Business Insider: Obama Heckled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bDQaX49B1U&sns=em

Full story: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-heckled-in-new-hampshire-by-occupy-wall-...

Obama Bank Bailouts, More of the Same

With the ink of President Obama’s signature on the Barney Frank-Chris Dodd financial reform bill barely dry, the next bank bailout already has begun. How can that be, you might ask? Weren’t we promised that this “landmark” legislation would end bank bailouts? Weren’t we promised that this legislation ushered in a new era of transparency on Wall Street? Could it be that the politicians lied to us? Say it ain’t so - but it is.

How can I make such a preposterous claim, you might ask? What evidence do I have to support my assertion? Well, I reply, look no further than the second-quarter earnings report of the Wall Street titan J.P. Morgan Chase. You will, however, have to dig deep into the report, into the financial supplement on Page 32, where the company reports information on the credit quality of its loan portfolio. At the bottom of the page in footnote (a), you will learn of more than $12 billion in non-accrual loans (read: the borrower ain’t gonna pay) made by the bank but that the bank does not consider to be “nonperforming.”

Why not, you might ask? There in footnote (a) is your answer and prima facie evidence of the next bank bailout. These bad loans are insured by U.S. government agencies. Which agencies, you ask? So do I, because the bank doesn’t identify them. But the most likely culprit is the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which insures residential mortgages.

Of course, it is unfair to single out J.P. Morgan Chase. So take a look at the second-quarter earnings report of Bank of America. There, on Page 40 of its supplemental information, is a line item “Federal Housing Administration insured loans past due 90 days or more and still accruing,” showing a balance of more than $15 billion. Why are these loans not considered to be “nonperforming”? The answer is simple: Bank of America plans to collect from the FHA.

Likewise for Wells Fargo. On Page 33 of its supplemental information is a footnote saying that its “90-plus days past due and still accruing” line item “excludes GNMA [Ginnie Mae] and similar loans whose repayments are insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.” By comparing the reported amount with the amount from its Y9C form, which reports basic financial information to the Federal Reserve, I estimate the exposure at more than $30 billion.

If this brings to mind the backdoor bailout of Wall Street banks by AIG, it should. At just these three big banks, the taxpayers are on the hook for almost $60 billion in bailout money. This is yet another way to funnel our taxpayer dollars from Main Street into the banks on Wall Street. So the next time you hear Mr. Obama, Sen. Dodd or Rep. Frank tell us how they have “ended bank bailouts,” remember that old comment from Yogi Berra, “This is like deja vu all over again.” Only this time, the conduit is not AIG, it’s the FHA.

Obama's next big bank bailout

To reintroduce an unpopular idea by a different name is a classic trick of politicians. Obama has done precisely this in unveiling his bank bailout plan.


In a desperate attempt to distance himself from Bush, the Obama administration has added some complicated economic terms packaged into a system he simply calls the “bad bank.”  The essence of the plan, however, is exactly what Bush originally proposed.

Although the details are fuzzy, simply put, U.S. taxpayers could have to pay up to $2.5 trillion more to buy the garbage loans that the banks accumulated, saving them from bankruptcy, while maintaining the same greedy shareholders and inept managers that drove the banks to ruin in the first place.

To distinguish this plan from Bush’s, Obama will force taxpayers to pay trillions to private firms so that they can purchase the junk debt. Of course this changes nothing.


The result is well known: bank executives did whatever they wanted to with taxpayer money, such as holding lavish banquets and paying millions to management — all the while making no new loans and now pleading for more money.  

The public was rightly outraged, and demands came from all corners of society for something to be done.  Leading economists such as Joseph Stiglitz (Colombia University) and Paul Krugman (The New York Times) advocated that the government should assert ownership over the amounts injected into the banks, since “a takeover is preferable to leaving firms in the hands of those who have so badly mismanaged them.” (New York Times, February 7, 2009)


To address the steadily worsening economic crisis, serious measures are desperately needed that will benefit working people, who need jobs, health care, and a moratorium on home foreclosures.  The government hand outs to the big corporations have utterly failed; not one cent more need be given.

Obama’s Bank Bailout: Bush’s Plan Resurrected

Obama Tilts at Jobs Windmill

Obama pushed to create jobs by spending $447 billion that does not exist. Where will the money come from? He called for Congress to pass the jobs bill, but one did not even exist. At this point, promoting methods of job creation when the economy is continuing it's nose-dive is beginning to seem like wasted efforts and another excuse for the government to blow billions of dollars on programs that are destined to fail. Obama is the new Quixote, tilting at windmills.

Insisting there is “nothing radical” in his just-unveiled $447 billion jobs plan, President Obama hit the road on Friday to sell the proposal to students at the University of Richmond, asking them to pressure lawmakers to support the package of tax cuts and additional stimulus spending.

There’s “nothing radical in this bill. Everything in it will put more people back to work and more money back into the pockets of those who are working,” Mr. Obama told the crowd in a speech that closely mirrored his Thursday night address to a joint session of Congress. “To make it happen, every one of your voices can make a difference.”

Indeed, the president urged his young audience to take to the Web, post messages on Facebook or even “send a carrier pigeon,” calling on their representatives to back his plan.

As he did Thursday, Mr. Obama promised the bill — a mix of tax cuts, aid to states and local government and additional spending on infrastructure projects — would be paid for but stopped short of detailing cuts or revenue increases that would offset it.

More

Obama preparing $300 billion jobs package: But will it make any difference? Are we at the endgame?

Where is the energy to produce that money going to come from?

President Barack Obama is preparing to roll out a roughly $300 billion plan to strengthen the shaky economy and stimulate new job growth, according to multiple Democratic sources.


The president is expected to unveil his plan -- focused partly on new infrastructure spending and targeted tax cuts -- during an address to a joint session of Congress Thursday evening.


"I'm going to propose ways to put America back to work that both parties can agree to, because I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems," Obama said in a Labor Day speech in Detroit.


The plan's prospects in a sharply polarized Congress -- particularly with the 2012 presidential primary season looming -- appear murky at best. Some Republicans have already dismissed it, saying any proposal from the president will amount to little more than a continuation of what they characterize as his failed 2009 stimulus plan.

More

Obamacare Killing Job Growth, Increasing Dependency on Collapsing Economy

Obamacare is an answer to a question that we never asked. Here's the result; employers can't afford it, but many are willing to let the federal government be responsible for health care. The trouble is that the government is not capable of supporting socialized health care during a recession that dips closer and closer to a depression. Our GDP is not high enough to spend surplus on these sort of non-critical needs. Private health care may not be perfect, but if the US runs it we are sure to end up right where Russia was before they collapsed. Unemployment is rising, so the taxpaying base is decreasing. Where will the funds come from? Redistribution of wealth (especially from the working class) is socialism wrapped in a pretty package. It looks good, but contains nothing you want or need.

COMMENTARY | Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown may soon regret his supportive statements of "Obamacare" and promises he made to constituents. Ohio Issue 3 Health Care Freedom garnered even more supporters after the release of an Associated Press report noting at least every one in 10 employers plan to end workplace health care plans in 2014. Brown make countless speeches and comments during interviews reassuring Ohioans they can keep current insurance coverage even after "Obamacare" defies the constitution and becomes a reality. 

Conservative predictions about the nationalized health care plan are becoming a reality. Republican lawmakers and tea party representatives disputed the continued availability of competitive health care plans once "Obamacare" swoops across the nation.

"We don't need another study to confirm for us what we already know, in order to protect jobs and health care coverage in Ohio, "Obamacare" must be repealed. That begins by passing State Issue 3 in November and ends with retiring Barack Obama and his left-hand man, Sherrod Brown, in 2012," Kevin DeWine, Ohio Republican Party Chairman stated in a press release. 

President Barack Obama may retain bragging right with his far-left base on the health care issue, but American freedom of choice has been eroded. The McKinsey Quarterly offered even more dire figures in the publications health insurance survey. A study conducted in June revealed 30 percent of employers are likely to stop offering workplace insurance packages. The McKinsey figures increased to 50 percent when business owners with a "high awareness of reform" responded to the survey. 

Pledges from Brown and Obama that no one will be forced to purchase the government health care plan were at best incorrect and at worst outright lies. Simple economics and common sense easily lead business owners to the realization that it would be far less expensive to stop offering health care to employees and just let the government take care of medical needs. 

Ohioans may have wanted health care reform but not a boot on their necks forcing them into a government program. Allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines breeds competition, driving costs down. Obama's nationalized program not only erases freedom of choice from the medical arena, but will cost thousands of insurance industry jobs.

These facts don't even address the other big issue; government health care is not within the scope or authority of the federal government. It steps on the rights and freedoms of workers and employers with hopes of providing something that people need, at the expense of our economic recovery. Employers increasing their businesses to more than 50 employees are penalized financially, and substantially. The administration is doing what it does best; kicking the can down the road.

(Reuters) – An appeals court ruled on Friday that President Barack Obama’s healthcare law requiring Americans to buy healthcare insurance or face a penalty was unconstitutional, a blow to the White House.
The Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, found that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but also ruled that the rest of the wide-ranging law could remain in effect.
The legality of the so-called individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Obama administration has defended the provision as constitutional.
(Read More)

US went a $1 Trillion into debt to pay for Obamacare. We can't afford it...it would be great if we had that money laying around to do it, but we don't. We are borrowing against our childrens future. I would gladly go uninsured to make sure my kids don't have to pay for it.

Obamacare Survey Reveals Nearly 50 Percent of Employers Will Stop Offering Health Insurance

Propaganda: “No one is going to lose their coverage.” – Obama administration, November 2010
Reality: Firms to cut health plans as reform starts: survey; 30% of companies say they’ll stop offering coverage – MarketWatch, June 2011

Propaganda: Obamacare will lower premiums, save money! – Peter Orszag, November 2010
Reality: Out-of-pocket medical expenses skyrocketing, May 2011

Propaganda: You can’t seriously question the constitutionality of Obamacare! – Nancy Pelosi, October 2009
Reality: The constitutional challenges keep on coming. Latest from Richard Epstein and Mario Loyola in the WSJ today:

The ravages of Obamacare “reform,” continued

This Must be Part of the Government’s Plan to Create Jobs

As Obama travels the nation on his Keynesian Tour of Destruction trying to spread the word about his plan to save the United States economy and create jobs, the rest of the federal government is busy telling companies to use foreign labor:

Tonight, in an interview on KMJ’s “The Chris Daniel Show,” Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz confirmed that the US government wanted Gibson guitars to use foreign labor over American labor:
CHRIS DANIEL: Mr. Juszkiewicz, did an agent of the US government suggest to you that your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of American labor?
HENRY JUSZKIEWICZ: They actually wrote that in a [inaudible].
CHRIS DANIEL: Excuse me?
HENRY JUSKIEWICZ: They actually wrote that in a pleading.
CHRIS DANIEL: That your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of our labor?
HENRY JUSKIEWICZ: Yes

The United States government, the entity that claims to be watching out for the wellbeing of American citizens, actually told Gibson that they should use foreign labor instead of domestic labor to build their guitars. Had Gibson used foreign labor they wouldn’t have had agents with guns storming their factory and confiscating their property. This must be part of the government’s plan to save and/or create jobs. 

A tip of the old hat goes go Uncle for this story.

Source

Apple Lobbies Obama For Tax Holiday, Wants To Bring Its Riches Home

Amazing. Obama only seems interested in helping the American people when there is something in it for him and big government. He has little concern for reality or for the dissent he is breeding in the American people with his power grabs and bleeding of the national economy. This effort by government to collect as much wealth from private citizens and companies to create a more socialistic society is one of the main reasons we are in such bad shape and are headed the way of the former soviet union; collapse.

Will Obama continue to position himself against the US economic recovery and taxpaying voters? Or will he continue to push toward socialist reforms that will lead us to a national collapse?

Apple's profits stashed overseas is getting restless for a trip the the United States. The tech giant, frequently seen wealthier than the U.S. government and Exxon-Mobile, is lobbying the U.S. government for a five percent 'tax holiday.' In a bizarre picture, Apple is aligned with Republicans and against the Democratic American President.

At it's last quarterly report, Apple announced it had almost $80 billion in cash.
Google, Oracle and Cisco are also part of the "WIN America Campaign" that argues "incentives to invest at home is a common sense solution that will immediately inject up to $1 trillion into our economy and provide businesses with the security and certainty they need to help Americans get back to work," according the the group's website. So far, the proposed bill has picked up support of 15 Republicans and eight Democrats in the House of Representatives.

So far opposed to the effort is President Barack Obama, to whom the companies donated $1.3 million in 2008.

Apple has a growing interest in protecting its foreign profits. During the last quarter, 62 percent of the iPad and iPhone maker's profits came from international sales. For some time, Apple executives have pointed to China as holding a huge potential for sales growth.

Source

Killing Jobs via ObamaCare, Falling Back on ObamaStamps

Now that the politicians have delivered an anti-debt deal that adds an estimated $8 trillion to the current $14.5 trillion federal debt over the next 10 years, President Obama is getting ready to head off on a pro-jobs bus tour of the Midwest.


With more than 2.5 million additional Americans without jobs since he moved into the White House, President Obama would do better on jobs if he cancelled the bus, saved the gas, and just stayed put in the Oval Office to work on reversing the policies he’s promoted that have only made things worse, starting with ObamaCare.

More

As low-wage jobs dry up, unemployed rely on an unsustainable system of reliance.

Altogether, there are now almost 46 million people in the United States on food stamps, roughly 15 percent of the population. That's an increase of 74 percent since 2007, just before the financial crisis and a deep recession led to mass job losses. 

At the same time, the cost doubled to reach $68 billion in 2010—more than a third of the amount the U.S. government received in corporate income tax last year—which means the program has started to attract the attention of some Republican lawmakers looking for ways to cut the nation's budget deficit. 

While there are clearly some cases of abuse by people who claim food stamps but don't really need them, for many Americans like Saucedo there is little current alternative if they are to put food on the table while paying rent and utility bills.

In some parts of the country, shoppers using food stamps have almost become the norm. In May 2011, a third of all people in Alabama were on food stamps—though part of that was because of emergency assistance after communities were destroyed by a series of destructive tornadoes. Washington D.C., Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee all had about a fifth of their population on food stamps that month. 

"This becomes an implicit subsidy for low-wage jobs and in terms of incentives for higher wage job creation that really is not a good thing," said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose research shows raising the minimum wage would spur economic activity. 

More

Obama's Degrade led to the Credit Downgrade

Undermining our Legacy of Liberty

"No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable. ... Cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible: avoiding occasions of expence [and] avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt ... not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear." --George Washington, December 3, 1793

Despite all the political rhetoric about the historic downgrade of our nation's credit rating last week, that devaluation was a mere shadow of the colossal degradation Barack Hussein Obama and his socialist cadres have inflicted upon our country since 20 January 2009. Of much greater significance than our nation's credit, our nation's credibility as a constitutional republic has suffered relentless and ruthless offense.

Obama is succeeding in his endeavor to break the back of free enterprise, a keystone of Essential Liberty, by implementing failed "New Deal" policies and rejecting sound free market principles. His endeavor to lay the groundwork for the transformation to "Democratic Socialism" has been so successful that the debate about the future of American Liberty now includes the once-radical question of whether it will be restored by way of the "ballot or bullet box."
To understand Obama's degradation of our national credibility in an economic context, consider that the U.S. credit rating is, in effect, a barometer of the world's confidence in our national leadership and the direction of the U.S. economy. Thus, its downgrade is a dire indication of worldview regarding the systemic economic risk of the debt bomb Obama has dropped on our nation.

 More

What, Me Worry?

I am known as a expert horse racing handicapper and it is something I do because I love horse racing and because I am very good at it. For the last year I have been handicapping America’s economy. My predictions that America will suffer the biggest economic collapse in history are starting to come true. Today the stock market plunged 513 points the biggest fall since 2008.

This is but a speed bump on what is getting ready to happen to America and our stock market and our money and our economy. I beg of you to start stocking up on survival gear and food for the sake of your family before it is to late. The strong will survive when the walls come crumbling down in America. The weak will perish. Obama has drove the American economy off of a cliff. China and Russia have spoken out against our debt problems this week. The whole world is betting that our economy will collapse. The new world order has set us up for a big Roman Empire fall and it is in motion right now and Obama is the driver.

http://www.newworldorderwar.com/stocks-plunge-as-the-world-loses-all-faith-in-obama-and-america/

Patriot Post Chronicle on the Deceptive and Dastardly Debt Deal Debacle

"After months of talk about the nation's runaway debt, lawmakers managed to agree on a plan that, at most, will cut spending by a mere 5%. Is it any wonder federal spending is out of control? ... According to IBD's analysis of available budget numbers, the deal's $2.4 trillion in 10-year cuts amounts to a mere 5% trim off total projected federal spending during that time. It's like a 400-pound man boasting that he plans to drop 20 pounds over a decade, while his doctors warn about the risks of losing weight so fast. Even calling these 'cuts' is a bit of a stretch, since spending will continue to increase, just at a slightly slower pace. ... By 2021, federal spending would still equal 22% of the nation's economy, above the post-World War II average of 20%. Not really a cut, is it? Plus, in the short term, these 'deep,' 'sharp,' 'slashing' cuts would still leave the federal government spending roughly 4% more in 2012 than it did in 2010, and 20% more than it did in 2008. Shorn of all the hyperbole, what this agreement really demonstrates is why it's so hard to get federal spending under control. Both sides routinely use budget gimmicks to exaggerate spending cuts, while armies of special interests swarm Washington to make sure their pet programs don't get touched. All the while, spending marches upward. And reporters too dumb, lazy or biased to understand how budgets work keep falling for this nonsense." --Investor's Business Daily

He should take his own advice: "[This debt-ceiling deal is] an important first step for ensuring that as a nation we live within our means. ... [But the economy] didn't need Washington to come along with a manufactured crisis. It's pretty likely that the uncertainty surrounding the raising of the debt ceiling -- for both businesses and consumers -- has been unsettling, and just one more impediment to the full recovery that we need. And it was something that we could have avoided entirely. Voters may have chosen divided government, but they sure didn't vote for dysfunctional government." --Barack Obama

Pity party: "If I were a Republican, I would be dancing in the streets. I don't have any idea what the Republicans wanted that they didn't get." --Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)

Government is great: "[Some] of us ... believe that government has a role for positive achievement in society along with the private sector doing things only government can do. ... I don't like this deal. But I think it would have been worse. ... Tax cuts are fun, but I never saw a tax cut put out a fire. I never saw a tax cut make a bridge. We need to have to make the case for positive government." --Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

Hating the Tea Party: "[A]s result of the Tea Party direction of this Congress these last few months has been very, very disconcerting and very unfair to the American people." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

"The Tea Party acted like terrorists in threatening to blow up the economy." --Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)

"They have acted like terrorists." --Joe Biden, repeating and approving the line
Gun grabbers: "The easy availability of high-capacity ammo magazines in the U.S. has once again helped enable a large-scale massacre. ... This is another tragic example of our lack of common-sense gun laws failing us with deadly consequences, allowing a cold-blooded killer to easily acquire the tools of mass murder even from another country. How many more innocent people need to die before we realize that some simple, common-sense gun safety laws in the United States could actually save lives?" --Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) on the Norway massacre, while her pals call conservatives "terrorists"

"They used to say that Richard Nixon had a 'secret plan' in the 1968 presidential campaign to end the Vietnam War. President Barack Obama outdid Nixon with a secret plan to control the deficit. He kept telling us of all the virtues of his plan. It was balanced, responsible, courageous and fair. It was just very, very secret." --columnist Rich Lowry

"President Obama admitted in a Kansas City radio interview the next election will be a referendum on him and his presidency. The White House quickly clarified his statement. What the president meant to say is that Bush has screwed up left field so badly that nobody can play it." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"Someone said President Obama was wrong for telling the American people to call their representatives about the debt ceiling. If there's one thing that congressmen hate, it's being told what to do by the people that put them there." --comedian Jay Leno

More: http://patriotpost.us/edition/2011/08/03/chronicle/

Why aren’t we seeing a jobs recovery? Maybe it’s ObamaCare’s fault

So you're wondering why the "recovery" stalled?  Well we all know that correlation is not causation, but this sure looks suspicious doesn't it?



So looking at the chart, we see job growth starting to pick up at an average of 67,000 a month.  Not earth shattering, but much better than the average (ten times less) after the passage of ObamaCare.

Why, people wonder, would something like that happen with the passage of a bill that is supposed to improve health care and make it cheaper to boot?  Wouldn't that encourage people to hire and expand.

Well … no.  Because we had to pass the bill to find out what was in the bill.  And what we've found out is none to pleasing.

Couldn't agree more.  I've seen any number of people saying "yeah, repeal it" but then asking "what are you going to replace it with"?

Uh, personal responsibility?  How about we try that for a change?   It is each citizen's job to care for themselves and do (and pay for) those things necessary to see that they aren't a burden on the rest of the citizenry.

What a concept, huh?

http://www.qando.net/?p=11134

Abusing the Power to Tax and Spend

Barack Hussein Obama's refusal to send a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) to the states as condition of House Speaker John Boehner's support for raising the national debt ceiling has pushed federal funding negotiations to the precipice of the Treasury Department's 2 August default deadline. Boehner has retreated on the House's "cut, cap and balance" plan and its BBA provision is no longer a stipulation in negotiations. He has also reduced the "cuts" in the House plan, and may acquiesce to the larger debt ceiling increase the Democrats want in order to avoid another debt ceiling battle prior to the 2012 elections.
Notably, most House conservatives, including the Tea Party freshmen, are standing with Boehner, choosing a pragmatic approach until 2012, when they hope to strengthen their numbers in the House and Senate, and retake the presidency.
The current budget debate was the first serious consideration of a BBA since it was advocated by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and later passed by the House as part of the Republican Contract with America in 1995. (At that time, it received 300 votes, including 72 Democrats.)
Now, as then, Leftist Democrats in the Senate have created a formidable gauntlet to its passage because it would severely undermine their power to redistribute wealth, power that is the only assurance of their perpetual re-election. A BBA would sunset their dynasty.
So, where to from here, and what question should conservatives be asking? First, let me offer a brief review of the current budget/debt crisis.

That notwithstanding, what our Constitution authorizes versus what the courts via judicial diktat have since interpreted it to authorize have rendered Rule of Law null and void. The resulting debt crisis is a menacing threat to Liberty.
So, what's the solution?
Thomas Jefferson warned, "To preserve independence ... we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and Liberty, or profusion and servitude. ... The fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its turn wretchedness and oppression."

http://patriotpost.us/alexander/2011/07/28/what-power-to-tax-and-spend/

US Government’s Emerging Dictatorship

"The founders of the USA knew that government would
always be the enemy of freedom. They knew that if it became
easy to pass laws then the freedoms of the Constitution would
be completely undermined by an avalanche of restrictive laws.
To avoid this fate, they installed checks and balances in the
Constitution…"

Today, columnist Robert Eugene Simmons Jr. nailed what he
calls "The Soft Dictatorship" gradually overtaking our system
of government. See my very important message below – Mat.
Madd,

Our founding fathers knew first-hand what it meant to live in
tyranny. They emigrated to avoid it and fought it when it reached
our shores. They experienced how treacherous an out-of-control,
unchecked government can become.

In a scathing assessment of the overarching breach of power by our
President, legislators and government agencies, Simmons writes….
"There is virtually nothing that the executive branch and
regulatory agencies can't do anymore. In fact, some liberal
talkers have outright called for Obama to rule by executive
order and he is heeding their call. When the Cap and Trade bill
became impossible to enact, Obama directed the EPA to
implement provisions similar to the core thrust of the bill
anyway."

America isn't walking into a mine field; it is already deep
within the field and in mortal peril of having freedom as we
know it perish from the earth."

The article sites many more examples of the emerging soft
dictatorship – many of those issues we have aggressively
addressed over the past few years.

Even in the past few days, we have taken a strong stand against the
Left's plan to spend America into financial irrelevance – or
oblivion!

But "We the People" refuse to allow a dictatorship to emerge
and tyranny to become our rule of law!

For this reason, Liberty Counsel has re-cast what is widely
considered to be the most important single document in American
history – the Declaration of Independence – in today's setting,
reflecting the political and governmental situation in 2011.
We intend to hand deliver a full-color copy of this remarkable
document to every member of Congress, selected members of
the Obama Administration, and anywhere else it can have an
impact! Now just imagine how much more impact this will
have when we inform the recipients that hundreds of thousands
of Americans have endorsed its contents!
Madd, please help us renew true liberty to America
as it was intended by our founding fathers. Click here to read the
entire document below and to sign our comprehensive
"Declaration of Independence 2011."
http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?u=44655&RID=15420476

http://freemadd.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/obamas-emerging-dictatorship/

They're just gonna shoot the hostage anyway...

So Obama held a gun to grandma's social security check on TV the other night.


Which is funny, because a bunch of us have been trying to point out that there's been a great big cannon pointed at it all along. As Brian J. Noggle puts it:

It would be a good exercise in imagination for those who receive these giveaways to think about what they would do if those benefits actually stopped. And I don't mean "stopped" in the sense of "went on furlough for a couple weeks or months, only to come back with additional sugar to make up the shortfall." I mean, what if the Tea Party people are right and this rate of expenditure is unsustainable and eventually the huckster's constant motion machine falls to a pile of gears and pistons. Then what will they do?

RTWT.


The free money pipeline's getting cut off one way or another, sooner or later. The only question is do we want to try and dead-stick this bird in, or do we just let it fly out of control and do a Texas Lawn Dart?

http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2011/07/theyre-just-gonna-shoot-hostage-anyway.html

Liberal Economics: Increasing Employer Costs to Create New Jobs?

This math doesn't add up...

There is a provision in the ObamaCare bill that forces employers who have fifty or more employees to either provide health care insurance to their employees or pay a $2,000 fine per employee after the first thirty.
Here's how ObamaCareWatch describes the rule:

For firms which do not offer insurance any insurance, have more than 50 employees, and have at least one employee receiving insurance subsidies, they must pay a tax of $2000 per subsidized employee. The individual mandate requires everyone to purchase health insurance. The tax is applied to all of a firm's employees (after excluding the first 30), not just those that are subsidized. For example a firm with 51 employees would pay $42,000 in new annual taxes, and an additional $2,000 tax for every new hire.

When I look at that, I think it would be obvious to see how employers would be motivated to stop hiring employees when they reach forty-nine.
Health and Human Services Chairwoman Kathleen Sebelius sees it differently, though.  She sees the penalty as being "a great incentive" to hiring more:

CNSNews.com asked Sebelius, "Part of the health care law requires small businesses that grow to over 50 employees to provide health insurance to their employees or face a penalty [starting in 2014]. Do you think that may affect their incentive to grow–small businesses–to above 50 employees?"
"I hear, frankly, just the opposite from small business owners … where they say the way that they retain and recruit the best possible employees is with a benefit package that is solid; that often they lose good employees because they can't provide affordable health coverage, they go down the street or around the corner, even though businesses like Frager's are a family–absent that protection that people have for their employees," Sebelius said at a press conference about the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges at Frager's Hardware on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
"So," Sebelius said, "I think that this will actually be a great incentive–as you know the 50 people also have lots of part time worker exclusions, seasonal worker exclusions–and I don't hear anything from people who say, 'Oh, I would never grow my business past this threshold' but are very enthusiastic about the notion that this is a competitive issue.

The incentive is to provide health insurance in order to keep quality people. Businesses are not motivated to hire more employees because of a fine imposed by the federal government.
Furthermore, because of the fine, some businesses are actually finding it cheaper to pay the fines and cut the insurance benefit out completely:

Another study found that among businesses with a "high awareness" of what ObamaCare is all about, more than half are planning to drop health care insurance benefits for their workers.
The result spells death to private insurance and life to nationalized healthcare just as conservatives predicted.
ObamaCare requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide insurance for their employees or face a $2000 fine.
Many employers are quick to conclude that they are better off to pay the fine than the escalating premium costs.
AT&T calculated that dropping coverage and paying the penalty will save them $1.8 billion annually.
That makes the decision pretty obvious.

This study from the Kaiser Family Foundation (pdf) shows the difference between the cost of the fine vs. the cost of insurance premiums:

The average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2010 are $5,049 for single coverage and $13,770 for family coverage. Compared to 2009, premiums for single coverage are 5% higher ($4,824) and premiums for family coverage are 3% higher ($13,375).
Since 2000, average premiums for family coverage have increased 114% (Exhibit A).  Average premiums for family coverage are lower for workers in small firms (3–199 workers) than for workers in large firms (200 or more workers) ($13,250 vs. $14,038). Average premiums for high- deductible health plans with a savings option (HDHP/SOs) are lower than the
overall average for all plan types for both single and family coverage (Exhibit B).

For PPOs, the most common plan type, the average family premium topped $14,000 annually in 2010.

Not only does the ObamaCare plan not motivate employers to hire above fifty employees, pulling another $2,000 out of the budget, but it motivates them to drop the health care coverage for all their employees completely.
I'd like to say that's an unexpected consequence of the plan, but I can't.  I think that was the whole idea.  Destroy private health care.  Implement single payer.
You can see it happening.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/allamericanblogger/~3/mfh2FQQY6cE/

GOP: Please Do Call His Bluff and Man Your Battle Stations

Ordinarily, I'd have difficulty grasping the magnitude of arrogance driving President Obama in budget negotiations that could determine the survival of our nation, but after several painful years of observation, I've come to expect it from him.
Obama's personality type does not well handle opposition, so when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor refused to budge on Obama's unreasonable demand that the GOP agree to raise taxes during these economic hard times, which would not raise revenues, Obama blew up and "stormed out of the room."

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/david-limbaugh/2011/07/15/gop-please-do-call-his-bluff-and-man-your-battle-stations/

Call His Bluff

The first rule of bluffing; don't tell everyone you are bluffing...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama is demanding a big long-term budget deal. He won't sign anything less, he warns, asking, "If not now, when?"

How about last December, when he ignored his own debt commission's recommendations? How about February, when he presented a budget that increases debt by $10 trillion over the next decade? How about April, when he sought a debt-ceiling increase with zero debt reduction attached?

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/charles-krauthammer/2011/07/15/call-his-bluff/

More Bad News for the Economy and Obama

Watch More Bad News for the Economy and Obama in the Foxnews Video

foxnews.com

http://adamsmithblog.com/?p=40256

Cartoon Round Up....

Cartoon Round Up....

via Theo Spark by Mark Scott on 7/14/11