Train Wreck: Only 10% of Voters Say Congress is doing a Good Job

Ouch, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have lead Congress to a new high… in lows:

Voter unhappiness with Congress has reached the highest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports as 71% now say the legislature is doing a poor job.

That’s up ten points from the previous high of 61% reached a month ago.

Only 10% of voters say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.

Nearly half of Democratic voters (48%) now give Congress a poor rating, up 17 points since January. The vast majority of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party also give Congress poor ratings.

Seventy percent (70%) of voters say Congress has not passed any legislation that would significantly improve life for Americans, up 10 points over the past month and the highest level of dissatisfaction measured in regular tracking in over three years. Only 15% say Congress has passed such legislation.

Forty percent (40%) of voters nationwide now say it is at least somewhat likely Congress will seriously address the most important issues facing the nation. That’s down from 59% last March. Only 9% say it is Very Likely Congress will address these issues.

Heh, heck of a job there Harry, Nancy… Keep doing what you’re doing.

Video: America Rising An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians

Good News: National Debt Already Tops Debt Limit

From CBS News:

The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has – at least numerically – exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill.

The ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the National Debt at nearly $12.135 trillion.

A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some “extraordinary accounting tools” it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling.

Were it not for those “tools,” the U.S. Government would not have the statutory authority to borrow any more money. It might block issuance of Social Security checks and require a shutdown of some parts of the federal government.

Right, we’re already in debt up to our eyeballs and what’s the Democrats plan?

Keep spending… Look folks, you can’t spend your way to prosperity. Anyone who tells you you can probably thinks an alcoholic can drink his way to sobriety.

Related

• The Audacity of Debt – Wall Street Journal

Nancy Pelosi: Value-Added Tax is “On the Table”

I’ve mentioned before that the Democrats were laying the groundwork for a European style Value Added Tax or VAT… I wish I could tell you I was wrong but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirm that a VAT tax is “on the table” during an appearance on the Charlie Rose show Monday night:

A new value-added tax (VAT) is “on the table” to help the U.S. address its fiscal liabilities, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday night.

Pelosi, appearing on PBS’s “The Charlie Rose Show” asserted that “it’s fair to look at” the VAT as part of an overhaul of the nation’s tax code.

“I would say, Put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny that it deserves,” Pelosi told Rose when asked if the VAT has any appeal to her.

The VAT is a tax on manufacturers at each stage of production on the amount of value an additional producer adds to a product.

Pelosi argued that the VAT would level the playing field between U.S. and foreign manufacturers, the latter of which do not have pension and healthcare costs included in the price of their goods because their governments provide those services, financed by similar taxes.

The sad reality is the Federal Government now borrows roughly 50 cents of every dollar it spends, that’s simply unsustainable over the long term… The Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress are either going to have to radically scale back their agenda (something they won’t do) or raise taxes on broad swath of Americans… Something they’re only too happy to do while saying with a straight face “the deficit made us do it.”

Make no mistake a Value Added Tax added on top of our current income tax system will be an economy killer that hits those who can least afford it the the hardest.

ObamaCare Would Compel IRS to Share Tax Records with Health Care Bureaucrats

If you’ve spent even a small amount of time reading through the massive House Health Care Reform bill (H.R. 3200) you know the devil is in the details. You also know the deeper you dig the more devilish the details become… Take, for example, Sections 245, 431 and 1801 which, as  CBS’ Declan McCullagh, notes would require the IRS to share your private tax information with the new Health Choices Commissioner:

One of the problems with any proposed law that’s over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details. Take the Democrats’ proposal to rewrite health care policy, better known as H.R. 3200 or by opponents as “Obamacare.” (Here’s our CBS News television coverage.)

Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and “other information as is prescribed by” regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for “affordability credits.”

Section 245(b)(2)(A) says the IRS must divulge tax return details — there’s no specified limit on what’s available or unavailable — to the Health Choices Commissioner. The purpose, again, is to verify “affordability credits.”

Section 1801(a) says that the Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a “low-income prescription drug subsidy” but has not applied for it.

Yikes, sec. 1801 is probably the most disturbing. Sections 245 and 431, at least require someone to apply for “affordability credits” before their tax information is shared with health care bureaucrats. Sec. 1801on the other hand gives the government the authority to simply grab everyone’s records and start searching through them, looking for Americans who may not realize they qualify for a “low-income prescription drug subsidy.”

Amazing, simply amazing… Democrats spent much of the last 8 years complaining about the Bush Administration’s alleged trampling of privacy rights and yet here they are proposing a far more direct trampling taxpayer’s privacy rights.

Ed Morrissey’s right, “… if they’re this cavalier about your privacy on tax records, just imagine what they’ll do with your health records.”

Related

• Obama’s Health Rationer-in-Chief – Wall Street Journal
• ‘Cruel and neglectful’ care of one million NHS patients exposed – Telegraph
• Markey: Medicare will take hit – The Coloradoan

Congressman Eric Massa: I Will Vote Against the Interests of My District

Sen. Tom Coburn is right, American’s have lost faith in their government and I can’t think of a better example of why than the attitude displayed by Congressman Eric Massa of New York.

Rep. Massa met with an intimate group of Netroots activists during their annual Netroots Nation gathering in Pittsburgh this past weekend reiterated his support and promised the he would  “… vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.” In a broad sense I don’t have a problem with that, politicians aren’t supposedly to be automatons who blindly follow public opinion. George W. Bush, for example, ignored broad public opposition to order implementation of the surge strategy in Iraq. And it appears he was right to do so.

The problem here is that when you take Rep. Massa’s remarks in context with remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calling opponents of health care reform “un-American” and/or an “Evil mob” you’re left with a very frightening impression… You’re left with the impression that our elected leaders have forgotten that they were elected to represent we the people, you are left with the impression that they have forgotten they are our  representatives  not are rulers.

Thomas Jefferson said “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” We have come to a point were a broad swath of Americans have lost faith in their government… Remarks like those of Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and Rep. Massa’s only serve to reinforce the belief that our elected leaders no longer respect we the people, and instead consider us a bunch of ignorant rubes who need to be told to shut up and stand quietly by while their betters rule the nation.

Reid and Pelosi: It’s Time to Demonize Insurance Companies…

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi appear to have a new strategy for pushing health care reform through Congress… They’re going to demonize insurance companies:

A day after formally delaying a vote on a healthcare bill and having to accept a further weakening of a public option to compete with private insurers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed out at the health insurance industry and urged her members to do the same during the August recess.

“They are the villains in this,” Pelosi said of private insurers. “They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening. And the public has to know that. They can disguise their arguments any way they want, but the fact is that they don’t want the competition.”

As she prepares to send her members home for the month of August having not voted on a healthcare bill — a deadline the Speaker said she would meet for President Obama — Pelosi said she was urging those members to go on the attack against the private insurance industry to try to rally support for the strongest public option possible when negotiations resume in September.

“The more the public knows about what we’re doing, the more they support it, and especially if you’re talking about a public option, because that’s where the insurance companies are making their attack,” Pelosi said. “Our members have to go out there ready to take on a big special interest that has not made our country healthier, has made costs spiral upward, and for whom that is coming to an end.

“It’s almost immoral what they are doing,” added Pelosi, who stood outside her office long after her press conference ended to continue speaking to reporters, even as aides tried in vain to usher her inside. “Of course they’ve been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure with pre-existing conditions, you know, the litany of it all.”

Not to be out done Harry Reid Had the following to say about insurance companies:

“I don’t think we should be crying great big tears about  the insurance industry,” Reid said at a Capitol Hill press conference when asked whether insurance companies should be allowed to charge higher premiums for people with preexisting conditions.

“There is no business in America that makes more money than the insurance industry–over the last 10 years their profits have been increased by 450 percent,” Reid said. “So I’m not really in very much of a mood to worry about the insurance industry.”

The health insurance industry is so wealthy because it is exempt from anti-trust laws, Reid said: “The insurance industry, my friends, is the only industry other than baseball that is exempt from the anti-trust act, and that’s the reason they have 450 percent profit over the last ten years.”

Whew, talk about winning strategy… Take the least popular politicians in American and have them go off on half baked rants about evil insurance companies. They’re comments are nothing more than a blatant attempt to satisfy Democratic demands for a villain to demagogue in selling health care reform.

For all their talk about “competition, they’re pushing one most anti-competitive measures  in American History… With all due respect to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid, Democrats control the White House, have filibuster proof 60 majority in the Senate and 256 seat Majority in the House… You don’t need Republican support to pass a health care reform bill.

The fact that Speaker Pelosi and Majority Reid can’t get a reform bill through Congress has nothing to with insurance companies or Republican opposition. The simple truth is they are unwilling to work with centrists, the “Blue Dog” Democrats,  in their own caucus who are apparently getting an earful from constituents who are vehemently opposed to Obamacare.

Oh, and by the way Harry, Nancy, you might want to read Stephen Carter’s Washington Post Op Ed on why corporate profits are good thing… I’m sure it’ll be lost on you, but read it just the same. You might learn something.

Update (7:35 p.m.): I’m shocked, shocked I tell you… Jonathan Allen at CQ Politics is reporting that while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may think health insurance companies are “villains” she’s prefect willing to keep their money. Most ethical Congress ever, heh.

Related

• Senate Dems blame media for August health deadline – The Hill
• Police called on retirees at senator’s LA office – San Francisco Chronicle
• Barney Frank: Yes, a public plan will lead to a government takeover of health care – Hot Air

Reid: No Health Care Vote Before August Recess

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively pulled the rug out from under Pres. Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today by announcing that the Senate will wait until the fall to debate and vote on the presidents health care reform proposals:

Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday abandoned plans for a vote on health care before Congress’ August recess, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama’s ambitious timetable to revamp the nation’s $2.4 trillion system of medical care.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., delivered the official pronouncement, saying, “It’s better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through.”

His words were a near-echo of Republicans who have criticized what they have called a rush to act on complex legislation that affects every American.

Reid’s announcement isn’t particularly surprising, he doesn’t have the votes in Senate and despite her claims to the contrary I doubt Speaker Pelosi has them in the House either… If they did there’s nothing the Republicans could do to stop them from passing the bills. The Democrats have sufficient majorities in the House and Senate to pass their Health care reform bill without a single Republican vote.

The fact that they can’t get it down says more about the popularity of this bill and leadership abilities of Pres. Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid than it does about Republican opposition.

The fight isn’t over though, the just got a lot longer and bumpier but the Democrats aren’t going to give up on this. As Marc Armbinder points out Sen. Reid is more than likely going to spend his summer recess trying to reconcile what the Seante Finance Committee is willing to pay for with what the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee wants.

As an aside, that oft quoted “47 million uninsured Americans” statistic is at best misleading… As CNSNews.com points then number comes from a Census Bureau report published in August 2008. The actual number given in the report is 45.65 million people without health insurance, of them 9.73 million are foreigners, leaving only 35.92 million Americans who were uninsured. Of that 36 million roughly 12 million are eligible for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program–but haven’t signed up.

Once you drill down through all the numbers you’re left with roughly 10-12 million uninsured Americans who would prefer to have insurance but can’t afford it. Politicians and pundits who continually cite that 46, 47 or 48 million uninsured number without providing the full context are doing a great disservice to their constituents or readers.

Bottom line if our elected leaders were really interested in addressing the uninsured they’d focus their efforts on increasing participation in existing programs like Medicaid or SCHIP and providing a safety net for those how want insurance but either don’t qualify for existing programs or who are excluded because pre-existing conditions.

Related

• Pelosi backs off recess healthcare deadline – The Hill
• Obama Accepts Health Won’t Be Done by Recess – Wall Street Journal
• Stocks Surge as Obamacare Implodes – Larry Kudlow
• Breaking: Reid caves on August deadline for ObamaCare – Hot Air
• Fox “Hannity” tonight – “Hawaii’s Universal Health Plan” – Wizbang
• President Obama Failed To Calm The Nation’s Health Care Fears – The Strata-Sphere
• Why Obama might have just killed Obamacare – James Pethokoukis

Steny Hoyer: Idiot

From CNSNews.com (emphasis mine):

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that job growth and economic recovery would not be harmed by a Democratic plan to increase income taxes by $540 billion to pay for their health-care reform proposal because the tax hikes would not affect small businesses.

Hoyer also said he could not think of any small business owners who make enough money to qualify for the higher taxes.

Speaking at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Hoyer said that the proposed tax was merely a surcharge on wealthy individuals, explaining that the tax increases were graduated.

“This is a surcharge,” Hoyer said, “on people making over $280,000 as an individual, $350,000 [per year] as a couple and it’s graduated, it goes up as you reach $1 million in income.”

Asked by CNSNews.com whether such a tax increase would affect small businesses and job creation during a recession, Hoyer said: “I don’t know many small business men or women who are making, themselves $280,000 [per year], so I’m not sure that very many small businesses are going to be affected by this.”

With all due respect Congressman you’re wrong. I’d suggest you take a look at the Small Business Administration’s Size Standards which defines small business as follows:

A small business is an concern that is organized for profit, with a place of business in the United States, and which operates primarily within the United States or makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy through payment of taxes or use of American products, materials or labor.  Further, the concern cannot be dominant in its field, on a national basis.  Finally, the concern must meet the numerical small business size standard for its industry.  SBA has established a size standard for most industries in the U.S. economy.  The most common size standards are as follow:

• 500 employees for most manufacturing and mining industries
• 100 employees for all wholesale trade industries
• $6.5 million for most retail and service industries
• $31 million for most general & heavy construction industries
• $13 million for all special trade contractors
• $0.75 million for most agricultural industries

About one-fourth of industries have a size standard that is different from these levels.  They vary from $0.75 million to $32.5 million for size standards based on average annual revenues and from 100 to 1500 employees for size standards based on number of employees.  Several SBA programs have either alternative or unique size standards, such as the Small Business Investment Company Program.

In other words Congressman small businesses aren’t all mom and pop operations. many of them employ hundreds of people and earn significantly more $280.000 in income. The bottom line congressman is that many of these, not so, small businesses file their taxes as subchapter-S corporations or ‘sole proprietors’ and the $540 billion in new taxes you and your colleagues are proposing will ultimately result in slower economic growth and a loss of jobs.

Related

• Health reform would tax the rich, near-rich – Washington Times
• Health Reform Requires Lawsuit Reform – Wall Street Journal
• PROMISES, PROMISES: Indian health care’s victims – Associated Press
• VA admits its failure to give female veterans proper care – McClatchy
• Small Business Faces Big Bite – Wall Street Journal
• 9 reasons Pelosi’s healthcare surtax is disastrous – James Pethokoukis
• Obama will Repeal Medicare – Dick Morris

Mandating Unemployment?

From the Wall Street Journal:

Here’s some economic logic to ponder. The unemployment rate in June for American teenagers was 24%, for black teens it was 38%, and even White House economists are predicting more job losses. So how about raising the cost of that teenage labor?

Sorry to say, but that’s precisely what will happen on July 24, when the minimum wage will increase to $7.25 an hour from $6.55. The national wage floor will have increased 41% since the three-step hike was approved by the Democratic Congress in May 2007. Then the economy was humming, with an overall jobless rate of 4.5% and many entry-level jobs paying more than the minimum. That’s a hard case to make now, with a 9.5% national jobless rate and thousands of employers facing razor-thin profit margins.

There’s been a long and spirited debate among economists about who gets hurt and who benefits when the minimum wage rises. But in a 2006 National Bureau of Economic Research paper, economists David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Bank reviewed the voluminous literature over the past 30 years and came to two almost universally acknowledged conclusions.

First, “a sizable majority of the studies give a relatively consistent (though not always statistically significant) indication of negative employment effects.” Second, “studies that focus on the least-skilled groups [i.e., teens, and welfare moms] provide relatively overwhelming evidence of stronger disemployment effects.”

Proponents argue that millions of workers will benefit from the bigger paychecks. But about two of every three full-time minimum-wage workers get a pay raise anyway within a year on the job. Meanwhile, those who lose their jobs or who never get a job in the first place get a minimum wage of $0.

The thing politicians never seem to understand is Newtons third law of motion, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”, applies as readily to economics as it does to physics… A 70 cent per hour increase in the wage will ultimately result in a loss of jobs for entry level workers. Neumark estimates that the coming minimum wage hike will kill “about 300,000 jobs for those between the ages of 16-24.”

As the journal notes when the economy was humming along and the unemployment rate was 4.5% no one would have batted an eyelash at this increase. But today in this economy is struggling with 9.5 % unemployment it’s a jobs killer… Businesses today are worrying about their long term survival and are trying to control costs as best they can. The simple reality is a minimum wage hike at this time is cost increase that already struggling business aren’t going to want to bear. Consequently they’re  either going to reduce hours or cut jobs for entry level workers to keep their costs in line.

Congress needs to exercise a little commonsense and delay implementation of this minimum wage in crease until the economy recovers.

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