Last week, whether by accident or design, the Democrat party and the Obama administration revealed an unprecedented level of contempt for the intelligence of the American public with regard to that public’s understanding of economics. Sad to say, if a recent survey is accurate, a substantial portion of that contempt is cynically justifiable.
The three issues that reveal both the contempt and the justification for it are the true costs of ObamaCare, a future “balanced” budget, and what it will really take to get federal government spending under control.
First, ObamaCare. In her first appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee last Thursday, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was forced to make an admission she clearly wanted to avoid. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) asked the Secretary whether $500 billion in proposed Medicare cuts are being used to sustain the program itself or pay for the new health care law. “There is an issue here on the budget because your own actuary has said you can’t double-count,” said Shimkus. ”What’s the $500 billion in cuts for? Preserving Medicare or funding the health-care law? Which is it?” ”Sir, The Affordable Care Act adds twelve years to the Medicare trust fund according to every actuary, and the $500 billion represents a slowdown in the growth rate of Medicare over ten years, from what was projected at 8% to a growth rate of 6%,” she replied.
Shimkus persisted. ”So are you using it to save Medicare or using it to fund healthcare reform? Which one?” he asked for the second time. ”Both,” answered Sebelius.
Thus, the Obama administration’s ongoing insistence that the health care bill was “revenue neutral” is revealed as fraudulent, and confirms Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf’s December 23rd clarification of same. Yet there is more. Many Americans don’t realize that the reason Obamacare’s full implementation has been delayed until 2014 is due to another piece of fraud, which consists collecting ten years of tax increases along with ten-year cuts to Medicare (just revealed as double-counting) to pay for six years of health care costs. Yet we’re still not done: another $200 billion-plus in “savings” referred to reduced physician fees for Medicare that haven’t happened, because Congress refuses to vote on them–just as they have refused for the last seven years. And the Heritage Foundation’s James C. Capretta also points out another case of double-counting with regard to the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act, in which collecting insurance premiums in advance is counted as “savings,” even though those collections “would be needed later to meet entitlement obligations.”
Only those with utter contempt for the public would consider such gimmicks a legitimate definition of “revenue neutral,” or the more fantastic claim by the president himself that this bill would save money over the long term. Such contempt is apparently shared by the mainstream media: in the course of my research on Sebelius’ testimony, I couldn’t find a single major news source other than Yahoo.com that reported the exchange.
Second, a future “balanced” budget. Despite what the ruling elite in Washington, D.C. think, most Americans understand that a balanced budget means that what one spends must not exceed what one earns. Yet in a mind-boggling display of disregard for such a reality, Office of Management and Budget Director, Jack Lew, told the House Budget Committee that the president’s $3.7 trillion dollar budget, which contains a record-setting $1.6 trillion of deficit spending, is “a plan forward that would get us to primary balance by the middle of the decade.” The weasel words? “Primary balance,” which is defined as a budget where revenues and spending are equal–excluding all the interest on the fourteen trillion dollars of debt, and counting, the federal government has accumulated.
What is happening is a move to control your life to control what you think where you live and how long you live if you can't get that fact you have obamacare coming.
Gasp! You mean I won't have to let insurance companies control my life, now?
This would be greatly simplified if they just pass a rule stating that Democratic policies need to be paid for with cuts elsewhere but Republican policies don't. Just do that and they can avoid being asked every single time they want to enact a policy why they are exempting it from their own budget rules.
You "forgot" *coughs, sounds like "ya right"* END THE WARS. That will solve a big chunk of the problem. End the united states empire. Down with U.S. sponsored world government/world control.
What United States empire? Nobody pays tribute to us. We're the anti-empire.
Our islamist enemies declared this war and say the war won't end until we submit, convert, die, or we kill them. Like the commies, the jihadis find our very existence intolerable, and devote their lives to our destruction.
Down with islamism, communism, and delusion.
.You just keep towing that propaganda line buddy, and I promise you everything is going to work out just peachy keen for everyone. nothing like a hot cup of murder to wake you up in the morning, ah boy.
Its easy to route for war when your not the one who has to stare into the eyes of the victims of war, men and women whom, if you had met under any other circumstances you would have probably got along with just fine.
Do you want to know what war is. It has nothing to do with the peoples of a nation being at odd with the peoples of any other nation. There is a game being played here that you do not see. Its as game played by the rich and powerful, who always want more and are never satisfied.
"One cannot simultaneously prepare for peace and war." (Albert Einstein)
A problem of death and suffering cannot be solved by heaping upon it more death and suffering.
You said nothing to refute my statements, just some general nonsense about propaganda and war. Nothing is blinder than ignoring the stated intentions of our enemies, except maybe equating the USA with them. Like your silly and easily refuted empire claim, it’s delusional.
The Swiss have been preparing for war and peace at the same time for over 700 years. Even napoleon and hitler left them alone.
“A problem of death and suffering cannot be solved by heaping upon it more death and suffering.” – That’s exactly how we solved the death and suffering caused by the nazis and Imperial Japanese.
What's next, "War never solved anything"? – A Cartheginian could set a person straight on that, if you could find one.
I think the left damaged thier brains in the 60's with all the drugs they took. Either that or they really want to destroy this great nation of ours. What else can you conclude? Education stinks, yet we continue down the same path, debt keeps rising and we keep spending….etc. Your rank and file democrats dont understand the far left have taken over the party and are intent on destroying this country, while the republicans for some reason have sat back and watched it happen for a whole lot of reasons. Some of the reasons are that many are to weak to stand up and do the right thing, others may have been bought out, in many different ways, and other may have been caught doing something bad and now are being black mailed. This is why we have so many RINOs. We need to clean house again in 2012
No sir, we've swung so far right after buying into Reagan's philosophies that moderate liberalism looks like "far left" to most conservatives.
I do think it is funny that we libs and conservatives are both nostalgic for the (anti-communist) Democratic party and the ("RINO") Republican parties of the 50s-60s.
Did you ever think that the Repubs are part of the problem, look at what they are not doing in the House right now, just running their collective mouths. Just be honest with yourself, it will not get better until you take politicians out of office. I thought the person that said the Dems took to much dope in the sixties was a problem, but he left out the fact that the Repubs were there smoking the same pipe.
Right on as usual. If you remember back to sep or oct, I responded to one of your terrific articles, and said I hope the REpubs will have some guts if they win the house, and actually do something about the spending mess, but doubted they would, you wrote back and said give them a chance. Well they have their chance, but so far the 61 billion they have offered is peanuts, and won't make a dent. When Boehner became the Speaker, I knew it was the same old leadership, with a new name. Perhaps that was why Boehner cried all the time…he knew he was in over his head.
My question is: Why are there no ramifications? This guy Zero and his cronies kick the Constitution to the curb daily with no consequences. Personally, I believe America is lost. I think we are all still clinging to what was and used to be rather than what is. There just isn't anybody to stand up for WE THE PEOPLE anymore. Washington is corrupt on both sides of the aisle and they do their own checks and balances. As a result, we the people lose in a big way. Sorry to sound so cynical this morning, but I woke up this way.
Brian – Very pointed, valid statements when you say, "we are still clinging to what was and used to be rather than what is." Since when is ANYTHING a "right" anymore? I have always paid my own way in life, why can't everyone else? I am not rich, but am RESPONSIBLE. So the Dems were caught in their own web of Obamacare lies, what else is new? Republicans are not angels either. There's a phrase that I coined called "THE BACKYARD SYNDROME." It basically means that EVERYONE wants someone else's benefits to be cut. Don't cut my pension! Don't cut my welfare! Don't cut my employment benefits! Don't cut my food stamps! Don't cut our school funds! etc, etc, etc, It's always about cutting "SOMEONE ELSE's." Folks always want for someone else to get the axe in benefits, as long as it doesn't come to their own backyard/family. These dummies don't see that if they don't give in ALOT, then they will lose EVERYTHING shortly. Am sick and tired of Americans who are pathetically dependant on the system. They soooo deserve what's coming to them.
Easy-Peasy.
Social Security
1.Raise the retirement age to life expectancy. Always have it float on that age. If life expectancy goes up, so does the retirement age. If live expectancy goes down, lower the retirement age to match.
2. End Social Security Disability and other add-ons. This is retirement only.
3. Fix a (small) percentage of taken from paychecks of workers. Take the total sum from this revenue and divide it among recipients equally.
4. Keep congress from monkeying with it. (Very difficult)
Medicare & Medicaid
End both programs right now. Buy a (high deductible) catastrophic health insurance policy for every man, woman and child in the U.S. By a high deductible, I mean in the tens of thousands of dollars. If revenue does not meet expenses, raise the deductible. If revenue exceeds expenses, lower it or (better yet) use the surplus to lower the national debt.
As I said, easy-peasy.
WE need to add two amendents to the Constitution, 1 for a balanced budget and the other a NATIONAL public referendum if any MAJOR changes made to the monetary system, after we return to SOUND money!
This way we prevent having another Jeckyl Island and a FRADULENT Monetary/Tax system.
Caught you lying once today Front Page. http://frontpagemag.com/2011/03/09/ahmadinejad-ma….
Makes me question the honesty of this story.
What are they lying about? You only posted a link to the story, not anything you have to debunk their info.
It's not my job to debunk anything. That job belong to the people who run Front Page. But if you want the truth go to the comments section of the story I linked to and read. The whole point is if you will tell one lie you will tell more so I would say there is a problem with honesty at Front Page. And while that story is on this site it tarnishes every other article on front page and makes me wonder how many other lies I've been fed reading this site.
As I stated in another section on FPM to your reply – Show how the article lies.
In case you do not go back to that page I will post it in full again for you, and ask you to not concentrate on a couple of sentences but read the whole article and at least try to feel the pain of those whose lives could be at stake.
What appears to be lies in the article?
MSM reported Feb that it had been banned due to Iranian pressure – no mention at this point in the article as to who did the banning. Was the statement a lie?
Did or did not the Iranian Embassy try to exert control over what should or should not be shown in Canada?
The gist of the article was not actually that of Iran trying to get the film banned – but it was instead o warning to the Canadian Government to be even more on guard.
Because of Canadian stand against Iranian human rights abuses and now the stand telling them diplomatically 'keep your nose out of our rights to see what we want when we want' Canada will be targetted even more so – if not overtly then covertly by 'Iranian agents and supports in Canadian society'.
As Iranian opponents have already been murdered outside of Iran the Iranian dissidents in Canada are feeling threatened by Iran trying to interfer in the running of their adopted country.
Instead of screaming about a few lines that may or may not be read as untrue, put yourself into the position of the dissidents and feel their anxiety and also the thankfulness they have for the Government standing firm and the hope that it will continue to do so.
Kudos to the Canadian Government for their stand.
The lie or lack of truth comes when you report a story from a month ago and leave out what the response from Canada really was. If this story had been posted the day this happened it would be true but it was not and so the story should be told to the end. The fact that the article left everyone with a false impression of Canada's reaction to the threats from Iran was misleading and nothing less than a lie. Telling only half the story because the rest does not fit the narrative you are trying to portray is in reality telling a lie. The writer of this article is fully aware of the facts and chose to only write enough of them so the reaction would be to see the Canadian government as dhimmi. Like obama.
Once again you are missing the whole point of the article. The start of the article was merely a synopsis of a previous event (which you correctly state was not new and that its outcome was already well known).
Instead of repeating everything already 'known' the writer shortened the episode because the point of the article was not re-iteration of that whole event – the point was always going to be that they should be on their guard.
The first part was only a prelude to the main article – that of 'you really have got their goat by your correct stand against the Iranian regime so be very careful, they have murdered in the past and they have adherents to their cause amongst you'
If as you suggest the whole of FPM is unreliable because of your perception of a deliberate lie then you would have to include all of MSM in that category and you would spend every waking minute on writing to all of them condemning them for these 'lies'.
Do you do this?
If not then I suggest that your obsession with FPM has an agenda.
But as I have no knowledge of you I will give you the benefit of the doubt – which is more than you appear willing to do for the writer of the article and FPM.
So your saying the end of the story is common knowledge and that is why it was left out. By that argument then so was the beginning so there would be no point in writing the article at all. Unless it was to leave the reader with a false impression, which it does by leaving out facts and truth. Your whole argument Annie is BS no matter how you spin it.
And what you refer to as my obsession is in actuality disappointment. I have written to the BBC, CBC, CNN and a couple of others about their censoring of news but that is a pointless exercise.
If you still miss the point then that should be end of this conversation.
'I have written to the BBC, CBC, CNN and a couple of others about their censoring of news but that is a pointless exercise. '
Here I can totally agree with you.
But I said all MSM – and that includes all the newpapers in your own district. Do you take them to task for all their misrepresentations?
Probably not, I don't now either, otherwise my days would be spent just griping and I prefer to get on with life all doing what I can to better the area I actually live in – being at the older end of life every minute is precious.
If you actually believe that if one headline in a paper or website is a lie then all its credibility is suspect then you will surely even suspect that the credibility of even your closest friends must be suspect, for no one goes through life without making mistakes.
'We must awaken ourselves to feel the pain and struggle of others so that our empathy can overcome our petty differences'
I am in full agreement also with your last statement – 'If you still miss the point then that should be end of this conversation."
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Even as Mideast oil supplies are increasingly imperiled by civil unrest, President Obama is systematically blocking every effort to develop domestic supplies of oil. If the turmoil in the Mideast escalates, it could unnecessarily mean $5 or more a gallon gas and the collapse of the American economy.
Based on solely on his actions, it would seem President Obama hates America and most Americans. After all, a robust economy is dependent on a cheap supply of energy. Yet, the Obama administration has thrown roadblock after roadblock in the way of developing domestic coal, oil and natural gas supplies that would assure a stable, cheap supply of energy for America.
Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, Obama warned that his cap and trade plans would “bankrupt” the coal industry and necessarily cause energy prices to “skyrocket” during the 2008 campaign. But, the electorate didn’t pay any attention because he promised hope and change.
We should have paid more attention. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle during the 2008 campaign Obama casually dropped the bombshell that he would bankrupt the coal industry. “Sure, if somebody wants to build coal-fired power plants, they can,” said Obama as if he was discussing the weather, “it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are gonna be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”[1]
Obama was breezily explaining the enormous penalties that will be incurred by the coal, oil and natural gas industries after he imposes his draconian cap and trade regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Obama then admitted to the Chronicle that “under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”[2]
HOW TO SAVE THE ECONOMIC:
1- DRILL, DRILL, DRILL
2-Kill, kill, kill – EPA, NPR, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, student loans, SCHIP (health care coverage for "children up to age 26")
3-Delete all departments which are not constitutional: H&HS, Education, Interior, Agriculture, Transportation – and let the states take responsibility for these things.
I say IMPEACH THE TEACHER, then he can breezily say HE HAS BEEN TAUGHT, the lesson of the Constitution, he professes to have taught, and knows full well that he took an oath to uphold. When he does not do that I believe that is an act of treason.
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