The Healthcare Bill Would Be Obama’s ‘Enabling Act’

Why are Barack Obama and other Democrat leaders so intent on passing a government takeover of healthcare now…Now…NOW?

They must know that costs will rise and the quality of care will fall, right?   They must know that Obamacare would destroy the economy, right?   Of course they do.  But, they also know that the federal government would tighten its grip on the nation.   They know that Obama’s czars and other appointees would be authorized to bypass Congress in enacting sweeping regulations on nearly every aspect of a person’s life.   And, they know that these new powers of the federal government would be concentrated in the hands of the Democratic Party and the President.

Here’s what else they know.   History affords many examples of regimes whose motto was “Never let a crisis go to waste.”   In 1933, having campaigned for “hope” and “change,” the National Socialist Worker’s Party forced through the German parliament a Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Nation, also known as the Enabling Act.

This new law enabled the German chancellor and his appointees to bypass parliament in imposing sweeping regulations on the people:

“In addition to the procedure prescribed by the constitution, laws of the Reich may also be enacted by the government of the Reich [i.e., the Cabinet].”

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Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Constitution, Democratic Party, enabling act
Posted Mar 13th 2010 at 2:46 pm in Congress, Healthcare, History, Obama, Politics | 88118282 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mzak/2010/03/13/the-healthcare-bill-would-be-obamas-enabling-act/The+Healthcare+Bill+Would+Be+Obama%27s+%27Enabling+Act%272010-03-13+22%3A46%3A06Michael+Zak

Peter Orszag: These Aren’t the Budget Gimmicks You’re Looking For

Here’s budget director Peter Orszag writing on his White House blog yesterday:

Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to a claim that this deficit reduction is achieved only through a business-as-usual Washington budget gimmick: paying for just a few years of costs with many more years of savings.

This charge is simply false—and let’s get the facts straight.

• First, it’s true that loading savings up front and costs in later years is a time-honored budget gimmick. It has a single purpose—to hide the ball and make programs look paid for in the near term that will in fact substantially add to the deficit over the long-term.

• Second, it’s also true that some of savings under the health plan start sooner than the major costs in the legislation. We can move quickly to begin identifying waste and improving quality in the current health care system, as well as make certain reforms to rebalance the tax code. But, the major coverage expansion does not occur until 2014, in part because we need to take time to establish a system of state-based exchanges through which private insurance companies will provide quality insurance to those not getting it through their employer. Still, it is important to note that the vast majority of the savings in the next ten years occur in 2014 and thereafter.

• Third, this is not a budget gimmick. The purpose the tried-and-true gimmick described above is to make a proposal that adds to long-term deficits appear fiscally responsible. But if that were the course we were taking, we would expect to see a large fiscal hole at the end of the first decade and larger and larger deficits in the second decade. Instead, over the long-term, the savings under the President’s plan are expected to grow faster than the costs. So, when the Congressional Budget Office is done with its scoring, we expect it will find that the President’s plan reduces deficits by roughly $100 billion in the first 10 years and roughly $1 trillion in the decade after that. In other words, health reform should reduce the deficit by growing amounts over the long-term.

Put simply: Health reform will reduce the deficit in this decade, and it will reduce the deficit by even more thereafter. There’s no gimmick in that.

(more…)

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Tags: CBO, gimmick, health care, Healthcare, healthcare reform
Posted Mar 5th 2010 at 10:37 am in Healthcare, Uncategorized | 8474681 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mrichmond/2010/03/05/peter-orszag-these-arent-the-budget-gimmicks-youre-looking-for/Peter+Orszag%3A+These+Aren%27t+the+Budget+Gimmicks+You%27re+Looking+For2010-03-05+18%3A37%3A50Morgen++Richmond

If Tomorrow’s Political Theater Had a Trailer, it Would Look Like This

The Democrat Blair House Project is nothing more than political theater in a desperate attempt to legitimize a failed government-run health care agenda. The American people aren’t buying the Democrats’ sales pitch of this new-found effort to include Republicans. After years of shutting Republicans out of the legislative process, one photo-op will not erase the American people’s memory of Nancy Pelosi’s closed-door Congress.

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Tags: Blair House, Blair Witch, health care, Healthcare, NRCC
Posted Feb 24th 2010 at 9:57 am in Congress, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 79762112 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/psessions/2010/02/24/if-tomorrows-political-theater-had-a-trailer-it-would-look-like-this/If+Tomorrow%E2%80%99s+Political+Theater+Had+a+Trailer%2C+it+Would+Look+Like+This2010-02-24+17%3A57%3A34Rep.+Pete+Sessions+%28R-TX%29

White House Contradicts CBO, Misleads on Insurance Rate Increases

The President’s health care proposal this morning includes an FAQ section for various audiences – seniors, small business owners, the uninsured, etc. Here is one of the questions and answers for individuals who currently purchase insurance directly on the individual market (click for source):

I fall into this category myself, and it is a pretty important question for a couple of reasons. One, because there are an increasing number of individuals and families (18+ million) who buy health insurance coverage on the open market as opposed to receiving it through an employer. Secondly, because everyone, including the millions currently uninsured, would be legally required to have some form of insurance based on the mandate included in the President’s proposal and both the House and Senate bills

Obviously it would not help the cause of Democrats trying to pass this bill if the millions of people who buy insurance directly, and the millions more who are forced to do so by the insurance mandate, end up paying even higher premiums than they would under current law.

But here’s the thing – many of them will. At least according to the CBO. And the White House is deliberately and irresponsibly misleading the public by claiming otherwise.

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Tags: CBO, Healthcare, healthcare reform, insurance rates, ObamaCare
Posted Feb 23rd 2010 at 6:07 am in Healthcare | 7878688 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mrichmond/2010/02/23/white-house-contradicts-cbo-misleads-on-insurance-rate-increases/White+House+Contradicts+CBO%2C+Misleads+on+Insurance+Rate+Increases2010-02-23+14%3A07%3A09Morgen++Richmond

Needed: An English-Democratic Party Dictionary?

This past week in Washington, DC has seen the GOP actively engaged in discussions and strategizing about taking back the House of Representatives and taking back the Senate.  But before the GOP, Tea Party, or anyone else, can take back the House or Senate, they will face a more difficult and important battle–taking back our language.

Democrats have made an art form of mis-speak, consistently showing only a passing familiarity with good, old Merriam-Webster.  Think Kafka and Orwell, where words are elastic, and plain-speaking is all but abandoned.

Understanding what President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are saying is difficult; for, though the language may seem to be English, in reality, they speak a different language, the language of the Democrats in DC.  To understand exactly what they are saying, Americans need an “English –Democratic Party Dictionary.   Here is a sampler of some of the most important words and phrases that cause confusion:

• INVESTMENT: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi frequently talk about the need for “investments”. For example, ” President Obama recently identified a need to invest in American infrastructure (and education)  What Mr. Obama and Nancy Pelosi really seem to mean when they talk about “investments” is that government needs to spend more.  Democrats  have learned from extensive polling that disguising calls for more government spending, and even greater national debt, are more palatable (to those that have not yet figured out the scam) if,  they talk about spending as  “investments”.  As most Americans know, making an investment  implies a return worthy of the risk.  Investors always want their money back and a profit to boot.  Fat chance of that!  According to the Democrat-version, “investments” are just spending by another name.  There will never be a return, and taxpayers putting their money are risk will never get their funds back, nor is there any chance of a decent return.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, critical infrastructure, entitlements, federal spending
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 at 8:57 am in Congress, Culture, Earmarks, Healthcare, Obama, Politics, Tea Party, Uncategorized, federal spending | 7851490 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2010/02/22/needed-an-english-democratic-party-dictionary/Needed%3A+An+English-Democratic+Party+Dictionary%3F2010-02-22+16%3A57%3A37Lurita+Doan

Jesse Jackson Sr. Blames ‘Unenforced Civil Rights’ Law For Housing Crisis, Denies His Own Involvement Shaking Down the Banks

At a speech at Claremont McKenna to honor Martin Luther King Jr. in mid-January, the subject of Jesse Jackson Sr.’s new ire was the “banksters” — Wall Street fat cats, who are causing all of our problems.

Naturally, Jackson ignored his own role in housing crisis. That he made his argument against banks at one of the schools that produces the most investment bankers in the country did not go unnoticed – however. Those hoping to listen to watch his entire speech can watch it here.

Jackson decried the “biggest shift of wealth in American history in the last 9 months.” He assailed Obama’s so-called spending freeze. “We’ll freeze the rich in their wealth and the poor in their poverty. . . . Freeze? They have already frozen modifications of home foreclosures.” And he applauded Roosevelt’s “direct investment in the poor” and for “breaking up their ability to be indifferent to the poor.” “Banks serve at the privilege of the state and their mission is to lend and invest,” he said, not presumably to get paid back.

Of course much of the speech sounded like the usual socialist rhetoric, which he claimed Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to “take us there” – wherever there is.

(more…)

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Tags: Civil Rights, Claremont M, Community Reinvestment, Community Reinvestment Act, Healthcare
Posted Feb 21st 2010 at 9:51 am in Economics, Healthcare, Justice/Legal | 76058145 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2010/02/21/jesse-jackson-sr-blames-unenforced-civil-rights-law-for-housing-crisis-denies-his-own-involvement-shaking-down-the-banks/Jesse+Jackson+Sr.+Blames+%27Unenforced+Civil+Rights%27+Law+For+Housing+Crisis%2C+Denies+His+Own+Involvement+Shaking+Down+the+Banks2010-02-21+17%3A51%3A27Charles+C.+Johnson

Changing the Healthcare Paradigm: A Physician And Patient Centered Approach

I have been reading various articles and listening to pundits for months talk about healthcare reform. They have discussed ad nauseam everything from complete government takeover with single payer on one hand to free markets on the other.

Next week, we will be witness to the President’s healthcare forum. This is what we know so far:

• Tort reform is pretty much off the table.

The trial lawyers lobby has seen to that.

• There seems to be no political will to apply anti-trust regulations

This will continue to benefit the health insurance industry since they will be able to continue to run fiefdoms in various markets guaranteeing their market share and profits.

• The public option is really NOT an option.

If it does get implemented it will be a glorified version of Medicare Advantage where the program is administered by the insurance companies. A particularly sweet win-win situation for them since it means we will have to pay them whether we want private insurance or not.

• More taxes

We will be paying money into a governmental black hole for the next 4 years in the hopes that we will get inexpensive, comprehensive health coverage in the end. I have just two words about that – Medicare and Social Security (enough said).

• If you don’t like your insurance too bad

People who don’t like their private insurance plan will not be able to access the exchange system.

We are at a crossroads.

(more…)

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Tags: Congress, Controlling healthcare costs, health insurance, Healthcare, Politics of healthcare
Posted Feb 18th 2010 at 8:41 am in Congress, Economics, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 7702694 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/egeorge/2010/02/18/changing-the-healthcare-paradigm-a-physician-and-patient-centered-approach/Changing+the+Healthcare+Paradigm%3A+A+Physician+And+Patient+Centered+Approach2010-02-18+16%3A41%3A26Dr.+Elaina+++George

When Will the Democratic Party Grow Up and Seriously Address National Security?

On conservative talk shows, defenders of President Obama have frequently asserted that it is too soon into the term of the new administration to fairly judge the policies and performance of our President.  Well, nearly a full year has elapsed since the Obama administration took office and we’ve now all had plenty of chance to “give Obama a chance.”  The oft-repeated mantras that “It’s too soon to tell” and “It’s all George Bush’s fault” won’t hold beer any longer.   If his plummeting poll numbers are any indication, many who fell for Obama’s neatly packaged utopian vapors of hope, change, and transformation are finally starting to emerge from their media-induced slumber.  And, while many of us could easily predict that the shallowness residing at the core of Barack Obama would soon lead to a precipitous disillusionment, the speed with which that is taking place is actually quite breathtaking.

Despite what European Socialists may think of us, Americans are not entirely stupid.  While the well-oiled hype machine of the Left-biased news media and the air headed Hollywood crowd helped to induce the large scale brain freeze that got Obama elected, as his serious failures of policy have mounted and the significant impact of those failures is felt, no amount of propaganda will suffice to resurrect the messianic fervor that once surrounded the heady days of Obama’s campaign.  Daily some new facet of the administration’s incompetence (at best) and fecklessness (at worst) is displayed, and increasing numbers of those who initially fell under his thrall are awakening to the profound danger Obama’s Presidency poses to both world peace and our American way of life. (more…)

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Tags: 2010, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Biden, Bush
Posted Jan 13th 2010 at 4:20 pm in Congress, Obama, Politics | 59438148 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ebalogh/2010/01/13/what-will-it-take-for-democratic-party-to-grow-up-and-seriously-national-security/When+Will+the+Democratic+Party+Grow+Up+and+Seriously+Address+National+Security%3F2010-01-14+00%3A20%3A11Endre+Balogh

Uncommon Knowledge: Dr. Thomas Sowell on Intellectuls and Society – Talking Sense to Obama’s Cabinet Like Telling the Mafia to Go Straight

As an ongoing feature at Big Government, the Hoover Institution’s Uncommon Knowlege, with Peter Robinson, will continue posting clips from its current interviews, as well as from many of it’s greatest shows from the past:

While the Left continues to push the meme that the Right is “anti-intellectual,” it is worth examining what really troubles so many Americans about the desire of self-styled “experts” to run the world we all live in.  Hint: it ain’t about intelligence.  There is a species of person in America, in the West, which believes it knows better than the rest of us, and would like us to simply get out of the way so it can take the collective wisdom of its many post-graduate degrees and get on with the business of re-making the world as it sees fit.  In these clips from a longer and wonderful piece (available at the Hoover Institution), Peter Robinson interviews one of America’s greatest actual intellects, Dr. Thomas Sowell, who makes some strong criticisms about the vanity and danger of the intellectual class: they do not know everything, but in fact lack at least 99% of the “consequential knowledge” needed to function in the world; they manufacture the need for themselves, with one dubious crisis after another; and they have an often terrible track record when given the reigns of society, as with McNamara’s Whiz Kids, FDR’s Brain Trust, and the disarmament movement following WWI.  The “Stimulus” and health care “reform” come to mind as well…

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Tags: graduate school, Healthcare, Hoover Institution, intellectuals, Obama
Posted Jan 13th 2010 at 7:22 am in Congress, Economics | 5915898 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/uknowledge/2010/01/13/uncommon-knowledge-dr-thomas-sowell-on-intellectuls-and-society-talking-sense-to-obamas-cabinet-like-telling-the-mafia-to-go-straight/Uncommon+Knowledge%3A+Dr.+Thomas+Sowell+on+Intellectuls+and+Society+-+Talking+Sense+to+Obama%27s+Cabinet+Like+Telling+the+Mafia+to+Go+Straight2010-01-13+15%3A22%3A10Uncommon+Knowledge

Claire McCaskill: Yes on C-Span Conference, Yes on Fines

Friday morning Jamie Allman and I interviewed Claire McCaskill who gave further signs of Democrat infighting as she agreed to issue a press release saying that she supports having a broadcasted conference committee on the fauxcare negotiations. She was challenged as to why, whenever on the Sunday morning talk shows or making other media rounds, she had not taken the opportunity to voice dissent against the actions of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to make the deliberations private.

She also acknowledged that the legislation does enforce penalties for Americans who do not choose government-run fauxcare.

McCaskill also singled me out by saying my calling her out on her fauxcare vote (because the majority of Americans and Missourians do not support it and her approval rating is sliding as a result) was “politicizing the issue.” I’d say not making yourself available to your constituents (her staff was nice but callers rarely get through and the senator obviously disregards the polling data) and voting for an unconstitutional bill which abuses the commerce clause for the sake of giving Democrats a win under the guise of providing real reform while not actually providing real reform – is real politicizing.

(more…)

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Tags: clairemccaskill, Democrats, fauxcare, harryreid, Healthcare
Posted Jan 9th 2010 at 5:05 pm in Healthcare, News, Politics | 57690121 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloesch/2010/01/09/claire-mccaskill-yes-on-c-span-conference-yes-on-fines/Claire+McCaskill%3A+Yes+on+C-Span+Conference%2C+Yes+on+Fines2010-01-10+01%3A05%3A27Dana+Loesch

ObamaCare: Should Republicans Have Negotiated on Health Care Bill?

Writing for Forbes, Bruce Bartlett puts forth an interesting hypothesis that healthcare legislation could have been made better (hopefully he meant to write “less destructive”) if the GOP had been willing to compromise with Democrats:

Democrats desperately wanted a bipartisan bill and would have given a lot to get a few Republicans on board. This undoubtedly would have led to enactment of a better health bill than the one we are likely to get. But Republicans never put forward an alternative health proposal. Instead, they took the position that our current health system is perfect just as it is.

Bruce makes several compelling points in the article, especially when he notes that it will be virtually impossible to repeal a bad bill after 2010 or 2012, but there are good reasons to disagree with his analysis. First, he is wrong in stating that Republicans were united against any compromise. Several GOP senators spent months trying to negotiate something less objectionable, but those discussions were futile. Also, I’m not sure it’s correct to assert Republicans took a the-current-system-is-perfect position.

They may not have offered a full alternative (they did have a few good reforms such as allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines), but their main message was that the Democrats were going to make the current system worse. Strikes me as a perfectly reasonable position, one that I imagine Bruce shares. But let’s further explore Bruce’s core hypothesis: Would compromise have generated a better bill? It’s possible, to be sure, but there are also several reasons why that approach may have backfired:

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Tags: Ben Nelson, Bruce Bartlett, Charles Grassley, health reform, Healthcare
Posted Jan 2nd 2010 at 9:23 am in Congress, Politics | 54698251 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/01/02/should-republicans-have-negotiated-on-health-care-bill/ObamaCare%3A+Should+Republicans+Have+Negotiated+on+Health+Care+Bill%3F2010-01-02+17%3A23%3A29Dan+Mitchell

The Real Healthcare ‘Chart of the Day’

Andrew Sullivan posted the following chart, which he found in National Geographic, and he noted, with considerable justification, that this was evidence of an insane and inefficient healthcare  system in America.

Sullivan-Healthcare –

The chart shows that America spends a lot more than other nations without a concomitant increase in life expectancy. Let’s set aside whether the right side of the chart is a bit misleading because American life-expectancy numbers are influenced by things that have nothing to do with the quality of the healthcare system, such as highway fatalities, homicides, and obesity, and focus on Andrew’s claim that Obama’s proposal will make things better because of its “cost-control measures.” Since the Administration’s own experts have predicted that Obama’s proposal will increase total healthcare spending, one can only wonder what he’s talking about. Does he actually think a new government entitlement program will lead to lower costs, when all the evidence suggests otherwise?

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Tags: entitlement programs, health spending, Healthcare, life expectancy, Medicaid
Posted Dec 29th 2009 at 11:43 am in Economics, Healthcare, News, Obama | 5254287 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2009/12/29/the-real-healthcare-chart-of-the-day/The+Real+Healthcare+%27Chart+of+the+Day%272009-12-29+19%3A43%3A34Dan+Mitchell

University of Michigan Study Confirms Link Between Financial Bailout and Corruption

Since Senators engaged in open extortion and bribery to enact Reid’s government-run healthcare plan, it is hardly newsworthy that Washington is riddled with corruption. But the magnitude of sleaze is probably far greater than most people realize. There is a new study from a couple of academics at the University of Michigan, who found significant relationships between lobbying and bailout money, as well as a greater chance of getting bailouts depending on a bank’s ties with either the Federal Reserve or key members of Congress. Hopefully, people across America will draw the obvious conclusion and realize that big government is inherently corrupting, as discussed in this video. Reuters has the details on this latest example of big government and malfeasance:

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Tags: bailout, corruption, Financial Crisis, Healthcare
Posted Dec 22nd 2009 at 1:11 pm in Economics, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 5091492 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2009/12/22/university-of-michigan-study-confirms-link-between-financial-bailout-and-corruption/University+of+Michigan+Study+Confirms+Link+Between+Financial+Bailout+and+Corruption2009-12-22+21%3A11%3A28Dan+Mitchell

Was Democrats’ Health Care Strategy Written In Federal Prison?

On August 31, I headed to the health care town hall meeting of my congressional representative, Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). I suspected that she planned to stack the meeting with paid organizers, after she vowed on Real Time with Bill Maher to bring “millions” of people into the streets to support the so-called “public option.” So I brought a video camera.

A friend and I took turns filming protesters on both sides of the issue. We caught an organizer from the group Health Care for America Now (HCAN) instructing followers to block dissenting views: “So if they stand up and start asking questions, and you’re in that area, simply stand up, and start chanting… ‘Health care now! Health care now!’”

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Tags: ACORN, Alinsky, American Medical Association, Andy Stern, astroturfing
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 3:01 pm in Big Labor, Exclusives, Featured Story, Healthcare, Justice/Legal, News, Obama, Politics | 42174489 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jpollak/2009/12/07/was-democrats-health-care-strategy-written-in-federal-prison/Was+Democrats%E2%80%99+Health+Care+Strategy+Written+In+Federal+Prison%3F2009-12-07+22%3A01%3A13Joel+B.+Pollak

Politics California Style: Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman

The success of the Chicago-style politics of Dick Durbin, Rahm Emmanuel and Barack Obama, characterized by brass knuckles, intense bullying, finger pointing and public attacks has been mesmerizing.  Meanwhile, very  little attention has been focused on the California-style politics of obfuscation and intimidation practiced by Nancy Pelosi and her sidekick, Henry Waxman.  Ignoring California-style politics is a mistake: these guys are good!

The art of obfuscation is central to California-style politics.  Think back on Speaker Pelosi’s byzantine explanation of why she called career CIA employees liars.  Incomprehensible, deliberately vague misdirection characterizes the California-style of politics.  Never be precise; never say what you mean, and certainly, never let facts interfere with the spin.

Cumbersome, incoherent  legislation is another example of obfuscation, California-style: thousands of pages of  gobble-de-gook, the Stimulus, at 1000 pages, the Energy bill at 1100 pages and the Healthcare bill version #1 at 1300 pages and the latest House healthcare bill at a whopping 1990 pages.

Pelosi seems to have assembled these monstrosities so that few in Congress can read the legislation in its entirety before she calls the vote.   Deceptive executive summaries, with left wing talking points, attached to these gargantuan documents are yet another form of obfuscation.

(more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama, California, California Bay, Congress, Department of Commerce
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 11:17 am in Congress, Politics | 3359065 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2009/11/19/politics-california-style-nancy-pelosi-and-henry-waxman/Politics+California+Style%3A+Nancy+Pelosi+and+Henry+Waxman2009-11-19+18%3A17%3A57Lurita+Doan

The Official Forecasts Are Nonsense: Obamacare Would Be a Budget Buster

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the government-run healthcare plans in the House and Senate will reduce budget deficits. To use a technical phrase, this is utter nonsense. A giant new entitlement program will be a budget buster. This new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity provides 12 reasons in less than 6-1/2 minutes – including real-world evidence showing how Medicare and Medicaid cost far more than originally forecast.

(more…)

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Tags: Big Government, budget, CBO, Dynamic scoring, Estimates
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 2:03 pm in Congress, Economics, Healthcare, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized | 2826217 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2009/11/10/the-official-forecasts-are-nonsense-obamacare-would-be-a-budget-buster/The+Official+Forecasts+Are+Nonsense%3A+Obamacare+Would+Be+a+Budget+Buster2009-11-10+21%3A03%3A46Dan+Mitchell

Obama is No Captain Jean-Luc-Picard — USS Enterprise

“Make It So!” Jean-Luc Picard, the intrepid, clever and compassionate leader of the USS Enterprise, often issued this directive to his loyal crew to execute a plan, to save the ship, themselves, or entire worlds.  And, the Enterprise crew got it done.  Consider President Barack Obama, worlds to appease, a nation to cajole, and a Congress with more plans to assimilate than the Borg. With jobless numbers at 10.2%, Obama is likely wondering: what went wrong?

Picard’s introspective and analytical nature bluntly assessed his actions, refusing excuses, with a plan to improve his performance.  Obama may spend time on the White House holodeck, envisioning “what if” scenarios, but an assessment of the year since his election, shows that few of Obama’s campaign promises have come to fruition.

The deficit of $459 billion, which President Obama inherited from George Bush has grown to $1.4 trillion, while the economy has shrunk.  The 3.5-million-jobs-created campaign promise has been watered down to claim 600,000 jobs “saved” .

(more…)

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Tags: Borg, Cash for Clunkers, Congress, continuing resolution, Czars
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 2:37 pm in Congress, Economics, Obama, Politics | 2666255 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2009/11/06/obama-is-no-captain-jean-luc-picard-uss-enterprise/Obama+is+No+Captain+Jean-Luc-Picard+--+USS+Enterprise+2009-11-06+21%3A37%3A51Lurita+Doan

White House Creates ACORN for the Arts

Over the last week, Big Hollywood and Big Government have been extensively covering the August 10 conference call between the National Endowment for the Arts and a group of artists – a call on which the artists were encouraged to support President Obama’s agenda, with the tacit promise that they would be handsomely rewarded with government grants.  The NEA representative on the call was then-Communications Director of the NEA Yosi Sergant.

Now we have new evidence that the White House itself has been using its sway to recruit artists – not just to support President Obama’s “volunteerism” initiatives, but to support basic planks of his political agenda, including health care.  In fact, the White House has been tapping its extragovernmental political allies to work with artists with the tacit promise that NEA funds will be in the offing for those who join the Obama Administration political program.

According to a briefing report from Arlene Goldbard, the Pratt Center for Community Development, State Voices, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, on May 12, 2009, “more than 60 artists and creative organizers engaged in civic participation, community development, education, social justice activism, and philanthropy came together for a White House briefing on Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery.”  Each of the sponsors of the meeting was contacted by – yes, you guessed it – Yosi Sergant, who had just been promoted from the Office of Public Engagement to serve at the NEA. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Anita MonCrief, Arlene Goldbard, Center for Community Change, Communications
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 9:35 am in ACORN, Culture, Featured Story, Obama, Politics | 1259451 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bshapiro/2009/10/05/more-evidence-at-may-12-meeting-the-white-house-creates-an-acorn-for-the-arts/White+House+Creates+ACORN+for+the+Arts2009-10-05+16%3A35%3A37Ben+Shapiro

Obama and Health Care: The Silver Tongue Versus the Tin Ear

Over the past several tumultuous months America has seen the Democratic Party’s ambitious attempt to restructure health care slam head-on into the obstacle of public opinion.

The American people are learning first hand the answer to the age old question of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.  President Obama has spent months pronouncing that action must take place on health care and stating “failure is not an option.”

Speaker Pelosi has chimed in with one of her definitive statements (the kind that keep getting her in trouble) that the Democrats will absolutely pass a health care package within weeks.  These proclamations come after weeks of unprecedented turmoil resulting in the public’s support for “reform” plummeting and taking confidence in the president with it.

What is truly amazing in this situation is that neither the White House, nor Democrat leaders in Congress have adjusted their positions or tactics one bit since widespread concern, uncertainty, confusion, anger, opposition and even rage over “reforms” swept much of the nation. 

At the White House the campaign team remains steadfast in their apparent belief that there is no problem that the President can’t talk himself out of.  They drove their seventy percent approval rating square into the brick wall of an always skeptical populace.  David Axelrod and friends promptly threw it in reverse, backed up, and then drove into the wall even faster. 

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Tags: Axelrod, health care reform, Healthcare, Obama, town halls
Posted Sep 28th 2009 at 10:20 am in Congress, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 977066 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dobrien/2009/09/28/obama-and-health-care-the-silver-tongue-versus-the-tin-ear/Obama+and+Health+Care%3A+The+Silver+Tongue+Versus+the+Tin+Ear2009-09-28+17%3A20%3A41Doug+O%26%2339%3BBrien