President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress probably could not correctly answer question number 11 on the test required to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said on Wednesday. Question number 11 on the 100-question citizenship test asks, ‘What is the economic system of the United States?” The two correct answers are: Capitalist Economy and Market Economy.
“Even though there would be some people in the White House that would fail this test, if you look at the naturalization flash cards, if you want to become a naturalized American citizen…[the flashcard] will ask, ‘What is the economic system of the United States?’ Flip that flash card around, it says free enterprise, capitalist,” King said.
“I am not convinced that people in the White House understand it, let alone believe it, given some of the activities that we have seen,” King said. He made the comments at a gathering hosted by Americans for Tax Reform to highlight the tax increases that are part of the health care overhaul that President Obama recently signed into law.
King said the nationalization of private corporations and the health care industry are both indications that the Obama administration and the Democrat majority in Congress have a socialist agenda for the country.
“At some point there’s nothing left to nationalize,” King said. “And all this nationalization means that there’s not the restraint of competition that exists there any more, so costs go up, the private sector activity goes dramatically down.
“There’s the private sector, the free market economy, and then there’s the public sector, which drains the vitality from the free market economy,” King said.
King is a member of an anti-VAT caucus, which opposes calls for European-style Value Added Tax (VAT), which taxes products at each stage of production – manufacture, distribution, and point of sale. Some 62 members of Congress also belong to the caucus, which is working with groups like ATR to oppose the consumption tax, also called a national sales tax.
“To think that the president of the United State would float that trial balloon of the Value Added Tax sends a chill up my spine,” King said. “This isn’t a lurch to the left. This is leaping off the abyss.”
Last week, White House economic adviser Paul Volcker said a VAT in the U.S. “was not as toxic an idea” as it has been in the past.
“If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes,” Volcker said on April 6.
