At a recent lunch at the headquarters of the New Democrat Network, a non-profit group founded by Rosenberg, the former Bill Clinton adviser said, "Jeb is married to a Latina, is fluent in Spanish, speaks on Univision as a commentator — his Spanish is that good.Obama may have a hard time getting the Hispanic Vote if Jeb decides to run. At this time the Hispanic Vote appears to be what could decide the next Presidential Election.
[W]ith ObamaCare, the agency is now responsible for "the most extensive social benefit program the IRS has been asked to implement in recent history." And without "sufficient funding" it won't be able to discharge these new duties.Nina Olson is the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate.
Ms. Olson also exposed a damaging provision that she estimates will hit some 30 million sole proprietorships and subchapter S corporations, two million farms and one million charities and other tax-exempt organizations. Prior to ObamaCare, businesses only had to tell the IRS the value of services they purchase. But starting in 2013 they will also have to report the value of goods they buy from a single vendor that total more than $600 annually—including office supplies and the like..Not only will the size of the IRS and its Budget increase, the burdens placed on these 33 million business, farms and charities will be a job killer.
Ms. Olson says that the tracking costs for small businesses will be "disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance."With fewer dollars of profit due to additional expenses of compliance, fewer jobs will be created or saved.
Meanwhile, the IRS will be inundated with useless information, because without a huge upgrade its information systems won't be able to manage and track the nanodetails.Summary, National Health Care Insurance is a TAX. A TAX on everyone (not just the rich), which will cost more and kill jobs (except at the IRS).
[I]n court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”So much for keeping Campaign promises. Here is the crux of the matter.
And that power, they say, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce.
Congress can use its taxing power “even for purposes that would exceed its powers under other provisions” of the Constitution, the department said. For more than a century, it added, the Supreme Court has held that Congress can tax activities that it could not reach by using its power to regulate commerce.Now this presents a real problem for the Democrats and especially for President Obama. Remember this statement by President Obama?
“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” the president said last September, in a spirited exchange with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week.”Congress took a large step with the language of the Health Care Bill to insure we would be convinced that this was not a tax. Look at the following language in the provisions of the legislation.
When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.”
Congress anticipated a constitutional challenge to the individual mandate. Accordingly, the law includes 10 detailed findings meant to show that the mandate regulates commercial activity important to the nation’s economy.Congress discounted the possibility and knew the public would not like a tax on anyone except the rich - those making over $250,000.00 per year. Now that the Obama Administration through the Justice Department have decided to defend National Health Care as a TAX (something Obama did not want to do), we all have confirmed what we knew in our hearts. National Health Care is a Tax on everyone, just like Cap and Trade will be if passed.
Jack M. Balkin, a professor at Yale Law School who supports the new law, said, “The tax argument is the strongest argument for upholding” the individual-coverage requirement.If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck...
Mr. Obama "has not been honest with the American people about the nature of this bill,” Mr. Balkin said last month at a meeting of the American Constitution Society, a progressive legal organization. “This bill is a tax." [Emphasis Mine]
Arriving in a small jet prior to the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and the president's personal aide Reggie Love, who chatted with [Karen] Baldacci (Gov. John Baldacci's wife).Yes, that's correct First Dog Bo flew in his own plane separate from President Obama's Air Force One.
Earlier Friday, the Obama family was greeted by Gov. John Baldacci and U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District, when they arrived in Trenton at about 12:25 p.m.
The early-morning fog quickly burned off and the sky was bright blue for the arrival of Air Force One, which in this case was a G3 Gulf Stream.Trenton Airport runways are too small for the normal 747 used as Air Force One. However, the entourage is described like this.
Air traffic at the small Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton was shut down for the presidential arrival. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter patrolled the air in anticipation of the first family's touchdown and a pair of local fire rescue trucks manned an otherwise empty tarmac at the private air hangar.Well at least they used G(overnment) M(otors) Chevrolets.
The Obamas then traveled onto Mount Desert Island in a motorcade of at least 16 vehicles. It was led by two Maine State Trooper cars and included five black Chevrolet Suburbans.
Continuing their aggressive agenda, the Obamas checked into their hotel around 4 p.m. and, about an hour later, boarded a National Park Service boat at the hotel pier for a brief tour of the harbor.I firmly believe that the President is entitled to vacation time, but this is the 3rd vacation since the Gulf Oil Leak began (he has also been Golfing 10 times). Would not Tax Payer Dollars have been better spent on a trip to the Gulf, rather than Maine?
Surrounded and trailed by five smaller, faster Coast Guard boats as well as other crafts, the president cruised around Bar Island and Sheep Porcupine Island but turned around to head back into downtown Bar Harbor as a thick fog began to roll in.
The world is hotter than ever.says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"...[government] is playing the climate fear card by hyping predictions and cherry-picking data."while Mr. D'Aleo maintains the
"...oceans are entering a cooling cycle that will lower temperatures."Mr. D'Aleo also claims
"...too many of the weather stations NOAA uses are in warmer urban areas."and
"The only reliable data set right now is satellite."So what does the satellite data show. According to Mr. D'Aleo:
NASA satellite data shows the average temperature in June was 0.43 degrees higher than normal. NOAA says it was 1.22 degrees higher.There are few who deny that the Earth is getting warmer. But as this article indicates, there is still doubt about how this will effect the future of our planet. This matter is not settled yet. We need more data to make informed decisions. At this time there is no need to panic. It is a time to proceed cautiously. It is a time to do what is economically feasible to reduce Carbon emissions.
Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.That's not good news. We all took a pay cut. How about the Government?
At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.Bottom line WE ARE SPENDING MORE THAN WE MAKE! Some in Government apparently failed the final (or never took the course) in Economics 101.
Those records reflect a long-term trend accelerated by the recession and the federal stimulus program to counteract the downturn. The result is a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs.What's the future hold for the US?
The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important," Grimes says. [Emphasis Mine]The solution is simple, but not easy. The Stimulus is not working. The budget (which Congress has failed to pass) is not balanced. Government give-away programs will have to be cut. The Politicians who fail to heed this idea will find themselves out of work after November.
Governor Deval Patrick [D-MA], even as he decried partisanship in Washington, said today that Republican opposition to President Obama’s agenda has become so obstinate that it “is almost at the level of sedition.”Patrick says Obama critics are 'almost at the level of sedition'
After the forum, Patrick explained his remarks.
“I think that the number of people in the Grand Old Party who seem to be absolutely committed to saying ‘no,' whenever he says ‘yes,’ no matter what it is, even if it’s an idea that they came up with, is just extraordinary,” the governor told reporters after the forum.
But did the opposition really border on sedition?
“That was a rhetorical flourish,” Patrick said. [Emphasis Mine]
"So, you know, we had a tragic history in this country," said Kennedy. "The most shameful parts of our history were when we had our slave trade, when we, when we, the Trail of Tears--what we did to our Native Americans."Kennedy claims the Arizona Immigration Law equates to Racial Profiling and therefore the Arizona Immigration Law also equates to Slave Trade and the Trail of Tears.
...all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.
With low growth, low birthrates and longer life expectancies, Europe can no longer afford its comfortable lifestyle, at least not without a period of austerity and significant changes. The countries are trying to reassure investors by cutting salaries, raising legal retirement ages, increasing work hours and reducing health benefits and pensions.
"We are building up an almighty bubble of debt which is going to burst in one great bang," says Hans-Werner Sinn, chief of Ifo, one of the country's leading economic thinktanks.
That means a bitter round of budget cuts, deeper than any seen since 1945. Every area of German life is expected to take a hit, from education to welfare benefits, swimming pools to autobahns. Far-fetched as talk of the return of the mark seems, the more it is talked about, the more it is likely to become popular, despite Merkel's insistence that if the euro fails, so will Europe.