An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for 20 November 2009
Weasel Time
A Few Must Reads From The Foundry
The Senate Health Bill: Budget Gimmicks Galore
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled his 2,074 page health care bill with claims that the massive measure falls under the $900 billion cost threshold promised by the President.
To put it charitably, the truth is more complicated. The bill depends on budget gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions and projected savings to reach this goal over the 10 year budget window.
A Health Bill Nobody Believes In
Last Saturday night Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) forced through a vote on her 2,032 page health care bill only a few days after releasing it to the public. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is poised for another Saturday night cram down, forcing a Senate cloture vote mere days before his 2,074 page bill was given to Senators. Yet again, Congress will be forced to vote on a bill that none of them have actually read. More importantly, as we pour through the details, it becomes obvious that none of them even believe the plan will do what the bill says.
Kills Jobs: All told, the Reid Bill raises taxes by $370.2 billion over the next ten years with many of those taxes starting to be collected this year while unemployment is at 10.2% and rising. Worse, the bill includes a job killing employer mandate which taxes companies for hiring people. Specifically, companies with more than 50 employees that do not offer a health plan approved by federal bureaucrats will be forced to pay a $750 per employee job tax.
The Senate Health Bill: True Cost is $4.9 Trillion
So, here’s the bottom line. On paper, the Reid plan plus the “doc fix” would increase total federal spending by about $4.9 trillion over 20 years. Senate Democrats would resort to bracket creep and other tax hikes to raise $2.2 trillion over the same period. The balance would be made up with spending reductions, mainly in Medicare, that no one believes can be sustained, and in any event do not constitute “health reform.” In other words, it’s a tax-and-spend bill of the highest order. And only the spending is certain to happen.
Take some time to read these.
Should Geithner Resign
Geithner feels pressure from left, right to resign
Geithner was forced to defend himself Thursday at a public hearing on Capitol Hill during which he was pointedly asked by Brady to resign.
DeFazio emphasized that there are growing concerns about Geithner among “populist” House Democrats, who have always been cautious about the Treasury secretary.
Geithner should never have been approved! Period! However, we can’t go back in time to stop the approval, even though many of us did try back then. He’s been proven to be totally incompetent, and most definitely should resign.
“Secretary Geithner has helped steer the American economy back from the brink, and is now leading the effort on financial reform,” Jen Psaki, White House spokeswoman, told The Hill. “His focus today — and ours — is on economic recovery and addressing the challenges the American people face every day. We invite anyone with good ideas, whether they agree with us or not, to be a part of the productive effort toward a solution.”
If the focus is on economic recovery, why is everything this administration, with the aid of their minions in Congress, doing everything possible to actually DESTROY the economy?
This week’s criticism was sparked by a report from Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general over the $700 billion bailout program. Barofsky concluded that officials at the Federal Reserve, including Geithner, who was head of the New York Fed, made a series of missteps in the bailout of American International Group (AIG).
They call them ‘missteps’. I call them down right criminal. The theft and a complete waste of taxpayer money.
“For the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?” Brady asked, saying that Geithner and the administration’s economic policies have “failed.”
Geithner defended himself, saying that the steps taken last year at the height of the crisis were necessary and that the economy has improved.
On what planet are these people living? Because it sure can’t be the same one I’m on! The official gubmint unemployment numbers are at 10.2%. Actual unemployment is more like 17%. If people aren’t working, they aren’t buying. If they are buying, there’s no need for production. If there is no production, there is no need to hire.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and six other House Democrats are seeking a comprehensive review of the Federal Reserve following Barofsky’s report.
But while Cummings has been critical of the Fed, he has not sought Geithner’s resignation.
“I’m glad you’re there,” Cummings said on Thursday. “I don’t know how many people could stand the pressure you’re dealing with.”
Yes, there is a great deal of pressure in such a position, I won’t dispute that at all. This is the guy who couldn’t handle the pressure of using Turbo Tax, so how is he suppose to manage the entire economy of a nation the size of the U.S.?
