We’ll be paying higher taxes for the pricey Health Care Reform if it passes, but the Health Care plan won’t kick in until 2013? Whaaaat?

I know, you think it’s crazy talk, but unfortunately that’s how Sen. Max Baucus wrote the Health Care Reform bill.

Isn’t this idea a lot like paying out the nose for a ballooning credit card bill, but not even being able to enjoy the goodies you bought with your credit card? Good grief, what is in the water up on that Congressional Hill in Washington, D.C.?

The claim that Health Care Reform will be deficit neutral or actually save the US money? The Cato Institute’s Michael F. Cannon debunks those claims and points out that Baucus’ Bill will cost our country more than $2 Trillion.

How? A lot of fudged numbers by the government, and  ’white lies’, that’s how.

Not to mention that the way the bill is written, the aim really seems to be getting everyone on to the public ‘option.’ You think there’s going to actually be an ‘option’ long-term? Hmmm. I don’t think so. Do you?

You think this is going to go over well with Americans? I don’t know what you think. But I think this plan of paying higher taxes for four years before getting the goods you’re paying for is completely idiotic.

The only silver lining I see is that this laughable idea will almost certainly get many, many Americans very mad. And that 2010 election next year? There will be some very surprised Congressmen. You know, those Congressmen who are in denial about their angry constituents. You know, the ones who keep getting record amounts of emails, letters and phone calls from the people they represent, communications telling them to stop the marathon spending of tax dollars? Yes, I’m talking about the Congressmen who think the ‘angry mob’ will just go away! Remember those Democrats who have been running up our national debt with wasteful bills, and the few Republicans who have joined in the spending orgy?

Can we boot them out? Yes we can!

Just think, once the Congressmen are booted, they’ll feel the pain of their carefully crafted Health Care Reform. Unless they’re smart enough to listen to their constituents. It’ll be interesting to see what happens, won’t it?

Video Source: YouTube

Do you find Pres. Barack Obama’s speech on health care reform this week incongruous with his assurance that health care reform will not cost the taxpayer?

“The only change you’ll see are falling costs as reform take hold.” Obama claims that Americans can keep the insurance plan they have and the doctors they have, if they like them, with health care reform.

Let’s think for a minute. Why is health care so expensive? Could part of the problem be that Medicare and Medicaid pay so little to doctors and hospitals that more of the cost is shifted to private health insurance providers? Could it be that the government-run Medicare and Medicaid have a prevalent fraud problem? Granted, costs are also high to pay for the uninsured visiting the ER for routine care. But let’s play a ‘what if’ game.

If the government were to provide universal health care, doctors and hospitals would be paid less, and it stands to reason there would be a drop in the quality of care as well as health care rationing. Why? Because to keep costs contained, the government will be forced to pay less for everything medical.   And doesn’t it follow that health care will be rationed to keep health care costs down? The Canadian health care system has plenty of examples of health care rationing, and extremely long waits for health procedures.

The cost of how to pay for universal health care is an elephant in the room, errr, White House. The Heritage Foundation calls the lower cost of a public health care plan ‘a shell game.’

Recent statements from Mr. Obama quote him urging Congress to consider taxing the ‘wealthy’ to pay for health care reform. How does Mr. Obama define the ‘wealthy’? Could it be $160,000 for families and $80,000 for single Americans? You see, Obama’s definition of wealthy can change to include more Americans. You may be wealthy and not even know it! And let’s not forget the VAT or the proposal to tax sugary drinks and alcohol to ‘help’ Americans be healthier (and help pay for the high cost of health care reform).

Can our President be honest? Obama claims that under his health care reform plan, Americans can choose between the public plan and a private plan. But the numbers just don’t work for me. And Obama’s supporters in Congress don’t seem to be spouting that same line. Remember Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, co-sponsor of HR-676, who said the end goal is a single-payer system and the end of the private insurance industry. Whoa. Has our Congress even considered an alternative to Obamacare?

Look at Obama’s speech in 2003, where he states he is a ‘proponent’ of the single-payer universal health care coverage. “Everybody in, nobody out,” Obama said.

Obama waxes eloquent in his speech this week, “What we can’t accept is reform that just invests more money in the status quo.” He adds, “We must attack the root causes of skyrocketing health care costs.”

Well, it sounds wonderful. But notice that Mr. Obama gives no details of how he is going to accomplish his goal. Nebulous must be Mr. Obama’s second middle name.

“We’ll eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in our health care system,” Obama stated.

Really? Just like there is little fraud in the government-run Medicaid and Medicare system? How reassuring. You’re not skeptical, are you?

Video Sources: YouTube

In a campaign speech in Roanoke, Va. on Oct. 17 2008, Obama said, “McCain wants to pay for his plan by taxing health care benefits for the first time in history!”

Fast forward to today, where the Wall Street Journal’s Janet Adamy details some of the options Senate leaders are mulling over to pay for Health Care Reform. One of the options: taxing health care benefits that are better than those of federal employees. And you guessed it, the “rich” are being singled out as another option to tax only individual taxpayers who earn more than $200,000 annually, or $400,000 for couples. Another option is to combine option one and two so that if one has an excellent health benefits package and is “rich” as defined above, one would be ineligible for the tax-deductible exemption.

To be sure, Health Care Reform done by Democrats will be hugely expensive, to the tune of $1.2 trillion over 10 years. But really, no one knows how much it will cost; it could cost more than the estimate.

You think that’s why another proposal would limit the amount employees could contribute to flexible spending accounts, or flat out eliminate them? Senate leaders are confronted with the high cost of Health Care Reform and are thinking about a proposed increase in sin taxes like alcoholic drinks, and possibly implementing a tax on sugary drinks.

Do you like the big burly government reaching its hands into your wallet?

And do you find it ironic that the Senate seems to be seriously considering implementing what was McCain’s idea of taxing health care benefits?

Video Source: YouTube

And that should make us consumers very worried. Inflation is very hard to control. For those old enough to remember what it was like living under President Jimmy Carter, you remember how inflation impacted your household. It was a good idea to stock up on non-perishables at the grocery store, because you knew the next time you went to the store, those same items would cost a lot more.

Yes, it’s a scary thought. Inflation. Higher and higher prices on items, and your paycheck didn’t pay for as much week to week. The dollar was being devalued. Inflation happens when a government increases its borrowing, and in so doing, puts more dollars into circulation (by printing more money). Currently, that is what is happening in the U.S.A.

So to me it’s laughable to read the CnnMoney article by Pat Regnier, Money Magazine assistant managing editor, titled, “Coming Soon, Higher Taxes, Bigger Government.” Why funny? Because in that article Regnier states that he foresees higher taxes with the expansion of bigger government. He also asks whether people should be upset about the prospect of paying higher taxes, since, in his opinion, people will look more to the government to “help them manage risk.” Regneir states it seems fair to him to pay higher taxes “if we could also get a more reality-based economy.”

Well, I don’t know what economic theory Regneir is following, but paying higher taxes does not automatically lead to a “reality-based economy.” Higher U.S. taxes lead to less discretionary money saved and spent by American corporations and consumers. And as far as the government helping us Americans manage risk, that is just hilarious. Yeah, they’ve done a great job overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, preventing the housing and credit bubble and crisis, and reining in entitlement programs such as Social Security. Not.

When it comes down to it, most of the American public think they can do a better job spending their money than the government can.

What say you? How worried are you about inflation, and do you think that Americans should be open to paying higher taxes to achieve a “reality-based economy?”

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Video Source:  YouTube

That’s right, the Democrats are excited about Pres. Barack Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget. Included in the huge budget is the National Energy Tax, which so far has garnered little attention.

The National Energy Tax, which Mr. Obama has said is “non-negotiable” will add $1600 in taxes/year to the average American household. This is what is being termed “cap and trade,” and it is a new energy tax, something the Wall Street Journal termed a “tax on the working class.”

The term “cap and trade” is a misnomer — it is really more of a cap. The government will be able to limit emissions, or ‘polluters,’ by making power producers and the like buy permits for emissions. The ‘polluters’ such as your local electric company, will pass on the increased cost to you, the taxpayer. Yes, this is also known as a tax increase!

So, if you have to cook on the stove, have a refrigerator, heat and cool your house, use a computer or TV, or drive to work, you’re going to be paying extra for doing those things with the National Energy Tax. This energy tax, or cap and trade as it is sometimes known, will limit fossil fuels, thereby making the cost of gasoline and electricity more expensive. Instead of helping the “95% of working families” that Mr. Obama keeps talking about, he will be impacting that group in a hugely negative way with the Energy Tax.

It is an outrage that our Congress and Pres. Obama are creating a huge tax burden for Americans, and disguising it in the form of being “green.”

Are you in favor of the National Energy Tax? Do you want the $3.6 trillion budget to pass? If not, there’s a need to let your congressmen know. They won’t know how you feel — unless you call and tell them.

Photo Source: Wikimedia

Meanwhile, the world is watching. China in particular, which owns the largest portion of the U.S. debt, has already expressed concern — through its premier — about the U.S. spending spree led by President Barack Obama. And as the U.S.’s deficit climbs to record levels, 13.1% of GDP this year, some Americans are getting nervous. The number of tax tea parties, peaceful demonstrations against the massive bailout and stimulus packages, is rapidly rising as the specter of higher taxes across all tax brackets looms.

Many Americans are asking who will pay for all the spending being done in Washington; the answer seems to lie in higher taxes for everyone. How else will our government pay for the nearly $3.6 trillion budget currently before Congress — and pay down the huge U.S. deficit?

Some investors and economists are asking the tough question: who will buy our debt, our Treasury notes, if the U.S. continues to rack up a huge deficit? Our 5 year Treasuries are currently paying a very low rate of return, yielding 1.8%. Well, as U.S. debt becomes riskier, we will have to offer a higher interest rate to entice buyers — which will increase our deficit. We may be seeing the beginning of that risk. March 25 there was a Treasury market surprise in which there was low demand for the 5 year Treasuries offered.

Spending is easy to do when it’s not your money. Our Congressmen and President need to hear tough questions from us; after all, they’re spending our taxpayer money and mortgaging our future. What are the odds we’ll see another bailout request from Mr. Geithner before the end of the year? 

Video Source: YouTube

Fast forward to present day, 2009, and you have the Obama team working hard to make sure people are diverted with minor issues while we have a huge problem to solve: a Social Security time bomb! The Obama team is very good at diversion. President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said early on “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Well, here’s a crisis. While everyone is focused on the $165 million in retention bonuses to some at AIG, a very real threat to America is being overlooked.

The economic threat is a huge deficit and a generation of Baby Boomers who will fully impact the Social Security system by 2018. Unfortunately, according to the Congressional Budget Office report written in September 2008 before the stimulus and omnibus bill were passed, the CBO report warned that if government spending remained unchanged, in 2018 a horrifying thing would happen. According to the 9/2008 CBO report, “76 cents of every dollar in federal revenue will be spent on retirees and their health care providers, health care providers for the poor, and our bond holders.” How do we craft a national budget if we are crippled with having only 24 cents of every dollar left to spend on national defense, national disasters, education, infrastructure, etc.?

Let’s hope Americans wake up the federal government to this problem and demand they fix it fast, so we don’t have to find out the answer to that nasty problem. Now, how does this horrible scenario in 2018 impact the average Joe? If changes are not made to lessen America’s huge national debt, we could face a lower standard of living.  How? Well, just like when you have a huge credit card bill, your interest rate goes up when you only make minimum payments, and your balance continues increasing. Take what you know of credit cards and apply it to the huge national debt road America is speeding down — continuing to increase our national debt will in all probability strangle our future economic growth with ever-higher interest rates. America has enjoyed being the favorite nation for the Chinese to invest in, but as we ratchet up both our spending and deficit, that favored status may be withdrawn. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has already expressed dismay and concern at America’s spending; and such comments should give our government pause at the very least. Who is to say when the Chinese will decide it’s not worth the risk to continue investing in America? In addition, the recession is impacting China, and that means they have less money to invest in the U.S.

While Mr. Obama and most Congressional leaders keep trying to distract Americans with other issues, we have a pressing need to address the out-of-control spending being perpetrated by our elected officials. It is time to call and e-mail our leaders alerting them that we know about this problem and demanding that they stop spending America into the ground. Americans around the country are organizing peaceful tax demonstrations. For more information, go to www.taxdayteaparty.com on how to peacefully demonstrate in your local area with a tax tea party and/or join the peaceful protest in Washington, D.C. on April 15. A number of Americans who have joined Glenn Beck’s new website, www.the912project.com are talking about how fed up they are with runaway spending, and what they are doing to make our leaders in Congress and the White House know that now’s the time to stop the wasteful spending and tighten our government’s belt.

Let’s get down to brass tacks and focus on the big money. Let’s get upset and complain loudly to our leaders about the porked up stimulus bill, omnibus bill, Mr. Obama’s $3.6 billion proposed national budget, and the dire Social Security problem.

All this spending points to: you guessed it, higher taxes — for every American, not just the wealthy.

What do you think of the looming Social Security problem and how do you think it can be handled considering Congress has passed a $787 billion stimulus bill and a $410 billion omnibus bill, not to mention the $3.6 billion proposed budget that Mr. Obama is campaigning hard for? What are your thoughts on the runaway spending being done in Congress and approved by Mr. Obama? Let me know what you think by posting a comment below.

Depiction of the famous Boston Tea Party.

Guess how many jobs experts are predicting will be saved or created with the recent stimulus package President Barack Obama signed. 3.6 million, as Mr. Obama promised? No, I’m sorry. It’s one-sixth of 3.6 million, which is equal to 599,999…new or saved jobs.

Huh? You mean we spent $787 billion to get 599,999 jobs created or saved? Yes, that is what Hoover Institution economists John Cogan and John Taylor, and German economists Tobias Cwik and Volker Wieland have determined, as noted in a Wall Street Journal story.

Pretty scary, right?

You know, Mr. Obama has delivered on his campaign promise of change. Yep, that’s right, we have change. Change in the form of a president who is intent on redistributing the wealth in America. What we cannot be sure of is how the USA will survive the redistribution and change that has come with our new president.

Instead of transparency, we Americans have seen an opaque wall. Mr. Obama started off delegating legislative matters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who happily crafted the $787 billion stimulus bill. Then, instead of letting Congress and the American people have 5 days to read the bill, as promised during his campaign, Obama demanded that it be pushed through immediately. But then Obama took four days to sign it after the porked up stimulus bill landed on his desk, because he wanted to sign it in Denver, Colorado.

With Obama’s signing of the $787 billion stimulus bill, plus the $410 omnibus bill he signed behind closed doors on March 11, our government is spending money that we Americans don’t have. That’s right, the way we’re spending this huge amount of money on a “stimulus” is on credit. We do not at present have the money to pay for these bills. What’s more, because of the haste with which the stimulus bill was passed, only a handful of people have read the stimulus bill. This created a problem with the just passed omnibus bill, which, combined with the stimulus bill, is doubling some governmental budgets, and more than that for others. ACORN eligible block grants budget has more than tripled, getting $1 billion in the stimulus and $3.9 billion in the omnibus bill.  

Our government doesn’t seem to know how to act when Americans are hurting. Recession? People are losing jobs? Underemployment, negative home equity? No problem, Congress will fix it. The Democrat-led Congress and our new President have decided to double the size of our government and double our spending too… These congressmen say we can pay for it, and we can, by raising taxes on all Americans. Now, now, don’t be silly, our esteemed leaders in Washington who voted for the stimulus and omnibus won’t say that to the American people until farther down the road. Soon, Americans will start realizing that all this spending can’t be paid for just by taxing the wealthy, because that just won’t cover all our spending on bigger government.

There are Americans all over the USA who are spitting mad. Mad enough to demonstrate at tax protests, a.k.a. tax tea parties, as a young lady in California recently did, donning a Patriot hat and chanting, “No taxation with crappy representation!” Now that is a powerful sentiment brewing — and with that kind of sentiment on the lips of many disenchanted Americans, one that Obama would do well to ponder.

Paging Mr. Obama and the free-spenders of Congress: Americans are mad as heck. And the more we Americans think about what is going on, the more bitter we’re getting, like a pot of tea that has steeped too long.

Tax tea-party, anyone?

What do you think of the stimulus and omnibus bills? Do you think America is headed in the right direction? Considering all the money being spent by our government, do you think all Americans will end up being taxed more, as opposed to just the ‘wealthy?’ Tell me what you think in the comment section below.

Source Photo: Wikimedia