All Aboard the Debt Express
Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-MN) reveals that liberals leveraged last year’s super-majorities to pre-fund ObamaCare to the tune of $105 billion, shielding what was billed as a deficit reducing reform from the normal workings of a representative republic. Instead of being subject to annual appropriations, ObamaCare funds itself unless specifically blocked. Apparently, our Hope and Change agents somehow guessed that government-run healthcare would prove less popular than advertised. The Heritage Foundation details the sleight of hand
Today former Congressman Ernest Istook testified before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee about the $105 billion slush fund in advance appropriations liberals tucked inside Obamacare. The $105 billion bypasses the traditional yearly budgeting process and is spread throughout the 2,700 page legislation. It took the Congressional Research Service (CRS) seven months to identify all the disparate funds and it was not until February (11 months after the bill passed) that all of the funds could be totaled up
In other news, the Senate last night, with every Democrat voting en bloc, rejected the House plan to cut $61 billion from the projected $1.5 trillion deficit for this fiscal year. ObamaCare funding was untouched by the rejected proposal.
So too little is too much for liberal senators, even against the backdrop of recently enacted massive “temporary” spending increases such as the failed stimulus bill.
Meanwhile, more and more of us are getting our daily bread from the government, either directly or indirectly. London’s Daily Mail reports:
Government handouts now make up a record-breaking one third of the total amount of wages and salaries in the U.S., according to a bombshell new study.
The payouts – including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance – are placing an increasing burden on the state at a time it is trying to dig itself out from a mountain of debt.
And economists fear the toll on taxpayers will only increase further if quick action isn’t taken before the majority of baby boomers reach retirement age.
Social benefits make up 35 per cent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 per cent in 2000 and 10 per cent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research, based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Is anyone able to put an optimistic spin on all of this?
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Comments :
May '10
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
How about a spin so pessimistic that it makes your pessimism feel like optimism?
Utter disregard for law and order has become so blunt and ubiquitous on the Left that liberals would be unlikely to respond to major conservative headway in 2012 by patiently waiting for lawful means to regain power.
As I said before, we will always be at a disadvantage for rejecting a "by any means necessary" mentality while the Left embraces it. But being true to our principles will be worth it. We have to keep playing it straight while they break all the rules, but we should anticipate lawless opposition to our lawful actions.
Edited on Mar 10, 2011 at 9:44amJan '11
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
My question. We know that the Congressional Budget Office scored Obamacare, and the projected costs are unrealistic, because they have to use the figures they are given.
Why don't Repubs get and independent body to look at the true projected costs of Obamacare - or has someone already done this, but with real numbers?
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
Erik, there is a lot of excellent research over at the Heritage Foundation. ObamaCare fundamentally reorders an enormous swathe of our economic life, so I can't just provide a single link. There are dozens of excellent pieces, each analyzing a different aspect of the law.
May '10
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
I have nothing to offer. 1/3 of the people on the dole? How do we survive that? We need to slash and slash and slash that.
Jan '11
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
Thanks Mr Savage, will check it out.
Oct '10
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
Aaron Miller: How about a spin so pessimistic that it makes your pessimism feel like optimism?
Utter disregard for law and order has become so blunt and ubiquitous on the Left that liberals would be unlikely to respond to major conservative headway in 2012 by patiently waiting for lawful means to regain power.
Edited on Mar 10 at 09:44 am
We have seen where the left wants to go, over and over again. Think Libya, Egypt, Taliban... pick your tyranny. The only thing needed for us to wind up with that is to keep opposing the left and to lose the battle. Like wrestling an alligator, once you are engaged, losing is never an option.
How refreshing to finally see the lines being drawn. I agree with Rob Long. We need to get on with the fight.
I can think of nothing more optimistic than that!!
May '10
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
I'm optimistic. the 2010 elections proved that, properly informed, the voting public will do the right thing. We usually wait until the circumstances are dire and we lose some early battles but we eventually do the right thing. I'm thinking WWII, electing Reagan, and the Space Program after the Apollo pad fire. Sooner would be better...but it WILL happen. And the longer it takes, the worse for the Democrat Party. Cuz when the voters realize what they have done to our national wealth, they will get spanked like a red-headed stepchild.
Oct '10
Re: All Aboard the Debt Express
I’d be more optimistic if more people understood that increasing government dependency is the principal purpose behind Obama’s policies, not an unfortunate side effect. Obama wants single-payer healthcare, for instance, not because he thinks it’s so wonderful in and of itself. No, he and his ilk have a far higher calling. The only way you’ll get socialism past the American electorate (the TEA Parties and last Nov’s elections nearly prove this thesis) is by creating an economic crisis, devaluing the dollar, crash-landing the economy and making it impossible to move forward w/o massively intrusive Federal economic control. Obama wants to bury the system under mountains of debt so that we have no choice but to monetize it, thereby collapsing the dollar and with it the reason the US can be as powerful as it is. Remember, we’re no more exceptional than Greece . . . just stronger. And since Obama doesn’t believe in American values, he’s convinced that he’s doing the world a favor by cutting us down to size and preventing us from doing things that don’t align with ‘progressives’ around the world. He's succeeding in his plan.