In his essay, The Eyes of Texas Are Sparkling in the 2010 Census, Michael Barone offers up an excellent analysis of the data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The data shows that the population center of the U.S. is now in Texas County, Missouri and population growth continues to trend south and west. He concludes that public policy is one of the driving forces in population growth (or lack thereof) throughout the States.
What’s been happening is that people from the Northeast and the Midwest have been flocking to the South Atlantic states, not to retirement communities but to Tampa and Jacksonville, Atlanta and Charlotte and Raleigh, which are among the nation’s fastest-growing metro areas. The South Atlantic has been attracting smaller numbers of immigrants, as well.
Coastal California, in contrast, has had a vast inflow of immigrants and a similarly vast outflow of Americans. High housing costs, exacerbated by no-growth policies and environmental restrictions, have made modest homes unaffordable to middle class families who don’t want to live in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods or commute 50 miles to work.
California for the first time in its history grew only microscopically faster than the nation as a whole (10 percent to 9.7 percent). Metro Los Angeles and San Francisco increasingly resemble Mexico City and Sao Paulo, with a large affluent upper class, a vast proletariat and a huge income gap in between.
Public policy plays an important role here — one that’s especially relevant as state governments seek to cut spending and reduce the power of the public employee unions that seek to raise spending and prevent accountability.
The lesson is that high taxes and strong public employee unions tend to stifle growth and produce a two-tier society like coastal California’s.
The eight states with no state income tax grew 18 percent in the last decade. The other states (including the District of Columbia) grew just 8 percent.
The 22 states with right-to-work laws grew 15 percent in the last decade. The other states grew just 6 percent.
The 16 states where collective bargaining with public employees is not required grew 15 percent in the last decade. The other states grew 7 percent.
For those of you who love statistical data with interactive maps and charts, you can visit the U.S. Census Bureau Website and all of your statistical dreams will come true.
Remember When Candidate Obama promised that under his Administration 95% of Americans would not experience an increase of one dime in the amount of taxes they paid? Having trouble remembering that? Well here it is, in his own words:
Well, as it turns out, that was a complete lie. As you might have guessed from Nancy Pelosi’s arrogant remarks leading off this post, it has to do with Obamacare. You see, this sink hole of a new law is in fact also the single largest tax increase in American history. And, as you might expect, it is not just being levied on the, “rich.” We all get to share in this joy. Here is the list of tax hikes which resulted from Obamacare.
Individual Mandate Excise Tax(Jan 2014): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the higher of the following.”
1 Adult
2 Adults
3+ Adults
2014
1% AGI/$95
1% AGI/$190
1% AGI/$285
2015
2% AGI/$325
2% AGI/$650
2% AGI/$975
2016 +
2.5% AGI/$695
2.5% AGI/$1390
2.5% AGI/$2085
Employer Mandate Tax(Jan 2014): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2000 for all full-time employees. This provision applies to all employers with 50 or more employees. If any employee actually receives coverage through the exchange, the penalty on the employer for that employee rises to $3000. If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer).
Combined score of individual and employer mandate tax penalty: $65 billion/10 years
Surtax on Investment Income ($123 billion/Jan. 2013): This increase involves the creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income
Capital Gains
Dividends
Other*
2010-2012
15%
15%
35%
2013+ (current law)
23.8%
43.4%
43.4%
2013+ (Obama budget)
23.8%
23.8%
43.4%
*Other unearned income includes (for surtax purposes) gross income from interest, annuities, royalties, net rents, and passive income in partnerships and Subchapter-S corporations. It does not include municipal bond interest or life insurance proceeds, since those do not add to gross income. It does not include active trade or business income, fair market value sales of ownership in pass-through entities, or distributions from retirement plans. The 3.8% surtax does not apply to non-resident aliens.
Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans($32 bil/Jan 2018): Starting in 2018, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($10,200 single/$27,500 family). For early retirees and high-risk professions exists a higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family). CPI +1 percentage point indexed. Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax($86.8 bil/Jan 2013): Current law and changes:
First $200,000
($250,000 Married)
Employer/Employee
All Remaining Wages
Employer/Employee
Current Law
1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed
1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed
Obamacare Tax Hike
1.45%/1.45%
2.9% self-employed
1.45%/2.35%
3.8% self-employed
Medicine Cabinet Tax($5 bil/Jan 2011): Americans no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin) HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike($1.4 bil/Jan 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka“Special Needs Kids Tax”($13 bil/Jan 2013): Imposes cap of $2500 (Indexed to inflation after 2013) on FSAs (now unlimited). . There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers($20 bil/Jan 2013): Medical device manufacturers employ 360,000 people in 6000 plants across the country. This law imposes a new 2.3% excise tax. Exemptions include items retailing for less than $100. Raise “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI($15.2 bil/Jan 2013): Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction for medical expenses to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). The new provision imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI; it is waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only. Tax on Indoor Tanning Services($2.7 billion/July 1, 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D($4.5 bil/Jan 2013) Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike($0.4 bil/Jan 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals(Min$/immediate): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new “community health assessment needs,” “financial assistance,” and “billing and collection” rules set by HHS Tax on Innovator Drug Companies($22.2 bil/Jan 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Tax on Health Insurers($60.1 bil/Jan 2014): Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. The stipulation phases in gradually until 2018, and is fully-imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives($0.6 bil/Jan 2013) Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2(Min$/Jan 2011): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns. Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting($17.1 bil/Jan 2012): Requires businesses to send 1099-MISC information tax forms to corporations (currently limited to individuals), a huge compliance burden for small employers “Black liquor” tax hike(Tax hike of $23.6 billion). This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Codification of the “economic substance doctrine”(Tax hike of $4.5 billion). This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed
In a completely dishonest and by the way discredited effort to make this disaster, “budget neutral,” raising money in the form of taxation became necessary. Dishonest, in that we were promised and told repeatedly that there were no new taxes in it. As a matter of fact, even as Obama’s lawyers were in court claiming that the government has unbridled authority to tax the living snot out of us, he was on T.V. and radio telling us that there were no taxes in it for us non rich folk to be paying. A Federal Judge threw this argument out last month. Discredited, in that in every instance where we have raised the rates of taxation in this country, revenues to the federal coffers have declined. I have argued with leftists on this point often, showed them the statistics, all to no avail. It has to do with the multiplier effect, which is also included in the Keynesian theory they hold so dear.
What this shows of course, is that Obamacare is less about health care, and those poor folks who can’t afford medical treatment than it is about wealth redistribution and government control. We have the best health care system in the world. We are now in the process of wrecking it, or trying to save it, depending on which side of this you are on. When foreigners get truly sick, they come to the U.S.A. in order to get better. We are now putting ourselves into the third world on purpose with this new law. Perhaps, our Representatives should have read it prior to passing it.
Another discussion about budget neutrality. This is a term our President bandies about and the media blindly follows suit with designed to make people believe that they won’t have to foot the bill, (at least not in terms of paying more for something.) All it means is that for every penny the government plans on spending, they plan on taxing us, in order to keep it a zero sum game. So, when they pass a $1Trillion entitlement, in order to keep it budget neutral, they need to raise $1Trillion in new taxes. Do you see the problem? On the one hand, they told us that wrecking the best health care system in the world would save us money. On the other hand, they had to use smoke and mirrors to make us believe we would not be paying more for it while they are preparing to bleed us dry for it.
The real answer to our budget problems is not, as a former co-worker put it, Rocket Surgery. It is simply a matter of not spending money. The entitlement programs we already have are not sustainable. We certainly can not afford new ones. I would say that an irresponsible congress spends money like drunken sailors, but that is not fair to drunken sailors. When they go on a bender, at least they are spending their own money. Congress is spending ours.
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This is what has gotten me banned from various other blogs. It makes a good topic for a fight thread, so I’ll submit it here.
Present-day secessionists (whom leftists, as well as some misguided neocons, typically label as “neo-Confederates”) do not espouse white supremacy. Absolutely none of us want to re-establish slavery. Despite what over a century of indoctrination would have us believe, the War for Southern Independence was never primarily about slavery; it was about resisting ruinous taxation and enemy invasion. That having been said, it is not our goal to bring back the old Confederacy, but to rebuild something far better.
I know because I’ve been part of secessionist circles for more than a decade.
What we want is to free EVERYONE from enslavement to centralized government tyranny. We started long before the Tea Party. Our motivations are much the same – roll back the federal tax-and-spend tyranny – but we plan to carry it even further by disbanding the federal government entirely and replacing it with VOLUNTARY regional confederations of states, under a Constitution that stringently prohibits the centralization of power.
Most important of all, secession will put an end to an out-of-control central government selling us out to our totalitarian adversaries, particularly the Muslims.
I strongly recommend that the nations within the EU secede also, and for the same reasons. The centralized EU government is accountable to no one, and it has been nothing but a tranzi-progressive/pro-jihadi fraud from the get-go.
Barack Hussein Obama clearly is a serial liar. He promised that C-Span would be allowed to cover the Health Care negotiations. He lied about it. Even his fellow Progressive, Nancy Pelosi mocked his campaign promises. He promised not to raise Taxes on the Middle Class, well he lied about that as well. He is pushing for taxes on so called High End Healthcare plans. The problem is this will effect mostly middle class Americans since the rich pay out of pocket.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signaled to House Democratic leaders Wednesday that they’ll have to drop their opposition to taxing high-end health insurance plans to pay for health coverage for millions of uninsured Americans.
In a meeting at the White House, Obama expressed his preference for the insurance tax contained in the Senate’s health overhaul bill, but largely opposed by House Democrats and organized labor, Democratic aides said. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.
Obama being the Totalitarian Progressive he is, wants his way. Even his own party in the House is against this plan. However, he doesn’t care. It’s about imposing his Radical Leftist agenda. He’s a liar and is throwing not just his party, but his nation under the bus. Barack Hussein Obama is a disgrace to this nation. November 2010 can’t come soon enough.
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