isn’t fair Mr. Obama said, and it’s time for us to choose which direction we want to go in as a country.
Mr. Obama laid out the choice that Americans would be faced with come November – continue to give tax breaks to the wealthy, while letting the majority of the country do the heavy lifting or investing in the economy.
“Do we want to keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans like me, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates – people who don’t need them and never asked for them? Or do we want to keep investing in things that will grow our economy and keep us secure? That’s the choice,” he said to shouts of approval.
Mr. Obama said that investments in areas like education and research and health care were not part of a scheme to redistribute wealth from one group to another, but rather to assist in helping to build a strong and durable economy.
Financial aid just doesn’t benefit students alone, he said, but rather companies reap the benefits of the skills that are brought to the business.
“If one of you goes on to become the next Steve Jobs, or discovers a medical breakthrough, think about all the people whose lives you’ll change for the better, he said.
Prosperity in America has never trickled down from a wealthy few, the president said, but instead, it has always come from a strong and growing middle class. He said that’s how a generation, including his grandfather went to college – on the GI Bill – and that’s how the most prosperous economy the world has every known was built.
“America isn’t about a few people doing well. It’s about giving everyone the chance to do well,” Mr. Obama said.
