Obama: "This is not class warfare -- It's math"

Updated at 11:50 a.m. ET

Taking a defiant tone against Republicans unwilling to raise taxes in order to close the deficit, President Obama today unveiled a $3 trillion long-term deficit reduction plan that relies heavily on raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

"This is not class warfare -- it's math," Mr. Obama said from the White House Rose Garden, addressing GOP critiques of his plan head on.

"The money has to come from some place," he continued. "If we're not willing to ask those who've done extraordinarily well to help America close the deficit... the math says everybody else has to do a whole lot more, we've got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor."

The core of Mr. Obama's deficit reduction plan is $1.5 trillion in new taxes. About $800 billion comes from repealing the Bush-era tax rates for couples making more than $250,000. The plan also closes certain corporate tax loopholes and limits certain tax deductions.

The president is also putting forward a measure he's calling the "Buffett Rule" -- named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- to compel those making $1 million or more a year to pay the same overall rate as other taxpayers. Taxpayers making $1 million or more often make their fortune through investment income, which is taxed at 15 percent; the top income tax rate is 35 percent.

Even before the president unveiled it Monday, Republicans on Capitol Hill were declaring the president's deficit reduction plan dead. On Sunday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said Mr. Obama's plan signaled the president is too focused on his own re-election. "He's in a political class warfare mode and campaign mode. And that's not good for our economy," Ryan said.

In response, Mr. Obama said, "I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or teacher is class warfare. I think it's just the right thing to do."

The plan also includes about $580 billion in cuts to mandatory benefit programs, including $248 billion from Medicare. However, in a nod to his liberal base, the president made clear he would veto any plan to cut Medicare benefits that isn't paired with tax increases on upper-income people. (Watch at left.)

The plan doesn't touch Social Security, and there is no proposed increase in the Medicare eligibility age -- a cost-saving proposal the president was willing to agree to earlier in the year, to the dismay of liberals.

To get to $3 trillion in savings, the White House is counting $1 trillion in savings over 10 years from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

While Mr. Obama earlier this year was seeking a "grand bargain" with Republicans over deficit reduction, he's now adopting a decidedly populist, combative tone designed to contrast his vision of the future with the GOP vision.

Mr. Obama specifically called out House Speaker John Boehner, blaming him for their inability to come to an agreement for deficit reduction earlier in the year. Mr. Obama said they were close to the "grand bargain," but "Unfortunately, the speaker walked away."

He also blasted Boehner for delivering an economic speech last week in which he came out against any plan for deficit reduction that included raising taxes. "The speaker says we can't have it 'My way or the highway' and then basically says 'My way or the highway,'" Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama also took a shot at Ryan's budget blueprint, which proposed turning Medicare into a voucher system. "While we do need to reduce health care costs, I'm not going to allow that to be an excuse for turning Medicare into a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry," he said.

The president said that trying to significantly reduce the deficit without raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations would lead to crumbling infrastructure, second-rate schools and a lack of investments in critical research.

"That's unacceptable to me, [and] that's unacceptable to the American people," Mr. Obama said. "It will not happen on my watch. I will not support any plan that puts all the burden for closing the deficit on ordinary Americans."

Mr. Obama will send his deficit reduction plan to Congress as a means of paying down the debt, as well as a means of paying for the $447 billion economic plan he unveiled earlier this month. Larger than most people expected, that plan includes an extension of unemployment benefits, investments in areas like infrastructure, and tax cuts for small businesses and individuals.

The president urged Congress to pass the economic plan right away. "There shouldn't be any reason for Congress to drag its feet," he said. "I'm ready to sign a bill. I've got the pens all ready."

Specifically, Mr. Obama will send his deficit reduction plan to the so-called congressional "super committee" tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings by Thanksgiving. The "super committee" was created as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling. That deal also included $1 trillion in budget savings that have already been signed into law.

(Watch Mr. Obama criticize Boehner's deficit reduction ideas, at left.)

[seenoland]

Can't stand the truth can you nolo? OK, you guys always talk "fair share" but you NEVER say what that is so here is the test for all you libs. Here are the income brackets, YOU tell US what would be a "fair share" to pay in each bracket.

From the IRS the AGI of each bracket (come on libs, let's see what you are made of, are you capable, just once, of specifics?)

Top 1% $410,096 and up percent they should pay:__________
Top 5% $160,041 and up percent they should pay:__________
Top 10% $113,018 and up pertcent they should pay:__________
Top 25% $ 66,552 and up percent they should pay:__________
Top 50% $ 32,879 and up percent they should pay:__________
Bottom 50% <32,879 percent they should pay:__________

OK you oh so informed l;ibs, tell us what you think would be the "fair share" of these groups.

[MamainTheMiddle]

Of course he's engaged in class warfare. Instead of Star Wars, this is Class Wars. This is what Obama will continue to do to get elected. You want to get past this, laugh a little... http://youtu.be/HMVcAojqQkw

[kitnyx]

You know...I am considered poor, but I do have what I think is a "rich" sense of fairness. While I may not necessarily think it is fair that everyone "starts out" with different resources. No matter how one got where they are, it is not fair that someone is being charged $350k to drive on the same roads and use the same social services that I am able to use for my $350 annually.

And! To add to it, most of the programs I have access to have "income limits", now why is it fair that I have access to these social programs for $350 a year, but the people who are really funding the programs (by paying much more) can not get access? If you are going to have a social program, it must be open to all, or it is not for society, but rather for a certain class of people.

My "fairness senses" really start tingling when I consider the reward of work by one "group" being taken by force from them and given exclusively to another. This is a much different situation than just "sharing the wealth".

The fact that the rich may still be "living comfortably" does nothing thing to help my sense of whether my choices are right or wrong. If it did, actually stealing from those with excess would be legal and socially sanctioned...or, maybe that is what this is all about.

[kitnyx]

I want to clarify, I am not against people paying taxes, or even different levels of taxes...but pay for what you use. Maybe my concern is with the term "same rate" versus "flat rate".

[kitnyx]

Additionally (heh), more on point...if this is just a matter of math, and we are trying not to be in the negative, there are two ways to avoid it. One, we can add by means of these unfair "same rates", or two, we could, hypothetically, just quit subtracting. Then, even a "flat rate" system should return us to the positive in the long run.

[noloyalisti]

I am so sick and tired of these idiot Republicons who are too stupid to know they are supporting the right wingers who are stealing their money. How stupid is that? Rich people who make money from not working get taxed at 15% (capital gains) while those like me who work for a living pay 33%. What happened to our brains, you have to be a complete brainless idiot to support a Republicon even to clean your toilets.

[seenoland]

Solyndra, LightSquared

[noloyalisti]

YOU ARE the government. We the People who run 70% of the economy could bring these right wing wackos to their knees tomorrow if we unite. We need to do this soon!

[spike54321]

Until the government actually starts cutting the mountains of waste in government spending, all talk of increased taxes is off the table. They have not done done squat on the former so they shouldn't be allowed to do squat on the latter. He is inventing a bogeyman for politicaL gain.

[noloyalisti]

Of course the right wing giant corporations have seized and run the government. That is the real issue we have to acknowledge and change.

[Levygp]

No one reads this stuff...why do we bother? It's a challenge to even write it. Thanks, CBSNews, for the chance to say something. But it gets into the cibersphere and disapppears. Congress is made up of lots of little people, smaller than we are, and a simpleminded bunch at best. But I am going to keep trying. Here goes: We have had it with Obama, and the rest is up to you, dear Congress. Prove you have what it takes. Take your committees and shove them. We want to see some individual courage and tenacity. Do we really have to elect a whole new Congress? Tell Obama he is unfunded, unappreciated, and un-employed. Tell the AP, and NBC, and ABC, no more press conferences.

[Levygp]

Congress, step up to the plate. Close the White House, remove the President's appropriations, fire his staff, and ignore him. We don't need a President, we need a strong Congress. Enough is enough. Save our nation.

[Levygp]

It is too class warfare. Methinks thou protesteth too much. You are the one who is calling it "math, not class warfare." Math? What in the Heck do you mean by "math.?" Your "math" stinks. And so does your "class warfare."

[Levygp]

Is this Russia in 1917. Do I hear the voice of Lenin? Is the Communist Revolution beginning again -- in America? Is there anyone here in America who would still like to be rich? Of course.
Millions of people here would love being rich, but aren't...Obama is hoping to scare them off, by declaring war on the "rich." Quick, for Heaven's Sake, impeach him. Get him out of the White House. Remove his authority. He is doing a great Bolshevik act.
He is Lenin, and Stalin, and Trotsky, all rolled up in one. Of course he is waging a race war -- that's his tactic. It's not math, it's social warfare against those who want to preserve our America. He isn't even an American -- he is a "Hussein" Arab, and boy, did we make a mistake electing him.