Today, Barack Obama announced yet again, he believes it is time to get something done regarding our looming debt train wreck. His proposal, well let’s just say that it reminds me of one of my favorite memories from my childhood. Every year, for the beginning of the fall season, I would eagerly await the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy Van Pelt would offer Charlie Brown a crack at kicking the football. Each year, I would read in anticipation of Charlie finally connecting, and each year, along with Chuck, I would be disappointed. In his last year of writing the popular strip, Charles M. Schultz stated in an interview that he gave serious thought to allowing Charlie to attain his goal during what was to be his last crack at kicking the ball. It was not in the cards however, as once again, Lucy would succumb to her inevitable nature.
Obama’s offered proposal? He promises to lower spending later, if we give him a tax increase now. For those of you who need a visual representation of this deal, I’ll repeat it for you now, in an easier to understand visual form.
Taxpayer cost over 10 years: $210 billion.
• Also starting in 2013 is a 2.3% excise tax on medical device manufacturers and importers. That’s estimated to raise $20 billion.
• Already underway this year is the new annual fee on “branded” drug makers and importers, which will raise $27 billion.
• Another $15.2 billion will come from raising the floor on allowable medical deductions to 10% of adjusted gross income from 7.5%.
• Starting in 2018, the bill imposes a whopping 40% “excise tax” on high-cost health insurance plans. Though it only applies to two years in the 2010-2019 window of ObamaCare’s original budget score, this tax would still raise $32 billion—and much more in future years.
• And don’t forget a new annual fee on health insurance providers starting in 2014 and estimated to raise $60 billion. This tax, like many others on this list, will be passed along to consumers in higher health-care costs.
Lost in this discussion of what the attainment of the decades long goal of the Democrat party means to our nation, is the actual facts of what will in deed happen. The goal of course was to spend our country into oblivion. Congratulations Democrats, you made it happen. So, here we are today, and these two trains are going to wreck. What is going to be the result.
1. We will not default on our debt. According to current law, our debt will be the first thing paid.
2. It will result in a defacto balanced budget amendment that about 60% of the country believes is a good idea. (While most Americans agree with the concept of a balanced budget amendment, they do not agree with number 3 of this list. Unfortunately, our elected leaders have done a terrible job in explaining the basic math involved with their magic programs. 70% of Americans who want a balanced budget, want to have this happen without cutting entitlement spending, which is impossible.)
3. Since entitlement spending in our country is currently, (and this factoid by the way serves as the greatest proof of the failure of the Socialist agenda which is now choking the life from our country,) $260 Billion more than our revenues at their highest point in our nation’s history, our defacto balanced budget amendment will cause a mandatory decrease in entitlement spending.
4. The current President, who presided over an 83% increase in discretionary spending over the last two years, along with adding over $1.5 Trillion in new entitlement spending, will be forced to pull out a machete, and not a scalpel in order to determine which programs would be actually paid for. (Since the money would not be in existence to continue anything which required any type of credit. Also, his role would still be on an equal footing with the current House.)
During his presser today, the President, beyond saying, “let me be clear,” for the thousandth time also stated that he is in fact now ready to lead the two sides to a compromise. For those of you who have not figured this out yet, compromise in the liberal speak language boils down to this, it means that the President want the Republicans in the House to now give up their position and accept a crappy deal which would make it look like they got something while in practice, they would have capitulated to more spending, and increased taxation. Sure, the promise of lowering spending later on down the road would be there, but…………..
At this point by the way, I would just like to point out that the Pelosi led House did not produce a single budget for her entire 4 years as Speaker. That by the way is the only constitutionally mandated unique duty of the House of Representatives. The House under John Boehner has produced a budget, but the President, and his party apparatchiks in the Senate have failed to address the budget issue. where has his leadership been on the budget issue for his entire term so far. Perhaps if we wrote our budget down somewhere, we could have avoided this entire mess.
Kudos by the way to John Boehner, for standing tough so far in this fight. He has been vilified by the left, and even more viciously vilified by the right. The left hates him because he is a conservative, and that is all that the left needs to validate their blind hatred. The right is still mad at conservative leaders in days past who found themselves at a similar crossroads and sold us out. Perhaps Boehner will be the first Republican to tell Lucy to buzz off. Maybe he will be the first to not go for the, “this time I’ll let you kick it,” gag.
