On Obamacare (and Guns), We Won't Comply
Say, for example, that when we decommission the old Nimitz-class carriers we then replace them with the newer Gerald Ford class of carriers at $15 billion a clip. Let’s say, in this example, that we then raise taxes 3.8 percent on people who go over a certain income limit, to an extent that we not only pay for each carrier but we also create a surplus of $100 billion that we can apply to the deficit- just as they did in Obamcare. Actually in the case of the aircraft carriers, the exact same tax increase that the used for Obamacare would pay for the carriers and leave a surplus of $180 billion over the same period, almost twice what Obamacare claims.
Then we could pass both the replacement aircraft carrier budget authorization and the tax increase in one bundle- just as they did with Obamacare- and call it the The American Affordable Defense Act(AADA).
Then any time someone threatens to scrap the Ford class carriers we could cry out “But getting rid of the AADA would add to the deficit!”
While the typical American doesn’t necessarily know the ins and outs of Obamacare, the same confidence game has been played on them so may times that they are wise to it.
Counting on public stupidity to see a massive new spending program, like Obamacare, as some sort of deficit fighter, because THEY SAY IT IS, just shows you how weak the original case for Obamacare was in the first place.
And only in Washington can you start off entitlement reform that’s supposed to reduce spending, by ushering in a massive new government program that will greatly grow government spending. And then pat yourself on the back for it.
Wasn’t it the same type of entitlement Ponzi scheme that gave us the problem in the first place?
Wonks and politicians may not see it, but those guys are in the process of self term-limiting out of business anyway- either by votes or by pageviews. 2010 was just a preview, not a conclusion even accepting the standstill in the 2012 election.
Readers know that I hate to pick on the Washington Post this way, but I don’t know anyone who would willingly call themselves a wonk in the first place. The Post’s Wonk brand is stuck in the Way-Back Machine of the 1990s.
The Wonk Disneyland, known as DC, is exactly what gets us these kinds of political and mathematical ruses that pass for solutions these day. The only choice we will have soon is to stop complying with federal mandates like Obamacare.
Because Americans continue to favor repeal of Obamacare.
The Supreme Court decision calling Obamacare a tax will likely reinforce the opinion that it’s a flawed piece of legislation that greatly expands government bureaucracy at a time when Americans think that government is doing too much not too little.
You can pass Obamacare as a deficit measure and call it Constitutional -and then wonk about it all you want. But Americans know the truth.
Obamacare, like the tax on tea that saw a load of it dumped into Boston Harbor in 1773, is just plain dumb. And both also go against natural law.
I won't comply.
John Ransom
John Ransom is the Finance Editor for Townhall Finance. You can follow him on twitter @bamransom and on Facebook: bamransom.TOWNHALL DAILY: Sign up today and receive Townhall columns and Townhall.com's daily lineup delivered each morning to your inbox.
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17 Comments So Far
Since WW2 the 30 year treasury bonds have paid an average of some 4.5%. ( During Carter years they paid 16%!) That return compounded would have provided a lot more money than is available today, even in Government IOUs.; Like the American Indians who's funds Congress was supposed to safeguard, we wuz robbed!
But first let me divert to another point; During this crises, if there was a crises, the people who needed help were those without a job! Giving those WITH a job just guaranteed they would feel the very minimum impact from the problem! To go even further, those who still have a job have received a de facto pay increase, at least an increase in purchasing power in many areas.
Want a Motorhome? Your neighbor is forced to sell his and you can buy it for $25 thousand less than they sold for in the good old days. Dont you see that as a benefit?
How 'bout the $500 thousand home which can be picked up on a short sale or foreclosure for $275 thousand by anyone with a job?
People have resisted the feeling of beggars because they paid into their SSI the amount designated by the Government. IF THAT PERCENTAGE WAS NOT ADEQUATE, IT WAS THROUGH NO FAULT OR SELFISHNESS ON THEIR PART!
But, now as the Depletion of the funds is deliberately shifted to the General Fond of the Federal Government, it will be just another welfare entitlement in Every ones eyes.
The left has long realized that a great deal of power is accrued by controlling these programs, making it desirable to administer them from a central govt where the nations political power can be concentrated, despite the excessively cumbersome nature of administering a one-size-fits-all approach on 310 million people...
When reporters attend a Whitehouse press conference do they ever ask what the Obama plan is to balance the budget and by what year? And, if not, why not?
When is the last year the country finished a fiscal year without borrowing, EVEN FROM SOCIAL SECURITY?
There are no leaders in either party who deserve the jobs! Why in the hell do people elect them? Silly question! The last thing ANY voter wants to hear is “we will live on the tax money collected; no more borrowing from the unborn! THE ENEMY IS US!
Republicans like to pretend they are more dedicated to solving the countries financial woes, but not so much!
All politicians would rather eat a bug than even utter the un utterable. During the recent hundred months of the Presidential, Senate and Congressional campaigns did anyone in the vast Townhall readership hear such questions asked of politicians of either party?
Can the country continue to borrow indefinitely? No?
Does your party have a plan to phase out the borrowing? No?
How many years do you require to wind down the borrowing and start repaying our debt? What, you didn’t hear the question? Give us a Year. Give us a Decade?
Its called nullification.
States must be willing to forego federal money, as that is the only punishment the feds can apply, as states decide to NOT implement various federal mandates they believe are unconstitutional.
The Governors are equally as weak and selfish as the electorate; if it were free and someone else was paying for it, they would justify taking it in a heartbeat!
I give you an example, Stimulus! Which states turned that down? A billion dollars a day is being added to the debt of the unborn non voters and the Governors are silent!
Then there is unemployment. The state funds for unemployment were exhausted two years ago!
Far more than half the states receive more from the Federal Government than they send into the federal treasury but would take twice as much if offered.
http://wh.gov/QeX9
Thank God for the First Amendment. Exercise it. Get into the streets and protest with the same power and vigor as the Democrats!!!!
http://wh.gov/QeX9