Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.
Democrats will work on the bill's details next week as they struggle through "what kind of heartburn" it will cause to agree on how to pay for revamping the health-care system, Rangel, a New York Democrat, said today. He also said the measure's cost will reach beyond the $634 billion President Barack Obama proposed in his budget request to Congress as a down payment for the policy changes.
Powerline Blog has a good post last night on the fact that voters are turning on the free-spending Democrats' economic policies:
The Democrats continue to press policies on the American people of which most voters don't approve. The latest evidence is from today's Rasmussen survey, which finds 53% of voters saying that more government spending will hurt the economy:
Do increases in government spending help the economy, hurt the economy, or have no impact on the economy? Help 27% Hurt 53% No impact 10% Not sure 10%
Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on six out of 10 key issues, including the top issue of the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more.
President Obama broken another record this week ... the federal deficit hit $1.8 billion -- meaning the federal government will have to borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends:
The White House raised the 2009 budget deficit projection to a staggering $1.8 trillion today. For context, it took President Bush more than seven years to accumulate $1.8 trillion in debt. It also means that 45 cents of every dollar Washington spends this year will be borrowed.
President Obama continues to distance himself from this "inherited" budget deficit. But the day he was inaugurated, the 2009 deficit was forecast at $1.2 trillion -- meaning $600 billion has already been added during his four-month presidency (an amount that, by itself, would exceed all 2001-07 annual budget deficits). And should the president really be allowed to distance himself from the $1.2 trillion "inherited" portion of the deficit, given that as a senator he supported nearly all policies and bailouts that created it?
The Heritage Foundation's Foundry blog has a good post over the weekend about the Democrats' planned national energy sales tax with cost the average American family:
Any honest economist will tell you that a carbon cap and trade scheme, if it works perfectly, functions the same as an energy tax. The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill currently under consideration in Congress is no different. In 2007, MIT did a study on the costs of cap and trade and found that cap and trade proposals that would reduce carbon emission by 50% to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 would cost the American household $800 a year in economic losses and $3,100 a year in taxes collected by the federal government. That's a total $3,900 cost for the average American household! How does this cost compare to other household expenses?
We've seen this video popping up here and there, and after finally watching it, it's a pretty good visualization of the fiscal irresponsibility overseen by President Obama and Congressional Democrats.
Michael Pento: "The Obama administration predicts GDP growth for 2010 will rebound to 3.2% and then increase by more than 4% for each of the next three years!"
Officials are most pessimistic about his energy and global warming plan, with many aides doubting he will win passage of a cap-and-trade emissions reduction system, which is strongly opposed by business and Republicans.
By now, you know that the fiscal instanity that is President Obama's budget spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much. Did you know that it also passes the buck?
President Barack Obama boasts that he'll reduce spending on key domestic nondefense programs to their lowest levels since the 1960s, but he and Democrats in Congress are on a spending spree not seen since then.
