By Jason Lee
As The New York Post has aptly pointed out, ObamaCare is a sick joke. Here are some facts that refuse to be ignored...
By 52 percent to 40 percent, voters are opposed to the healthcare bill introduced on July 14 to the House of Representatives.
Independents now oppose ObamaCare by a ratio of almost 2:1.
The World Health Organization ranked the United States No. 1 out of 191 countries for being responsive to patients' needs, including providing timely treatments and a choice of doctors. Among those currently insured, 84% are satisfied with their healthcare. But if you're happy, don't get too comfortable: ObamaCare will force people to change their insurance.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that the bill proposed by House Democrats would increase the federal deficit by $239 billion.
Team Obama says the CBO has failed to account for plans to reduce waste and cut services. Unfortunately, reducing waste would account for only about 1% of ObamaCare "savings." Any other potential savings would have to come from reductions in patient care services.
In its "keep the plan deficit-neutral" charade, the Obama Administration indicates that it is counting on reductions in patient care in the form of cuts to the Medicare health program for the elderly. However, the American Medical Association, in its controversial letter of support for the Democrats' plan, thanks House leaders for repealing $230 billion of Medicare cuts.
Team Obama is also counting on savings from prevention initiatives. Legislation pushed by Senate Democrats mentions "prevention" repeatedly. But as the CBO has repeatedly pointed out, prevention doesn't generally save money.
Obama tells us he wants a public plan comparable to the Federal Employees' Health Benefits Plan Congress enjoys. This notion is a farce. Congress has a high-choice cafeteria plan that is indeed paid for by the public, but it is not run by the government.
Congress enjoys very special perks the rest of us can only dream about. There is an attending physician on call exclusively for members of Congress, and Congress enjoys VIP access and admission to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Medical Center. Is Congress going to provide us with VIP treatment?
ObamaCare will implement an oppressive health care bureaucracy with eye-popping complexity that would make Rube Goldberg's head spin.
When Obama was in pre-election campaign mode, he made some reasonable statements about healthcare. He wanted you to keep your insurance if you were happy with it. He told us that government-run healthcare with higher taxes was a bad idea. And he didn't think anyone should be forced to purchase insurance. Only the most naive among us believed Obama's sweet little promises, but at least they sounded nice.
The halcyon days of the 2008 campaign are long gone. Elections have consequences - broken promises, for example. But at least we can take comfort in knowing that Obama and friends will have to play by the rules they implement, right?
Wrong!
"Under the current draft of the Democrat healthcare legislation, members of Congress are curiously exempt from the government-run health care option, keeping their existing health plans and services on Capitol Hill."
Congressman John Fleming has offered a resolution that will give members of Congress "an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, and urge their colleagues who vote for legislation creating a government-run health care plan to lead by example and enroll themselves in the same public plan." Fleming's resolution has over 40 cosponsors- but not a single one of the cosponsors is a Democrat.
Similarly, Obama has flatly refused to participate in the public health insurance program. I can't blame Obama for wanting the very best health care for his own family, but I can blame him for being a hypocrite.
Americans have lost their appetite for hypocrisy, reckless spending, and the intrusion of incompetent government into every aspect of their lives. Obama is trying to address one of these concerns by promising that he "won't sign any health-care bill that adds to the deficit", but it's apparently too little and too late. Support for ObamaCare is crumbling. Consider some of the most recent observations:
The Washington Post: "Months of relative cooperation among disparate interest groups in the heath-care reform debate appear to be coming to an end..."
Reuters: "Reforming the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry is Obama's signature domestic issue and a major test of his presidency, but he is running out of time..."
CNN: Six key senators - three Democrats, one independent and two moderate Republicans - sent a letter to Senate leaders calling for a slowdown in the push for a health care overhaul, in light of the Congressional Budget Office's assessment that the Democratic plan currently being considered would not cut medical costs.
WSB: "Last week saw a rollercoaster of events that seemingly gave momentum to the controversial health reform initiative and then saw it slowed down..."
Politico: Jim DeMint apparently smells the possibility of victory. "If we're able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
The Associated Press: "Could it be that President Barack Obama's Midas touch is starting to dull a bit, even among members of his own party?"
Obama spent vast quantities of political capital and strained his credibility to the breaking point with the Chicken Little schtick he put on to sell the stimulus package. When it comes to healthcare, perhaps the sky is falling, but Americans don't seem to be listening anymore.
Obama's popularity is sagging, the tone is changing, and even his cheerleaders are losing enthusiasm. "What's in it for you? Pain and discipline!", they exclaim. "Who knew we were electing a national mother-in-law?"
When Obama took the White House, giving Democrats solid control of Washington, government-dominated healthcare seemed to be an inevitability. Now the picture isn't so clear. Conservatives have many reasons to be optimistic about their opportunity to defeat ObamaCare.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Obama repeats lie that 'all economists' agreed stim bill was necessary
Rick Moran
The lie is being told often enough that many people actually believe it.
Writing in the Weeky Standard Blog , Stephen Hayes points to Obama's interview in WaPo where he repeats, for the umpteenth time, the lie that "all economists" believed some kind of stimulus package was necessary to save us from a "Great Depression:
Barack Obama, discussing deficits and the stimulus, in an interview with the Washington Post's Fred Hiatt: "The reason that it hasn't been at the forefront of my agenda is because I walked in when we were about to slip into the Great Depression -- or the next Great Depression. And so I had to start off, coming out of the box, with a recovery package that, whatever arguments may be made by the critics at this point, there was no economist out there who thought we didn't need to do."
Right. Except for these 200, a list that included several Nobel laureates. What makes this fib by our president especially galling is that the content of the ad taken out by the Cato Institute that listed these economists. It began by correcting Obama's claim, on January 9, that "there is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help jumpstart the economy."
The economists wrote: "With all due respect, Mr. President, that is not true."
It's still not true, however many times he says it.
The president is not only a serial liar but when he's not lying he's exaggerating, like when he says that Republicans don't have any new ideas on what to do about the economy or health care. The dumb, loyal brutes in the press corps let him get away with it because they either believe the lie themselves or don't know any better.
Evidence is mounting that Obama's stimulus plan has made things worse. In another couple of months when it becomes obvious even to the sycophantic dolts in the press corps that it isn't working, will they revisit those who warned against it?
Voters are already laughing at Dem congressmen who say the stimulus is working. In a couple of months, they may be laughing through their tears as the economic tailspin will continue.
The lie is being told often enough that many people actually believe it.
Writing in the Weeky Standard Blog , Stephen Hayes points to Obama's interview in WaPo where he repeats, for the umpteenth time, the lie that "all economists" believed some kind of stimulus package was necessary to save us from a "Great Depression:
Barack Obama, discussing deficits and the stimulus, in an interview with the Washington Post's Fred Hiatt: "The reason that it hasn't been at the forefront of my agenda is because I walked in when we were about to slip into the Great Depression -- or the next Great Depression. And so I had to start off, coming out of the box, with a recovery package that, whatever arguments may be made by the critics at this point, there was no economist out there who thought we didn't need to do."
Right. Except for these 200, a list that included several Nobel laureates. What makes this fib by our president especially galling is that the content of the ad taken out by the Cato Institute that listed these economists. It began by correcting Obama's claim, on January 9, that "there is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help jumpstart the economy."
The economists wrote: "With all due respect, Mr. President, that is not true."
It's still not true, however many times he says it.
The president is not only a serial liar but when he's not lying he's exaggerating, like when he says that Republicans don't have any new ideas on what to do about the economy or health care. The dumb, loyal brutes in the press corps let him get away with it because they either believe the lie themselves or don't know any better.
Evidence is mounting that Obama's stimulus plan has made things worse. In another couple of months when it becomes obvious even to the sycophantic dolts in the press corps that it isn't working, will they revisit those who warned against it?
Voters are already laughing at Dem congressmen who say the stimulus is working. In a couple of months, they may be laughing through their tears as the economic tailspin will continue.
Wages? What Really Happens Today
C. Edmund Wright
So today the minimum wage goes up by government mandate. What a time for celebration, right? What wonderful compassion is being show by our government, right?
We have no idea whether any workers will actually make more money as a result. But consider what is really happening today that we know for sure:
A: Small business owners just took a pay cut.
B: Some hourly workers will get less hours.
C: Some hourly workers will get laid off.
D: Some union contracts just got raised.
E: None of the businesses affected will have one more penny in sales volume as a result.
F: There has still never been a sighting of the mythical "family of four trying to make it on one minimum wage income."
G: If such a family were sighted, they still could not make it on one minimum wage income.
Isn't government intervention into the economy fantastic?
So today the minimum wage goes up by government mandate. What a time for celebration, right? What wonderful compassion is being show by our government, right?
We have no idea whether any workers will actually make more money as a result. But consider what is really happening today that we know for sure:
A: Small business owners just took a pay cut.
B: Some hourly workers will get less hours.
C: Some hourly workers will get laid off.
D: Some union contracts just got raised.
E: None of the businesses affected will have one more penny in sales volume as a result.
F: There has still never been a sighting of the mythical "family of four trying to make it on one minimum wage income."
G: If such a family were sighted, they still could not make it on one minimum wage income.
Isn't government intervention into the economy fantastic?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
FACT CHECK: Obama's health care claims adrift?
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press
July 23, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's assertion Wednesday that government will stay out of health care decisions in an overhauled system is hard to square with the proposals coming out of Congress and with his own rhetoric.
Even now, nearly half the costs of health care in the U.S. are paid for by government at all levels. Federal authority would only grow under any proposal in play.
A look at some of Obama's claims in his prime-time news conference:
OBAMA: "We already have rough agreement" on some aspects of what a health care overhaul should involve, and one is: "It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it."
THE FACTS: In House legislation, a commission appointed by the government would determine what is and isn't covered by insurance plans offered in a new purchasing pool, including a plan sponsored by the government. The bill also holds out the possibility that, over time, those standards could be imposed on all private insurance plans, not just the ones in the pool.
Indeed, Obama went on to lay out other principles of reform that plainly show the government making key decisions in health care. He said insurance companies would be barred from dropping coverage when someone gets too sick, limits would be set on out-of-pocket expenses, and preventive care such as checkups and mammograms would be covered.
It's true that people would not be forced to give up a private plan and go with a public one. The question is whether all of those private plans would still be in place if the government entered the marketplace in a bigger way.
He addressed some of the nuances under questioning. "Can I guarantee that there are going to be no changes in the health care delivery system?" he said. "No. The whole point of this is to try to encourage changes that work for the American people and make them healthier."
He acknowledged then that the "government already is making some of these decisions."
------
OBAMA: "I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade, and I mean it."
THE FACTS: The president has said repeatedly that he wants "deficit-neutral" health care legislation, meaning that every dollar increase in cost is met with a dollar of new revenue or a dollar of savings. But some things are more neutral than others. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters this week that the promise does not apply to proposed spending of about $245 billion over the next decade to increase fees for doctors serving Medicare patients. Democrats and the Obama administration argue that the extra payment, designed to prevent a scheduled cut of about 21 percent in doctor fees, already was part of the administration's policy, with or without a health care overhaul.
Beyond that, budget experts have warned about various accounting gimmicks that can mask true burdens on the deficit. The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget lists a variety of them, including back-loading the heaviest costs at the end of the 10-year period and beyond.
------
OBAMA: "You haven't seen me out there blaming the Republicans."
THE FACTS: Obama did so in his opening statement, saying, "I've heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to 'go for the kill.' Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about 'breaking' me."
------
OBAMA: "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."
THE FACTS: The facts are in dispute between black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the white police sergeant who arrested him at his Cambridge, Mass., home when officers went there to investigate a reported break-in. But this much is clear: Gates wasn't arrested for being in his own home, as Obama implies, but for allegedly being belligerent when the sergeant demanded his identification. The president did mention that the professor was charged with disorderly conduct. Charges were dropped.
------
OBAMA: "If we had done nothing, if you had the same old budget as opposed to the changes we made in our budget, you'd have a $9.3 trillion deficit over the next 10 years. Because of the changes we've made, it's going to be $7.1 trillion."
THE FACTS: Obama's numbers are based on figures compiled by his own budget office. But they rely on assumptions about economic growth that some economists find too optimistic. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, in its own analysis of the president's budget numbers, concluded that the cumulative deficit over the next decade would be $9.1 trillion.
Associated Press
July 23, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's assertion Wednesday that government will stay out of health care decisions in an overhauled system is hard to square with the proposals coming out of Congress and with his own rhetoric.
Even now, nearly half the costs of health care in the U.S. are paid for by government at all levels. Federal authority would only grow under any proposal in play.
A look at some of Obama's claims in his prime-time news conference:
OBAMA: "We already have rough agreement" on some aspects of what a health care overhaul should involve, and one is: "It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you're happy with it."
THE FACTS: In House legislation, a commission appointed by the government would determine what is and isn't covered by insurance plans offered in a new purchasing pool, including a plan sponsored by the government. The bill also holds out the possibility that, over time, those standards could be imposed on all private insurance plans, not just the ones in the pool.
Indeed, Obama went on to lay out other principles of reform that plainly show the government making key decisions in health care. He said insurance companies would be barred from dropping coverage when someone gets too sick, limits would be set on out-of-pocket expenses, and preventive care such as checkups and mammograms would be covered.
It's true that people would not be forced to give up a private plan and go with a public one. The question is whether all of those private plans would still be in place if the government entered the marketplace in a bigger way.
He addressed some of the nuances under questioning. "Can I guarantee that there are going to be no changes in the health care delivery system?" he said. "No. The whole point of this is to try to encourage changes that work for the American people and make them healthier."
He acknowledged then that the "government already is making some of these decisions."
------
OBAMA: "I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade, and I mean it."
THE FACTS: The president has said repeatedly that he wants "deficit-neutral" health care legislation, meaning that every dollar increase in cost is met with a dollar of new revenue or a dollar of savings. But some things are more neutral than others. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters this week that the promise does not apply to proposed spending of about $245 billion over the next decade to increase fees for doctors serving Medicare patients. Democrats and the Obama administration argue that the extra payment, designed to prevent a scheduled cut of about 21 percent in doctor fees, already was part of the administration's policy, with or without a health care overhaul.
Beyond that, budget experts have warned about various accounting gimmicks that can mask true burdens on the deficit. The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget lists a variety of them, including back-loading the heaviest costs at the end of the 10-year period and beyond.
------
OBAMA: "You haven't seen me out there blaming the Republicans."
THE FACTS: Obama did so in his opening statement, saying, "I've heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to 'go for the kill.' Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about 'breaking' me."
------
OBAMA: "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."
THE FACTS: The facts are in dispute between black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the white police sergeant who arrested him at his Cambridge, Mass., home when officers went there to investigate a reported break-in. But this much is clear: Gates wasn't arrested for being in his own home, as Obama implies, but for allegedly being belligerent when the sergeant demanded his identification. The president did mention that the professor was charged with disorderly conduct. Charges were dropped.
------
OBAMA: "If we had done nothing, if you had the same old budget as opposed to the changes we made in our budget, you'd have a $9.3 trillion deficit over the next 10 years. Because of the changes we've made, it's going to be $7.1 trillion."
THE FACTS: Obama's numbers are based on figures compiled by his own budget office. But they rely on assumptions about economic growth that some economists find too optimistic. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, in its own analysis of the president's budget numbers, concluded that the cumulative deficit over the next decade would be $9.1 trillion.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Health care bill outlaws private health insurance
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:20 PM PT
Congress: It didn't take long to run into an "uh-oh" moment when reading the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal.
IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure
When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage.
The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, "fizzle out altogether."
What wasn't known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law.
The legislation is also likely to finish off health savings accounts, a goal that Democrats have had for years. They want to crush that alternative because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.
With HSAs out of the way, a key obstacle to the left's expansion of the welfare state will be removed.
The public option won't be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care. A free people should be outraged at this advance of soft tyranny.
Washington does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which parties voluntarily participate. It shouldn't be killing business opportunities, or limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives.
It took just 16 pages of reading to find this naked attempt by the political powers to increase their reach. It's scary to think how many more breaches of liberty we'll come across in the final 1,002.
Congress: It didn't take long to run into an "uh-oh" moment when reading the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal.
IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure
When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage.
The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, "fizzle out altogether."
What wasn't known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law.
The legislation is also likely to finish off health savings accounts, a goal that Democrats have had for years. They want to crush that alternative because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.
With HSAs out of the way, a key obstacle to the left's expansion of the welfare state will be removed.
The public option won't be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care. A free people should be outraged at this advance of soft tyranny.
Washington does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which parties voluntarily participate. It shouldn't be killing business opportunities, or limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives.
It took just 16 pages of reading to find this naked attempt by the political powers to increase their reach. It's scary to think how many more breaches of liberty we'll come across in the final 1,002.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I Was Wrong About Barack Obama
By Doug Patton
July 20, 2009
I have a confession to make. I was wrong about our president. He has been telling us that he is a uniter, not a divider, and I doubted him. I thought he would divide this country like no one who has ever held the office. Well, I was wrong, and I want to publicly apologize.
I thought Mr. Obama's call for a cap and trade policy to combat "global warming," with its provisions for tax increases and higher energy prices, would surely drive a wedge between us, but I was wrong.
I was sure that President Obama's push for "the Employee Free Choice Act," which opponents now have dubbed "the Employee Forced Choice Act," would segregate labor against management like nothing we have seen in a generation, but I was wrong.
I could not imagine that the president's insistence on a government-controlled universal health care scheme would not divide us one from another over an issue that is so crucial to our future, but I was wrong.
I predicted that what I perceived as cowardice in our president's foreign policy would split this nation down the middle and create an intolerable divide between Americans, but I was wrong.
I was convinced that Barack Obama's extreme views on the sanctity of human life would cause a tear in the fabric of society like no other issue since the Civil War, but I was wrong.
I had little doubt that what I saw as Obama's hostility to the Second Amendment would create tremendous division over the issue, but I was wrong.
I just knew that this president's penchant for "redistributing wealth" would cause a separation between rich, middle class and poor, but again, I was wrong.
And finally, I had always believed that when this president nominated judges who shared his radical philosophy of government, those nominations would divide the country.
Was I ever wrong! About all of it.
Barack Obama, just seven months into his only term as president, is beginning to bring this country together like no one since Jimmy Carter, the most incompetent president of the 20th Century.
People frown at the idea of raising taxes and energy costs in the middle of a recession with double-digit unemployment. Far from dividing Americans, Obama has created a rallying point on an issue all of us can understand.
On big labor, our fellow citizens could hardly be more united. When properly explained (a practice Obama detests, as evidenced by the fact that he insists Congress rush through legislation without even reading it), the American people hate the idea of depriving workers of their right to secret ballots in determining whether they become part of a union.
On issues of race, foreign policy, traditional marriage, the sanctity of innocent human life, the Second Amendment, property rights and so much more, poll after poll now shows that Barack Obama is uniting the American people against his radical, anti-American agenda.
But perhaps the area where this president is doing the best job of bringing people together is on the issue of universal health care. Americans instinctively know their country is not Europe, and they have no desire to become France. They understand that somehow someone is going to have to pay for all this "free" health care Obama keeps promising. They know that Obama-Care, like Hillary-Care before it, will do less, cost more and provide fewer choices. They grasp the idea that you cannot serve more people with fewer doctors and provide better care for less money. And they know that trying to jam all this through Congress in two weeks is the last refuge of a panicked administration losing its mesmerizing grip on the people.
So, thank you, Mr. President, for bringing us together. I never believed you could do it and certainly not this soon. In less than a year and a half, you can unite us in a mid-term repudiation of your policies, and in three years and five months you can unite us all behind whomever your successor will be.
---
Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speech writer and public policy advisor for conservative candidates and elected officials. Since 2001, his work has appeared in newspapers across the country and on various Internet web sites. Readers can access the entire archives of Doug's columns at GOPUSA.com, where he serves as a senior writer and state editor. His e-mail address is dougpatton@cox.net.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.
July 20, 2009
I have a confession to make. I was wrong about our president. He has been telling us that he is a uniter, not a divider, and I doubted him. I thought he would divide this country like no one who has ever held the office. Well, I was wrong, and I want to publicly apologize.
I thought Mr. Obama's call for a cap and trade policy to combat "global warming," with its provisions for tax increases and higher energy prices, would surely drive a wedge between us, but I was wrong.
I was sure that President Obama's push for "the Employee Free Choice Act," which opponents now have dubbed "the Employee Forced Choice Act," would segregate labor against management like nothing we have seen in a generation, but I was wrong.
I could not imagine that the president's insistence on a government-controlled universal health care scheme would not divide us one from another over an issue that is so crucial to our future, but I was wrong.
I predicted that what I perceived as cowardice in our president's foreign policy would split this nation down the middle and create an intolerable divide between Americans, but I was wrong.
I was convinced that Barack Obama's extreme views on the sanctity of human life would cause a tear in the fabric of society like no other issue since the Civil War, but I was wrong.
I had little doubt that what I saw as Obama's hostility to the Second Amendment would create tremendous division over the issue, but I was wrong.
I just knew that this president's penchant for "redistributing wealth" would cause a separation between rich, middle class and poor, but again, I was wrong.
And finally, I had always believed that when this president nominated judges who shared his radical philosophy of government, those nominations would divide the country.
Was I ever wrong! About all of it.
Barack Obama, just seven months into his only term as president, is beginning to bring this country together like no one since Jimmy Carter, the most incompetent president of the 20th Century.
People frown at the idea of raising taxes and energy costs in the middle of a recession with double-digit unemployment. Far from dividing Americans, Obama has created a rallying point on an issue all of us can understand.
On big labor, our fellow citizens could hardly be more united. When properly explained (a practice Obama detests, as evidenced by the fact that he insists Congress rush through legislation without even reading it), the American people hate the idea of depriving workers of their right to secret ballots in determining whether they become part of a union.
On issues of race, foreign policy, traditional marriage, the sanctity of innocent human life, the Second Amendment, property rights and so much more, poll after poll now shows that Barack Obama is uniting the American people against his radical, anti-American agenda.
But perhaps the area where this president is doing the best job of bringing people together is on the issue of universal health care. Americans instinctively know their country is not Europe, and they have no desire to become France. They understand that somehow someone is going to have to pay for all this "free" health care Obama keeps promising. They know that Obama-Care, like Hillary-Care before it, will do less, cost more and provide fewer choices. They grasp the idea that you cannot serve more people with fewer doctors and provide better care for less money. And they know that trying to jam all this through Congress in two weeks is the last refuge of a panicked administration losing its mesmerizing grip on the people.
So, thank you, Mr. President, for bringing us together. I never believed you could do it and certainly not this soon. In less than a year and a half, you can unite us in a mid-term repudiation of your policies, and in three years and five months you can unite us all behind whomever your successor will be.
---
Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speech writer and public policy advisor for conservative candidates and elected officials. Since 2001, his work has appeared in newspapers across the country and on various Internet web sites. Readers can access the entire archives of Doug's columns at GOPUSA.com, where he serves as a senior writer and state editor. His e-mail address is dougpatton@cox.net.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
DEM HEALTH RX A POI$ON PILL IN NY TERRIFYING 57% TAX LOOMS FOR BIGGEST EARNERS
By CHARLES HURT IN DC and DAVID SEIFMAN AND JENNIFER FERMINO IN NY, Post Wire Services
Last updated: 8:59 am
July 16, 2009
Posted: 2:36 am
July 16, 2009
Congressional plans to fund a massive health-care overhaul could have a job-killing effect on New York, creating a tax rate of nearly 60 percent for the state's top earners and possibly pressuring small-business owners to shed workers.
New York's top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent -- rates not seen in three decades -- to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week.
The top rate in New York City, home to many of the state's wealthiest people, would be 58.68 percent, the Washington-based Tax Foundation said in a report yesterday.
That means New York's top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties.
The $544 billion tax hike would violate one of President Obama's ironclad campaign promises: No family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.
Under the bill, three new tax brackets would be created for high earners, with a top rate of 45 percent for families making more than $1 million. That would be the highest income-tax rate since 1986, when the top rate was 50 percent.
The legislation is especially onerous for business owners, in part because it penalizes employers with a payroll bigger than $400,000 some 8 percent of wages if they don't offer health care.
But the cost of the buy-in to the program may be so prohibitive that it will dissuade owners from growing their businesses -- a scary prospect in the midst of a recession.
Obama took to the airwaves yesterday with ads and TV interviews promoting the need to reform health care.
As a Senate health committee passed a different version of a health-care reform bill - a milestone for the issue - Obama said on NBC, "The American people have to realize that there's no such thing as a free lunch."
And in a Rose Garden speech, he said the "status quo" on health care is "threatening the financial stability of families, of businesses, and of government. It's unsustainable, and it has to change."
Asked if Obama supports the surtax on wealthiest Americans even though it would break a campaign pledge, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said only, "It's a process that we're watching."
Republicans in Washington and small-business defenders in New York said the House legislation would effectively place a stranglehold on businesses while running off top earners.
"Placing a big tax burden on the small-business community would rob them of the resources they need to create the jobs that will lead us out of the recession," said Tom Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
"If there's one sure way to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, this is it."
Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for small stores and businesses in New York City, warned that "in the middle of a recession, it's a very strange way to legislate."
"According to what we've read, the House health-insurance plan would have a job-crippling impact on neighborhood stores and other small businesses because they put mandates on these businesses that would prevent them from hiring people because of the cost of the plan," Lipsky said.
Under the House plan, businesses with payrolls of $400,000 or more would pay an 8 percent penalty for uninsured workers, while companies with payrolls between $250,000 and $400,000 would pay slightly smaller penalties.
Adding to this burden, said Michael Moran of the State Business Council of New York, is that New York is already a high-tax state.
"Any additional taxes make New York even less competitive," he said.
New York would become the third-most-hostile place for top earners to live under the proposed new surtaxes supported by House Democrats and championed by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY).
Also hit would be individuals earning $280,000 annually and families making $350,000 a year.
The profits from small businesses would also be taxed on the back end.
Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, an umbrella organization representing the city's major businesses, said that the estimated top marginal tax rate of 57 percent for New York actually underestimates the potential impact on businesses.
That's because it doesn't include the city's burdensome unincorporated-business tax, which snares many entrepreneurs.
"It could be between 62 and 63 percent," she said.
If the House plan passes, Wylde said, "There literally, at this point, is very strong reason to relocate your family and your business outside New York."
A lot of small businesses would be hit with the penalties for not insuring workers and get hit with the surtaxes, Moran warned.
"Many small businesses file their business taxes under personal income," he said. "That's the way the tax law is written. Small business, which is really where most of the job creation takes place, could be hit hard.
According to the city's Department for Small Business Services, there are some 220,000 small businesses in the five boroughs. The agency does not keep track of how many offer health insurance.
"It's something that's going to kill jobs. That's the result," said Stephanie Cathcart, spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Among the most egregious provisions of the House proposal, she said, is a requirement that businesses pay the cost of 72.4 percent of individual health plans and 65 percent of family plans.
Those that don't hit the mark would face the payroll tax penalty
Keep in mind, this doesn't include all the other new taxes and increased cost connected to the cap and trade bill.
Last updated: 8:59 am
July 16, 2009
Posted: 2:36 am
July 16, 2009
Congressional plans to fund a massive health-care overhaul could have a job-killing effect on New York, creating a tax rate of nearly 60 percent for the state's top earners and possibly pressuring small-business owners to shed workers.
New York's top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent -- rates not seen in three decades -- to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week.
The top rate in New York City, home to many of the state's wealthiest people, would be 58.68 percent, the Washington-based Tax Foundation said in a report yesterday.
That means New York's top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties.
The $544 billion tax hike would violate one of President Obama's ironclad campaign promises: No family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.
Under the bill, three new tax brackets would be created for high earners, with a top rate of 45 percent for families making more than $1 million. That would be the highest income-tax rate since 1986, when the top rate was 50 percent.
The legislation is especially onerous for business owners, in part because it penalizes employers with a payroll bigger than $400,000 some 8 percent of wages if they don't offer health care.
But the cost of the buy-in to the program may be so prohibitive that it will dissuade owners from growing their businesses -- a scary prospect in the midst of a recession.
Obama took to the airwaves yesterday with ads and TV interviews promoting the need to reform health care.
As a Senate health committee passed a different version of a health-care reform bill - a milestone for the issue - Obama said on NBC, "The American people have to realize that there's no such thing as a free lunch."
And in a Rose Garden speech, he said the "status quo" on health care is "threatening the financial stability of families, of businesses, and of government. It's unsustainable, and it has to change."
Asked if Obama supports the surtax on wealthiest Americans even though it would break a campaign pledge, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said only, "It's a process that we're watching."
Republicans in Washington and small-business defenders in New York said the House legislation would effectively place a stranglehold on businesses while running off top earners.
"Placing a big tax burden on the small-business community would rob them of the resources they need to create the jobs that will lead us out of the recession," said Tom Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce.
"If there's one sure way to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, this is it."
Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for small stores and businesses in New York City, warned that "in the middle of a recession, it's a very strange way to legislate."
"According to what we've read, the House health-insurance plan would have a job-crippling impact on neighborhood stores and other small businesses because they put mandates on these businesses that would prevent them from hiring people because of the cost of the plan," Lipsky said.
Under the House plan, businesses with payrolls of $400,000 or more would pay an 8 percent penalty for uninsured workers, while companies with payrolls between $250,000 and $400,000 would pay slightly smaller penalties.
Adding to this burden, said Michael Moran of the State Business Council of New York, is that New York is already a high-tax state.
"Any additional taxes make New York even less competitive," he said.
New York would become the third-most-hostile place for top earners to live under the proposed new surtaxes supported by House Democrats and championed by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY).
Also hit would be individuals earning $280,000 annually and families making $350,000 a year.
The profits from small businesses would also be taxed on the back end.
Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, an umbrella organization representing the city's major businesses, said that the estimated top marginal tax rate of 57 percent for New York actually underestimates the potential impact on businesses.
That's because it doesn't include the city's burdensome unincorporated-business tax, which snares many entrepreneurs.
"It could be between 62 and 63 percent," she said.
If the House plan passes, Wylde said, "There literally, at this point, is very strong reason to relocate your family and your business outside New York."
A lot of small businesses would be hit with the penalties for not insuring workers and get hit with the surtaxes, Moran warned.
"Many small businesses file their business taxes under personal income," he said. "That's the way the tax law is written. Small business, which is really where most of the job creation takes place, could be hit hard.
According to the city's Department for Small Business Services, there are some 220,000 small businesses in the five boroughs. The agency does not keep track of how many offer health insurance.
"It's something that's going to kill jobs. That's the result," said Stephanie Cathcart, spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Among the most egregious provisions of the House proposal, she said, is a requirement that businesses pay the cost of 72.4 percent of individual health plans and 65 percent of family plans.
Those that don't hit the mark would face the payroll tax penalty
Keep in mind, this doesn't include all the other new taxes and increased cost connected to the cap and trade bill.
Arn't they all hate crimes?
Posted by Bobby Eberle
July 16, 2009 at 6:57 am
As the Senate debates the final provisions of a $680 billion defense bill, Democrats are trying to poison the water by adding a hate crimes bill to the package. It's quite obvious that hate crimes legislation and a defense authorization bill have nothing in common and should not be voted on together.
In addition, where is it written that one group, one gender, one class of people are more special and worthy of more protection than another group? Only in left-wing America. Equal protection under the law? Not any more.
The federal hate crimes bill which is sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has been attached as an amendment by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) to the defense appropriations bill. As noted in The Boston Globe, "Most Republicans oppose the legislation, saying it infringes on states' rights or could lead to the criminalization of religious expressions of opposition to homosexuality."
Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has called for a vote, requiring 60 supporters, to move forward on the hate crimes measure. That vote could come as early as today, but timing for a final vote on the amendment was uncertain.
Current hate crimes law applies to acts of violence motivated by prejudice against a person's race, color, national origin, or religion. That would expand under the legislation to include crimes targeting people because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
Sen. John McCain spoke out against the move on Wednesday, saying, "Those of us who oppose this legislation -- and it is important legislation -- will be faced with a dilemma of choosing between a bill which can harm, in my view, the United States of America and its judicial system and a bill defending the nation. I don't think that's fair to any member of this body."
One of the main controversies (outside of the fact that the entire premise of "hate" crimes is wrong) is that the new legislation would cover sexual orientation. Religious groups, which teach that homosexuality is wrong, are obviously concerned on what this bill would do to their ability to promote their teachings.
According to a story in the Associated Press:
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other supporters also stressed that religious leaders or others who voice objections to homosexuality could not be held liable. The bill "does not criminalize speech or hateful thoughts," he said. "It seeks only to punish action, violent action, that undermines the core values of our nation."
So, what happens if some nut-job sits in a church sermon and then goes out and kills someone based on what he heard in church? Without ANY form of hate crimes legislation, that person would be tried for murder. But now, since those on the left feel that a murder charge doesn't send the right message, the criminal would be charged with a hate crime. But then the guy states that he did it because of what he learned in church.... that he was following God's will. Now what?
The bill is bad, and it has no place being attached to the defense bill. If you'd like to contact your senators, just use the link below. No one deserves special treatment or favored treatment. This is America where we should all be treated equally.
July 16, 2009 at 6:57 am
As the Senate debates the final provisions of a $680 billion defense bill, Democrats are trying to poison the water by adding a hate crimes bill to the package. It's quite obvious that hate crimes legislation and a defense authorization bill have nothing in common and should not be voted on together.
In addition, where is it written that one group, one gender, one class of people are more special and worthy of more protection than another group? Only in left-wing America. Equal protection under the law? Not any more.
The federal hate crimes bill which is sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has been attached as an amendment by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) to the defense appropriations bill. As noted in The Boston Globe, "Most Republicans oppose the legislation, saying it infringes on states' rights or could lead to the criminalization of religious expressions of opposition to homosexuality."
Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has called for a vote, requiring 60 supporters, to move forward on the hate crimes measure. That vote could come as early as today, but timing for a final vote on the amendment was uncertain.
Current hate crimes law applies to acts of violence motivated by prejudice against a person's race, color, national origin, or religion. That would expand under the legislation to include crimes targeting people because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
Sen. John McCain spoke out against the move on Wednesday, saying, "Those of us who oppose this legislation -- and it is important legislation -- will be faced with a dilemma of choosing between a bill which can harm, in my view, the United States of America and its judicial system and a bill defending the nation. I don't think that's fair to any member of this body."
One of the main controversies (outside of the fact that the entire premise of "hate" crimes is wrong) is that the new legislation would cover sexual orientation. Religious groups, which teach that homosexuality is wrong, are obviously concerned on what this bill would do to their ability to promote their teachings.
According to a story in the Associated Press:
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other supporters also stressed that religious leaders or others who voice objections to homosexuality could not be held liable. The bill "does not criminalize speech or hateful thoughts," he said. "It seeks only to punish action, violent action, that undermines the core values of our nation."
So, what happens if some nut-job sits in a church sermon and then goes out and kills someone based on what he heard in church? Without ANY form of hate crimes legislation, that person would be tried for murder. But now, since those on the left feel that a murder charge doesn't send the right message, the criminal would be charged with a hate crime. But then the guy states that he did it because of what he learned in church.... that he was following God's will. Now what?
The bill is bad, and it has no place being attached to the defense bill. If you'd like to contact your senators, just use the link below. No one deserves special treatment or favored treatment. This is America where we should all be treated equally.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
If you want to see where we are going with this administration, look at Califirnia.
While Karl Marx believed that socialism—and ultimately communism—would replace capitalism as the morally superior societal system, it was Margaret Thatcher who observed, “The trouble with socialism is that it always runs out of other people’s money.” Now, after 50 years of steady indoctrination by California’s media and education establishments, acquiescence to the soft tyranny of socialism dominates the culture, business climate and legislature. A byproduct of this is California’s massive government spending machine, where wealth redistribution is the organizing principle. Despite being home to the eighth-largest economy in the world, California is also teetering on insolvency.
THE PERFECT STORM
Consider California’s perfect fiscal storm. Although Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the governorship in 2003 as a populist reformer, California’s cost of government has risen 40 percent since his election. California’s current budget includes $103 billion in spending. And due to the contracting economy, its shortfall over the next 18 months is projected to be a staggering $41 billion. This shortfall, if financed, would represent $1,108 of new indebtedness for every one of its 37 million citizens. Yet California is already the most indebted state in the union with a half-trillion dollars in outstanding debt obligation.
Milton Friedman observed that one can’t have an open-border policy and a welfare state—the incentives are all wrong. Despite the 1996 federal Welfare Reform Act, California is one of the few states that still provides lifetime welfare benefits. In the mid-1990s, the National Academy of Sciences found that each native-born household paid $1,100 in additional taxes to accommodate new immigrants and illegal aliens. That study is more than 10 years old. Now, if President Barack Obama and the Democrat-led U. S. Congress do grant amnesty to the millions of illegals throughout the country, through chain migration, millions of new welfare recipients will pour into California.
California’s bonds have the lowest rating in country, downgraded to an “A” (most states are AAA), which has sent the cost of the state’s debt service soaring ever higher. The most productive taxpayers, largely native-born baby boomers, are retiring and leaving. The state is now populated by a majority of net recipients of the transfer of wealth, while the number of wealth-producing taxpayers is rapidly diminishing.
A March 4 lead editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle betrays the prevailing mindset here—a belief that the election of Obama signals that\ America will finally repair the ills of capitalism and that ever more wealth redistribution will be the way forward for the nation. The Chronicle editorial board asked, “After the last three decades have resulted in the most staggering income inequality since 1929, are we ready to embrace a new philosophy on taxes, on the role of government, on the question of what it means to contribute to your country?”
Recently, Obama chafed at being asked if he was a socialist, presumably as would most any other California politician if asked the same question. Yet for those status quo politicians, the facts on the ground are irrefutable. In order to avoid an astounding $41 billion projected deficit, Gov. Schwarzenegger has cobbled together a one-year budget deal with the legislature, a deal that can be extended years into the future with the approval of voters in an upcoming special election this month. The budget deal assumes $12 billion in federal bailout money and adds sales taxes, car license tax, gasoline tax and income tax to the myriad other wealth transfers such as multiple taxes on savings. The net effect is that the average Californian will now pay more in taxes than the residents of any other state, with some Californians seeing their government confiscate 70 percent of their income. We Californians are living in a quasi-socialist state where most intellectual elites and elected officials believe that it is the proper role of government to level individuals’ incomes. We are lurching ever leftward toward that mythical egalitarian Marxist utopia.
California, for most of the last century, when it gave birth to the movie industry and later became a television industry capital, has led the nation in setting new trends. It has long been a place where new cultural phenomena were born and rapidly spread across the country. The vital question that needs an answer is this: Will California’s balkanized culture, fiscal insolvency and devotion to Marx be harbingers for the now all Democrat-controlled federal government? Will the nation become what California already is?
CALIFORNIA BEGETS A NATIONAL LOSS OF INNOCENCE
Today, there are tens of billions of dollars flowing into California’s treasury for education, counseling and human development programs. So one might logically conclude that the Golden State would have by now found the formula for the near elimination of crime. Investigative reporter, Jack Cashill, in his book, “What’s the Matter With California?” reports that, in 1953, there were 276 murders in the entire state. Over the years 2003-07, there were more murders in L.A. County than troops killed in Iraq. What could be the root cause for this? Cashill’s answer: fatherlessness.
Cashill points out that, in 1960, California fatefully passed the Aid to Dependent Children Act, which made it a money-making endeavor for a teenager to get pregnant, move out of her parents’ home and receive funds for her own apartment and expenses. The state’s policy unwittingly subsidized the breakup of countless at-risk families and led to vast numbers of black and Latino children being born out of wedlock, many of whom have grown up to be gangsters. (In 1970, California also passed its No-Fault Divorce law and began recording 275,000 divorces annually.) Controlling for both inflation and the population differential, by 1979, two decades after the Aid to Dependent Children Act, the state was collecting three times more real tax dollars, yet the criminals were committing roughly three times the crime. And the crime rate continued to climb. Over the last 15 years, the state’s prison population rose from 23,264 in 1993 to 168,035 in 2008—a seven-fold increase, and based on demographic research, it is closely related to the increase in the number of unwed children having children. Appallingly, the recent report on new births in the United States from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released in March, revealed a new high of 4.3 million babies born in 2007 with 40 percent born to unwed mothers, a figure that will likely only fuel the crime wave American children will face.
Yet the California media, both television and Hollywood, have been relentless in their campaign to mainstream the culture of illegitimacy and single-parenthood while they’ve heaped invective on conventional suburban two-parent America. The media’s role in promoting fatherlessness was first fully exposed in the early 1990s when the then-popular television show “Murphy Brown” was called out publicly by Vice President Dan Quayle for glamorizing unwed motherhood when the show’s title character, played by Candice Bergen, had a child out of wedlock. Predictably, media pundits across the country took the bait and heaped scorn on the vice president. Their universal contempt demonstrated how pervasive and pernicious the media campaign had been. Considering that responsible studies clearly show that there is no stronger correlation to an eventual life of crime than to that of being born to an unwed mother, it is not surprising that a culture of illegitimacy combined with the enormous earning power of illegal drug sales—popularized and spread across the country by academia, media and pop culture—has spread crime throughout California.
ONE-PARTY RULE IN CALIFORNIA
The Left has now achieved a monopoly on power in California largely through a gerrymander where elected officials from both parties, under the previous Democratic administration and Democrat-controlled legislature, were allowed to draw their own districts so that the lines ensured the reelection of incumbents while at the same time cementing control by the Left. This has fundamentally changed political process here from a representative democracy to a kind of oligarchic kleptocracy.
So effective was the California gerrymander, in the 2004 general election, not one seat of the 80 in the state Assembly, of the 20 in the state Senate, not one of 53 U.S. congressional districts changed party. As former three-term Congressman Tom Campbell observed, “Could it have happened by chance? No.” Clearly the system is not just rigged. It’s completely rigged.
Schwarzenegger came to the governorship in 2003 via the recall election of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. In 2005, Schwarzenegger decided to gamble much of his considerable political capital by calling for a special election that placed on the ballot an ambitious list of conservative initiatives aimed at breaking the monopoly of the Democrat controlled legislature. One of these initiatives was a redistricting measure aimed at restoring some legitimacy to the electoral process. But the quarter million state employees, the teachers, nurses, prison guards and municipal and county-employee unions had bought and paid for their government. So they all lined up against him, spent massively and even mortgaged a union headquarters building in order to spend on that election like never before. All of the governor’s initiatives were soundly defeated, after which he lurched leftward. As Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research Institute wrote, “Arnold went into a funk. Worse than a funk, he veered sharply left and seemingly threw in the towel with the Democrats.”
Similarly, in early February of this year, it was revealed that the Obama administration had plans to remove jurisdiction over the Census from the Commerce Department to the White House. This caused many to worry about a White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel-led attempt to gerrymander the entire country. Census numbers are arrived at through modeling, which in turn is developed through “assumptions.” A Republican congressional staffer said, according to the Washington Post, “Hijacking the census from the Commerce Department and letting it be run out of Rahm’s office is like putting PETA in charge of issuing hunting permits.”
That same week, the Obama administration nominated a token Republican, Sen. Judd Gregg, N.H., to run the commerce Department. In the space of a week, Gregg accepted the cabinet position and then resigned, citing fundamental disagreements with the president’s policies and making Obama 0-for-2 in his attempts to fill the Commerce job. One has to wonder if California’s success at gerrymandering inspired Emanuel’s attempt to craft a permanent one-party rule throughout the entire country using essentially the same tool.
THE DISHONESTY OF SOCIALIST ONE PARTY-RULE
California author, philosopher and radio host Rabbi Daniel Lapin is a member of the college speaker’s circuit and a man who tries to undo some of socialist indoctrination that passes as education on college campuses here. One of his more provocative talks is titled “Why Socialism Is Evil.” He explains to California college students that capitalism’s stated goal is freedom while socialism’s stated goal is equality and that, in the end, capitalism does deliver freedom, yet socialism never delivers equality. Instead, socialist regimes pick winners and losers and can do so only through the threat of lethal force. Socialism is, therefore, inherently dishonest. It must constantly obfuscate the fact that its winners are the regime’s faithful supporters and its favored aggrieved groups. Its winners are those picked to be the officers of the vast governmental agencies socialism creates and expands. Its winners’ children are given preferential entrance to elite universities. Its families gain access to special health care programs, unavailable to the masses, once the health care industry is nationalized. Socialism’s losers are those who are expected to fund the source of their own servitude.
While the average college student may not get it, the average California taxpayer cannot overlook his own growing servility to the state and the obvious false promises inherent in one-party socialist rule. Plus, one can clearly see this exact perfidy is on display now in our nation’s capital where one-party socialist rule is just 100 days old. In Charles Krauthammer’s much quoted column, “The Great Non Sequitur,” he exposes Obama’s dishonesty by showing that the president’s massive spending agenda is one gigantic con, one of the largest bait-and-switch operations in human history.
After listing the causes of our current fiscal calamity, “a credit bubble, a housing collapse and a systemic failure of the banking industry … Fannie and Freddie Mac pushed by Washington into improvident loans, corrupted bond-rating agencies … the easy money policies of Alan Greenspan’s Fed … greedy house flippers, deceitful home buyers,” Krauthammer points out that our new president claims that he will “redeem us with his far-seeing program of universal, heavily nationalized health care; a cap and trade tax on energy, and a major federalization of education.” He concludes, “Clever politics, but intellectually dishonest to the core.”
The near collapse of the financial system has nothing to do with the absence of universal health care. But the crisis does create for Obama, the “psychological conditions—the sense of crisis bordering on fear itself—for enacting his ‘Big Bang’ agenda to federalize and or socialize health care, education, and energy.”
One of many galling aspects of Obama’s con is that, in just three months, he has proposed spending that will add more to the U.S. deficit than all the previous presidents combined, from George Washington through George W. Bush, a level of debt that a growing number of economists term “generational theft” and believe is not sustainable and cannot be repaid. Yet he still hasn’t presented the nation a coherent plan to stabilize the banking crisis.
Former Obama advisor Warren Buffet terms the current crisis an “economic Pearl Harbor” and has parted ways with the administration over its desire to enact a far-left agenda rather than focus on finding solid free-market solutions. And if the White House follows its plan to exploit a serious crisis, it is one that may well live in infamy.
MUCH OF OBAMA’S AGENDA IS ALREADY IN PLACE IN CALIFORNIA
On Oct. 17, 2008, the Wall Street Journal published an enormously prophetic lead editorial titled “A Liberal Supermajority.” With the election still three weeks away, the piece presciently predicted the various programs that Obama would attempt to implement, if elected, in order to create vast numbers of new Democratic voters and thereby permanent Democratic rule over the nation. He would do this in much the same way that President Franklin Roosevelt did as a result of the Great Depression.
Obama feigns adoration of Lincoln when he is actually following the lead of FDR and is the product of modern Democratic machines that run big cities (such as Chicago) and whole states (such as California). Many of the programs Obama campaigned on are already in place in California. For example:
Union Supremacy: The new administration has let its union supporters know that, due to their longsuffering support for the Democratic Party, they will be rewarded with the passage of the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act. In actuality, if passed, it will unleash union thugs on small and large businesses all across the country, abolishing the secret ballot and driving up union membership.
In California the state employee unions are already the most powerful force behind the one-party rule.
Green Power: Obama wants to pass massive carbon-emissions taxes on businesses, which will supposedly provide billions of dollars in new government revenue in order to fund new programs such as universal health care. Additionally, he wants to create a new federal agency (likely staffed with Democratic supporters) whose preposterous mission is perfect in that it can never succeed and therefore never end: the mission to stop climate change.
Tom McClintock, the newly elected Republican U.S. congressman and one of the few California elected officials with impeccable conservative credentials, spoke to me about Schwarzenegger’s emissions law already on the books, passed in 2006 by California voters. McClintock described, in apocalyptic terms reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” the implications of the measure: “AB 32 is the most radical reduction of carbon emissions anywhere on the planet. It calls for a 25 percent reduction of carbon dioxide by 2020, a mandate that can’t be met even if we removed every car on the road in California. It will mean systematically shutting down entire sectors of California’s economy with grave implications for agriculture, cargo, cement production, construction, manufacturing, energy production, distilling, baking. It is now being implemented by the Air Resources Board, which is taking actions necessary to shut down commercial enterprises in California.”
Election Corruption: Following California’s gerrymandered lead, the White House has not only signaled that it would like to make the Census an administration-owned program but also doubled down by adding to the stimulus bill $1 billion in old-fashioned slush funds for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The program gives local politicians wide latitude when spending these monies. ACORN, which has been cited in a dozen states for creating bogus Democratic voter registrations, loves CDBG because it is adept at lobbying for CDBG funds. The Wall Street Journal and others have predicted that, with this access topublic funds, ACORN can open offices for upcoming elections with teams of workers who can register fictitious Democratic voters on a nationwide scale.
Marxist-Inspired Taxation: The San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board asserted that the election of Obama hopefully signals the beginning of a new era when the U.S. government can finally address the “problem” of “income inequality,” when the tax code can finally be used to establish “fairness” among its subjects. But Art Laffer and Stephen Moore in their recent book, “The End of Prosperity,” demonstrate that the bottom 20 percent of wage earners saw their incomes grow by 109 percent over the decade from 1996 to 2005, while the top 1 percent, which shoulders 40 percent of all federal income taxes, saw their incomes fall 23 percent. Also, as McClintock points out, the new taxes levied against Californians will not produce the higher revenues projected by the governor and legislature but will, instead, assuredly drive more of the overtaxed populace out of the state. The Chronicle embodies the collectivist worldview that passes for wisdom among the majority of California’s ruling elite and citizenry.
And Obama has betrayed his Marxist worldview on numerous occasions such as the time he told “Joe the Plumber” that he just “needed to spread the wealth around.” But never was his socialism more thoroughly exposed during the campaign than during the Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia. ABC’s Charlie Gibson asked him why he wanted to increase the capital gains tax when both Presidents Clinton and Bush lowered it and both times “revenue from the tax increased.”
“Well, Charlie,” Obama replied, “what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for the purposes of fairness.” He then went on with a preposterous fabrication about how the government needed to punish the top 50 hedge-fund managers for making $29 billion dollars last year. This should have been a stunning revelation for clear-thinking Democrats. Here was their candidate for president admitting that he did not mind if his tax policy damages the country and lowers revenue to the Treasury as long as it can be used for a higher purpose—a tool to conduct class warfare.
THERE’S HOPE FOR A SECOND GREAT CALIFORNIA TAX REVOLT
It should be noted that, in 1978, California, ever the trendsetter, was the first state to successfully stage a tax revolt through ballot initiatives. Laffer and Moore describe the 1978 initiative (Prop. 13) as the most significant tax revolt since the Boston Tea Party and one that set the stage for Reagan’s supply-side revolution two years later. They point out that, in California 30 years ago, there was also a housing crisis due to thousands of Californians, many of them elderly citizens living on fixed incomes, who were losing their homes because they could not pay the escalating property taxes that were assessed at a 3.5 percent rate.
The 1978 initiative slashed the tax to 1 percent and mandated that any tax increases had to be passed by a supermajority of two-thirds in both houses. Big business, labor, the media, academia and virtually every other special interest group came out against the measure, predicting doom if it passed. The Los Angeles Times called Prop. 13’s sponsors, Paul Gann and Howard Jarvis, “the chief agitators for this expanding group of disgruntled taxpayers.” The UCLA business school predicted a loss of 450,000 jobs in the state. The measure passed by 20 points.
Laffer and Moore show that, to this day, all the Prop. 13 opponents were wrong and continue to lie about its aftermath. While the measure brought the tax burden down from $124.57 per $1,000 of income to $95 per $1,000 over the next 10 years, housing prices soared, 3 million new jobs were created and tax revenues to the state more than doubled. So much for the liberal mantra that holds that tax cuts benefit only the rich. Yet today, one of the provisions the state’s Republican governor is now seeking in California’s special election this month is the ability to rescind the two-thirds supermajority provision so that the state can more easily raise taxes and pass bloated budgets.
However, there is hope in numbers. Approximately 40 percent of the 37 million Californians are right-of-center voters, and there are signs that this vast army is motivated, mad, eager to be called to muster and ready for the next tax revolt to begin. Among this nascent revolution’s emerging generals is Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA.org). His think tank, founded in 1978 by Prop. 13’s co-sponsor, has thousands of members and supporters who provide Coupal with the means to run his current hard-hitting media campaign against Schwarzenegger’s Prop. 1A that will allow the state to extend the new tax deal into the future. Due to his lack of guiding principles, the governor’s special election agenda this time is being attacked by his former base—the conservatives.
As California’s May special election impends, the other force driving the revolt is conservative talk radio, which in California dominates in audience share versus their competitors who offer left-of-center, “mainstream” news talk or music. On the powerful L.A. station KFI, the hosts of the prime drive-time show, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, in March, organized a taxpayer rally (a neo-tea party like those that have sprung up all over the country.) On air, during the days preceding the event, the hosts wondered aloud if Californians had “become sheep” accepting oppressive government and would therefore not show up at the Slide bare Café in Fullerton for the rally. The event brought out 8,000 people who let the media there know that they were mad as hell.
For many in California, both talk radio and the initiative process give us a way of circumventing one-party rule, a way of connecting to the pure democracy invented by our Greek ancestors of the fifth century B.C. They connect us to our heritage where the men of the Athenian Assembly were provided the opportunity to speak to every other Athenian citizen soldier and the right to cast a vote on vital matters concerning war and peace. Because we still have access to the initiative process and the radio waves, there is still hope that we can reverse our slide into servitude.
THE PERFECT STORM
Consider California’s perfect fiscal storm. Although Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the governorship in 2003 as a populist reformer, California’s cost of government has risen 40 percent since his election. California’s current budget includes $103 billion in spending. And due to the contracting economy, its shortfall over the next 18 months is projected to be a staggering $41 billion. This shortfall, if financed, would represent $1,108 of new indebtedness for every one of its 37 million citizens. Yet California is already the most indebted state in the union with a half-trillion dollars in outstanding debt obligation.
Milton Friedman observed that one can’t have an open-border policy and a welfare state—the incentives are all wrong. Despite the 1996 federal Welfare Reform Act, California is one of the few states that still provides lifetime welfare benefits. In the mid-1990s, the National Academy of Sciences found that each native-born household paid $1,100 in additional taxes to accommodate new immigrants and illegal aliens. That study is more than 10 years old. Now, if President Barack Obama and the Democrat-led U. S. Congress do grant amnesty to the millions of illegals throughout the country, through chain migration, millions of new welfare recipients will pour into California.
California’s bonds have the lowest rating in country, downgraded to an “A” (most states are AAA), which has sent the cost of the state’s debt service soaring ever higher. The most productive taxpayers, largely native-born baby boomers, are retiring and leaving. The state is now populated by a majority of net recipients of the transfer of wealth, while the number of wealth-producing taxpayers is rapidly diminishing.
A March 4 lead editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle betrays the prevailing mindset here—a belief that the election of Obama signals that\ America will finally repair the ills of capitalism and that ever more wealth redistribution will be the way forward for the nation. The Chronicle editorial board asked, “After the last three decades have resulted in the most staggering income inequality since 1929, are we ready to embrace a new philosophy on taxes, on the role of government, on the question of what it means to contribute to your country?”
Recently, Obama chafed at being asked if he was a socialist, presumably as would most any other California politician if asked the same question. Yet for those status quo politicians, the facts on the ground are irrefutable. In order to avoid an astounding $41 billion projected deficit, Gov. Schwarzenegger has cobbled together a one-year budget deal with the legislature, a deal that can be extended years into the future with the approval of voters in an upcoming special election this month. The budget deal assumes $12 billion in federal bailout money and adds sales taxes, car license tax, gasoline tax and income tax to the myriad other wealth transfers such as multiple taxes on savings. The net effect is that the average Californian will now pay more in taxes than the residents of any other state, with some Californians seeing their government confiscate 70 percent of their income. We Californians are living in a quasi-socialist state where most intellectual elites and elected officials believe that it is the proper role of government to level individuals’ incomes. We are lurching ever leftward toward that mythical egalitarian Marxist utopia.
California, for most of the last century, when it gave birth to the movie industry and later became a television industry capital, has led the nation in setting new trends. It has long been a place where new cultural phenomena were born and rapidly spread across the country. The vital question that needs an answer is this: Will California’s balkanized culture, fiscal insolvency and devotion to Marx be harbingers for the now all Democrat-controlled federal government? Will the nation become what California already is?
CALIFORNIA BEGETS A NATIONAL LOSS OF INNOCENCE
Today, there are tens of billions of dollars flowing into California’s treasury for education, counseling and human development programs. So one might logically conclude that the Golden State would have by now found the formula for the near elimination of crime. Investigative reporter, Jack Cashill, in his book, “What’s the Matter With California?” reports that, in 1953, there were 276 murders in the entire state. Over the years 2003-07, there were more murders in L.A. County than troops killed in Iraq. What could be the root cause for this? Cashill’s answer: fatherlessness.
Cashill points out that, in 1960, California fatefully passed the Aid to Dependent Children Act, which made it a money-making endeavor for a teenager to get pregnant, move out of her parents’ home and receive funds for her own apartment and expenses. The state’s policy unwittingly subsidized the breakup of countless at-risk families and led to vast numbers of black and Latino children being born out of wedlock, many of whom have grown up to be gangsters. (In 1970, California also passed its No-Fault Divorce law and began recording 275,000 divorces annually.) Controlling for both inflation and the population differential, by 1979, two decades after the Aid to Dependent Children Act, the state was collecting three times more real tax dollars, yet the criminals were committing roughly three times the crime. And the crime rate continued to climb. Over the last 15 years, the state’s prison population rose from 23,264 in 1993 to 168,035 in 2008—a seven-fold increase, and based on demographic research, it is closely related to the increase in the number of unwed children having children. Appallingly, the recent report on new births in the United States from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released in March, revealed a new high of 4.3 million babies born in 2007 with 40 percent born to unwed mothers, a figure that will likely only fuel the crime wave American children will face.
Yet the California media, both television and Hollywood, have been relentless in their campaign to mainstream the culture of illegitimacy and single-parenthood while they’ve heaped invective on conventional suburban two-parent America. The media’s role in promoting fatherlessness was first fully exposed in the early 1990s when the then-popular television show “Murphy Brown” was called out publicly by Vice President Dan Quayle for glamorizing unwed motherhood when the show’s title character, played by Candice Bergen, had a child out of wedlock. Predictably, media pundits across the country took the bait and heaped scorn on the vice president. Their universal contempt demonstrated how pervasive and pernicious the media campaign had been. Considering that responsible studies clearly show that there is no stronger correlation to an eventual life of crime than to that of being born to an unwed mother, it is not surprising that a culture of illegitimacy combined with the enormous earning power of illegal drug sales—popularized and spread across the country by academia, media and pop culture—has spread crime throughout California.
ONE-PARTY RULE IN CALIFORNIA
The Left has now achieved a monopoly on power in California largely through a gerrymander where elected officials from both parties, under the previous Democratic administration and Democrat-controlled legislature, were allowed to draw their own districts so that the lines ensured the reelection of incumbents while at the same time cementing control by the Left. This has fundamentally changed political process here from a representative democracy to a kind of oligarchic kleptocracy.
So effective was the California gerrymander, in the 2004 general election, not one seat of the 80 in the state Assembly, of the 20 in the state Senate, not one of 53 U.S. congressional districts changed party. As former three-term Congressman Tom Campbell observed, “Could it have happened by chance? No.” Clearly the system is not just rigged. It’s completely rigged.
Schwarzenegger came to the governorship in 2003 via the recall election of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. In 2005, Schwarzenegger decided to gamble much of his considerable political capital by calling for a special election that placed on the ballot an ambitious list of conservative initiatives aimed at breaking the monopoly of the Democrat controlled legislature. One of these initiatives was a redistricting measure aimed at restoring some legitimacy to the electoral process. But the quarter million state employees, the teachers, nurses, prison guards and municipal and county-employee unions had bought and paid for their government. So they all lined up against him, spent massively and even mortgaged a union headquarters building in order to spend on that election like never before. All of the governor’s initiatives were soundly defeated, after which he lurched leftward. As Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research Institute wrote, “Arnold went into a funk. Worse than a funk, he veered sharply left and seemingly threw in the towel with the Democrats.”
Similarly, in early February of this year, it was revealed that the Obama administration had plans to remove jurisdiction over the Census from the Commerce Department to the White House. This caused many to worry about a White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel-led attempt to gerrymander the entire country. Census numbers are arrived at through modeling, which in turn is developed through “assumptions.” A Republican congressional staffer said, according to the Washington Post, “Hijacking the census from the Commerce Department and letting it be run out of Rahm’s office is like putting PETA in charge of issuing hunting permits.”
That same week, the Obama administration nominated a token Republican, Sen. Judd Gregg, N.H., to run the commerce Department. In the space of a week, Gregg accepted the cabinet position and then resigned, citing fundamental disagreements with the president’s policies and making Obama 0-for-2 in his attempts to fill the Commerce job. One has to wonder if California’s success at gerrymandering inspired Emanuel’s attempt to craft a permanent one-party rule throughout the entire country using essentially the same tool.
THE DISHONESTY OF SOCIALIST ONE PARTY-RULE
California author, philosopher and radio host Rabbi Daniel Lapin is a member of the college speaker’s circuit and a man who tries to undo some of socialist indoctrination that passes as education on college campuses here. One of his more provocative talks is titled “Why Socialism Is Evil.” He explains to California college students that capitalism’s stated goal is freedom while socialism’s stated goal is equality and that, in the end, capitalism does deliver freedom, yet socialism never delivers equality. Instead, socialist regimes pick winners and losers and can do so only through the threat of lethal force. Socialism is, therefore, inherently dishonest. It must constantly obfuscate the fact that its winners are the regime’s faithful supporters and its favored aggrieved groups. Its winners are those picked to be the officers of the vast governmental agencies socialism creates and expands. Its winners’ children are given preferential entrance to elite universities. Its families gain access to special health care programs, unavailable to the masses, once the health care industry is nationalized. Socialism’s losers are those who are expected to fund the source of their own servitude.
While the average college student may not get it, the average California taxpayer cannot overlook his own growing servility to the state and the obvious false promises inherent in one-party socialist rule. Plus, one can clearly see this exact perfidy is on display now in our nation’s capital where one-party socialist rule is just 100 days old. In Charles Krauthammer’s much quoted column, “The Great Non Sequitur,” he exposes Obama’s dishonesty by showing that the president’s massive spending agenda is one gigantic con, one of the largest bait-and-switch operations in human history.
After listing the causes of our current fiscal calamity, “a credit bubble, a housing collapse and a systemic failure of the banking industry … Fannie and Freddie Mac pushed by Washington into improvident loans, corrupted bond-rating agencies … the easy money policies of Alan Greenspan’s Fed … greedy house flippers, deceitful home buyers,” Krauthammer points out that our new president claims that he will “redeem us with his far-seeing program of universal, heavily nationalized health care; a cap and trade tax on energy, and a major federalization of education.” He concludes, “Clever politics, but intellectually dishonest to the core.”
The near collapse of the financial system has nothing to do with the absence of universal health care. But the crisis does create for Obama, the “psychological conditions—the sense of crisis bordering on fear itself—for enacting his ‘Big Bang’ agenda to federalize and or socialize health care, education, and energy.”
One of many galling aspects of Obama’s con is that, in just three months, he has proposed spending that will add more to the U.S. deficit than all the previous presidents combined, from George Washington through George W. Bush, a level of debt that a growing number of economists term “generational theft” and believe is not sustainable and cannot be repaid. Yet he still hasn’t presented the nation a coherent plan to stabilize the banking crisis.
Former Obama advisor Warren Buffet terms the current crisis an “economic Pearl Harbor” and has parted ways with the administration over its desire to enact a far-left agenda rather than focus on finding solid free-market solutions. And if the White House follows its plan to exploit a serious crisis, it is one that may well live in infamy.
MUCH OF OBAMA’S AGENDA IS ALREADY IN PLACE IN CALIFORNIA
On Oct. 17, 2008, the Wall Street Journal published an enormously prophetic lead editorial titled “A Liberal Supermajority.” With the election still three weeks away, the piece presciently predicted the various programs that Obama would attempt to implement, if elected, in order to create vast numbers of new Democratic voters and thereby permanent Democratic rule over the nation. He would do this in much the same way that President Franklin Roosevelt did as a result of the Great Depression.
Obama feigns adoration of Lincoln when he is actually following the lead of FDR and is the product of modern Democratic machines that run big cities (such as Chicago) and whole states (such as California). Many of the programs Obama campaigned on are already in place in California. For example:
Union Supremacy: The new administration has let its union supporters know that, due to their longsuffering support for the Democratic Party, they will be rewarded with the passage of the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act. In actuality, if passed, it will unleash union thugs on small and large businesses all across the country, abolishing the secret ballot and driving up union membership.
In California the state employee unions are already the most powerful force behind the one-party rule.
Green Power: Obama wants to pass massive carbon-emissions taxes on businesses, which will supposedly provide billions of dollars in new government revenue in order to fund new programs such as universal health care. Additionally, he wants to create a new federal agency (likely staffed with Democratic supporters) whose preposterous mission is perfect in that it can never succeed and therefore never end: the mission to stop climate change.
Tom McClintock, the newly elected Republican U.S. congressman and one of the few California elected officials with impeccable conservative credentials, spoke to me about Schwarzenegger’s emissions law already on the books, passed in 2006 by California voters. McClintock described, in apocalyptic terms reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” the implications of the measure: “AB 32 is the most radical reduction of carbon emissions anywhere on the planet. It calls for a 25 percent reduction of carbon dioxide by 2020, a mandate that can’t be met even if we removed every car on the road in California. It will mean systematically shutting down entire sectors of California’s economy with grave implications for agriculture, cargo, cement production, construction, manufacturing, energy production, distilling, baking. It is now being implemented by the Air Resources Board, which is taking actions necessary to shut down commercial enterprises in California.”
Election Corruption: Following California’s gerrymandered lead, the White House has not only signaled that it would like to make the Census an administration-owned program but also doubled down by adding to the stimulus bill $1 billion in old-fashioned slush funds for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The program gives local politicians wide latitude when spending these monies. ACORN, which has been cited in a dozen states for creating bogus Democratic voter registrations, loves CDBG because it is adept at lobbying for CDBG funds. The Wall Street Journal and others have predicted that, with this access topublic funds, ACORN can open offices for upcoming elections with teams of workers who can register fictitious Democratic voters on a nationwide scale.
Marxist-Inspired Taxation: The San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board asserted that the election of Obama hopefully signals the beginning of a new era when the U.S. government can finally address the “problem” of “income inequality,” when the tax code can finally be used to establish “fairness” among its subjects. But Art Laffer and Stephen Moore in their recent book, “The End of Prosperity,” demonstrate that the bottom 20 percent of wage earners saw their incomes grow by 109 percent over the decade from 1996 to 2005, while the top 1 percent, which shoulders 40 percent of all federal income taxes, saw their incomes fall 23 percent. Also, as McClintock points out, the new taxes levied against Californians will not produce the higher revenues projected by the governor and legislature but will, instead, assuredly drive more of the overtaxed populace out of the state. The Chronicle embodies the collectivist worldview that passes for wisdom among the majority of California’s ruling elite and citizenry.
And Obama has betrayed his Marxist worldview on numerous occasions such as the time he told “Joe the Plumber” that he just “needed to spread the wealth around.” But never was his socialism more thoroughly exposed during the campaign than during the Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia. ABC’s Charlie Gibson asked him why he wanted to increase the capital gains tax when both Presidents Clinton and Bush lowered it and both times “revenue from the tax increased.”
“Well, Charlie,” Obama replied, “what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for the purposes of fairness.” He then went on with a preposterous fabrication about how the government needed to punish the top 50 hedge-fund managers for making $29 billion dollars last year. This should have been a stunning revelation for clear-thinking Democrats. Here was their candidate for president admitting that he did not mind if his tax policy damages the country and lowers revenue to the Treasury as long as it can be used for a higher purpose—a tool to conduct class warfare.
THERE’S HOPE FOR A SECOND GREAT CALIFORNIA TAX REVOLT
It should be noted that, in 1978, California, ever the trendsetter, was the first state to successfully stage a tax revolt through ballot initiatives. Laffer and Moore describe the 1978 initiative (Prop. 13) as the most significant tax revolt since the Boston Tea Party and one that set the stage for Reagan’s supply-side revolution two years later. They point out that, in California 30 years ago, there was also a housing crisis due to thousands of Californians, many of them elderly citizens living on fixed incomes, who were losing their homes because they could not pay the escalating property taxes that were assessed at a 3.5 percent rate.
The 1978 initiative slashed the tax to 1 percent and mandated that any tax increases had to be passed by a supermajority of two-thirds in both houses. Big business, labor, the media, academia and virtually every other special interest group came out against the measure, predicting doom if it passed. The Los Angeles Times called Prop. 13’s sponsors, Paul Gann and Howard Jarvis, “the chief agitators for this expanding group of disgruntled taxpayers.” The UCLA business school predicted a loss of 450,000 jobs in the state. The measure passed by 20 points.
Laffer and Moore show that, to this day, all the Prop. 13 opponents were wrong and continue to lie about its aftermath. While the measure brought the tax burden down from $124.57 per $1,000 of income to $95 per $1,000 over the next 10 years, housing prices soared, 3 million new jobs were created and tax revenues to the state more than doubled. So much for the liberal mantra that holds that tax cuts benefit only the rich. Yet today, one of the provisions the state’s Republican governor is now seeking in California’s special election this month is the ability to rescind the two-thirds supermajority provision so that the state can more easily raise taxes and pass bloated budgets.
However, there is hope in numbers. Approximately 40 percent of the 37 million Californians are right-of-center voters, and there are signs that this vast army is motivated, mad, eager to be called to muster and ready for the next tax revolt to begin. Among this nascent revolution’s emerging generals is Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA.org). His think tank, founded in 1978 by Prop. 13’s co-sponsor, has thousands of members and supporters who provide Coupal with the means to run his current hard-hitting media campaign against Schwarzenegger’s Prop. 1A that will allow the state to extend the new tax deal into the future. Due to his lack of guiding principles, the governor’s special election agenda this time is being attacked by his former base—the conservatives.
As California’s May special election impends, the other force driving the revolt is conservative talk radio, which in California dominates in audience share versus their competitors who offer left-of-center, “mainstream” news talk or music. On the powerful L.A. station KFI, the hosts of the prime drive-time show, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, in March, organized a taxpayer rally (a neo-tea party like those that have sprung up all over the country.) On air, during the days preceding the event, the hosts wondered aloud if Californians had “become sheep” accepting oppressive government and would therefore not show up at the Slide bare Café in Fullerton for the rally. The event brought out 8,000 people who let the media there know that they were mad as hell.
For many in California, both talk radio and the initiative process give us a way of circumventing one-party rule, a way of connecting to the pure democracy invented by our Greek ancestors of the fifth century B.C. They connect us to our heritage where the men of the Athenian Assembly were provided the opportunity to speak to every other Athenian citizen soldier and the right to cast a vote on vital matters concerning war and peace. Because we still have access to the initiative process and the radio waves, there is still hope that we can reverse our slide into servitude.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Washington Post Op-ed: The 'Cap And Tax' Dead End
By Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK)
There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs. Our nation's debt is unsustainable, and the federal government's reach into the private sector is unprecedented.
Unfortunately, many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges. So, at risk of disappointing the chattering class, let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and where my focus will be:
I am deeply concerned about President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.
American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president's cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy.
There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn't lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America's economy.
Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.
In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan. For example, the cost of farming will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing and transportation will also increase.
The ironic beauty in this plan? Soon, even the most ardent liberal will understand supply-side economics.
The Americans hit hardest will be those already struggling to make ends meet. As the president eloquently puts it, their electricity bills will "necessarily skyrocket." So much for not raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.
Even Warren Buffett, an ardent Obama supporter, admitted that under the cap-and-tax scheme, "poor people are going to pay a lot more for electricity."
We must move in a new direction. We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today.
In Alaska, we are progressing on the largest private-sector energy project in history. Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America. We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.
Of course, Alaska is not the sole source of American energy. Many states have abundant coal, whose technology is continuously making it into a cleaner energy source. Westerners literally sit on mountains of oil and gas, and every state can consider the possibility of nuclear energy.
We have an important choice to make. Do we want to control our energy supply and its environmental impact? Or, do we want to outsource it to China, Russia and Saudi Arabia? Make no mistake: President Obama's plan will result in the latter.
For so many reasons, we can't afford to kill responsible domestic energy production or clobber every American consumer with higher prices.
Can America produce more of its own energy through strategic investments that protect the environment, revive our economy and secure our nation?
Yes, we can. Just not with Barack Obama's energy cap-and-tax plan.
There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs. Our nation's debt is unsustainable, and the federal government's reach into the private sector is unprecedented.
Unfortunately, many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges. So, at risk of disappointing the chattering class, let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and where my focus will be:
I am deeply concerned about President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.
American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president's cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy.
There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn't lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America's economy.
Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs.
In addition to immediately increasing unemployment in the energy sector, even more American jobs will be threatened by the rising cost of doing business under the cap-and-tax plan. For example, the cost of farming will certainly increase, driving down farm incomes while driving up grocery prices. The costs of manufacturing, warehousing and transportation will also increase.
The ironic beauty in this plan? Soon, even the most ardent liberal will understand supply-side economics.
The Americans hit hardest will be those already struggling to make ends meet. As the president eloquently puts it, their electricity bills will "necessarily skyrocket." So much for not raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.
Even Warren Buffett, an ardent Obama supporter, admitted that under the cap-and-tax scheme, "poor people are going to pay a lot more for electricity."
We must move in a new direction. We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil. Just as important, we have more desire and ability to protect the environment than any foreign nation from which we purchase energy today.
In Alaska, we are progressing on the largest private-sector energy project in history. Our 3,000-mile natural gas pipeline will transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of our clean natural gas to hungry markets across America. We can safely drill for U.S. oil offshore and in a tiny, 2,000-acre corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if ever given the go-ahead by Washington bureaucrats.
Of course, Alaska is not the sole source of American energy. Many states have abundant coal, whose technology is continuously making it into a cleaner energy source. Westerners literally sit on mountains of oil and gas, and every state can consider the possibility of nuclear energy.
We have an important choice to make. Do we want to control our energy supply and its environmental impact? Or, do we want to outsource it to China, Russia and Saudi Arabia? Make no mistake: President Obama's plan will result in the latter.
For so many reasons, we can't afford to kill responsible domestic energy production or clobber every American consumer with higher prices.
Can America produce more of its own energy through strategic investments that protect the environment, revive our economy and secure our nation?
Yes, we can. Just not with Barack Obama's energy cap-and-tax plan.
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