NY Times discovers that there is a deficit problem!

Big Hat tip to Rob Verdi at The 46

Rob Verdi at The 46 is an excellent news aggregator.  I've followed his site almost since the inception of my own blog and he has tipped me off to numerous breaking news stories, including the most recent Times article.  Rob writes:

Is Obama alone responsible for this, of course not. Has he exacerbated the problems to levels almost unbelievable, heck yeah! as for what next:

"Treasury officials now face a trifecta of headaches: a mountain of new debt, a balloon of short-term borrowings that come due in the months ahead, and interest rates that are sure to climb back to normal as soon as the Federal Reserve decides that the emergency has passed.

Even as Treasury officials are racing to lock in today's low rates by exchanging short-term borrowings for long-term bonds, the government faces a payment shock similar to those that sent legions of overstretched homeowners into default on their mortgages.

With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government's tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically. Other forecasters say the figure could be much higher."  Read more at The 46

Please remember to add Rob's site to your list of pages for research.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

The “Fix” is in on new deficits and Media Matters' mindless drones

You may have missed it with the CBO scoring and vote on the Senate health care bill, but the Doctor fix passed the house last Thursday.  I wrote about the Doctor Fix shenanigans last week.  Whenever you hear the media state the cost of health care legislation as scored by the CBO, be sure to tack on at least $210 billion to that number.

On a related note, I like to see what the mindless left are up to every now and then, so I stopped on over at Media Matters.  They had a post on how Fox & Friends had overstated the cost of health care by including the Doctor Fix in the overall cost of health care legislation, which is the honest thing to do I might add.  Fox & Friends even mentioned that they were adding the Doctor Fix to the cost of the bills.

Here is the best part.  The article wasn't actually about how Fox incorrectly reported anything.  It was about how hypocritical the right is for complaining about the Doctor Fix deception.  However, it is clear from the mindless drone responses at the bottom that none of the lefty drones actually read any of the information.  Here is a taste!

Bluestate69 said: "fox news motto "when all else fails, LIE!!" "

I'm sorry mindless drone.  The Media Matters article plainly defends that Fox's analysis was correct.

Read More about the Doctor Fix:

Hot Air has two excellent posts on the Doctor Fix here and here.

Million Med March Today!

Hat Tip to Right Klik

If you are looking for something to do today, how about the Million Med March? Marchs are happening all over the US to protest the Senate bill.

Find a march near you!

Government: working hard to squelch recovery

Via the Drudge Report

It looks as though several city mayors are looking at budgetary problems as a result of the economic downturn.  The poor budget management of states and cities highlights the real truth about government in an economic downturn.  Government is a 2,000 pound gorilla, jumping on your back as the private sector tries to climb the hill of recovery.

"While federal stimulus funds have helped states close budget gaps and preserved jobs for many state and school-board employees, the mayors said federal money hasn't done much to ease their day-to-day budget problems. "The stimulus is going to special things," said Chuck Reed, mayor of San Jose.

Beyond budget and services cuts, the mayors discussed new ways to raise revenue at a time when incomes are stagnant and the national unemployment rate is at 10.2%. Philadelphia, for instance, has temporarily increased its sales tax while Mesa has levied a property tax for the first time."

States and local governments face different budgetary problems then the politicians at the federal level.  For example, they often have to finance lavish unfunded federal mandates that are out of their control (I'm sure they can't wait for health care reform).  However, take a look at these mayors' solutions to the problem.  Sales taxes are down, because people are buying things, because they don't have jobs.  So how do cities respond?  Raise taxes that aren't dependant on sales, like property taxes.  It is no wonder that we are headed for a second dip in the recession.  

Knock, Knock, Knock!  The Taxman cometh.

Geithner asked to step down

Via Lonely Conservative

Treasury Secretary Tim ‘Turbo Tax’ Geithner was asked to step down by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX). Geithner was extremely defensive, blamed it all on Bush and refused to step down. Brady asked Geithner where he was working at the time of the financial meltdown and Geithner stuttered his response.

Picture it – your bosses call you in for a performance evaluation. They point out where you’re lacking and you get belligerent and blame your predecessor...Read more at The Lonely Conservative

Reid’s health care bill CBO Scoring is good politics, but the legislation still stinks

Last night, the CBO released the scoring for Reid's health care bill.  Instantaneously, the news reports gushed over how Reid's bill would not only be deficit neutral, but would in fact reduce the deficit by nearly $130 billion in ten years.  Unfortunately, the good news is more the result of well-timed politics than actually creating good legislation.  

The real reason the news seems so positive regarding Reid's legislation is the direct result of Reid not making the legislation available to be criticized ahead of the CBO scoring.  The media, in its pliant attitude towards leftist policies are merely trumpeting the wonderful news for all to hear before anyone has a chance to tell you what policies are included in the bill.  Let me be the first to fill you in on how the CBO projected surplus gains on the legislation:

• The Doctor Fix is out; wink-wink!  You can read all about this scam in one of my more recent posts.  Without the Doctor Fix, a 23% cut in Medicare reimbursements, any of the health care legislation that has been proposed thus far would project surpluses.  I don't think a single rational human being would make the argument that cutting payments to doctors and hospitals is the best approach to tackling the deficit.  Pass the Doctor Fix separately and projected surpluses magically turn into deficits.

• If a program adds to state and local deficits, but not the federal deficits, does that really mean that the program is deficit neutral?  One of the biggest pieces of this legislation is a gigantic expansion of the Medicaid and S-Chip entitlement programs.  These won't add to the Federal Budget though, instead Uncle Sam has decided to create an Unfunded Mandate for the states so that Washington politicians can pretend that there are no budgetary effects.  How many states are going broke right now?

• What are costs of implementation and enforcing the mandates?  They don't keep score at the CBO.  Costs that are associated with enforcing mandates, such as increased oversight by the IRS, are not accounted for in CBO scoring.  If the CBO has to calculate this every time congress wanted to pass legislation, they'd never be able to find deficit neutral legislation.

• The CBO did not indicate whether the legislation actually bends the increasing costs to health care.  As I've pointed out before, this is the real issue.  I'm fine with balancing the budget.  It is a plus to legislation, but the cost crisis is in stemming the rate of health care cost increases year over year.  All the legislation being proposed by Democrats is akin to kicking Grandma to the curb and taking away the large sums of entitlement money currently allotted to a few (old people) and reallocating those entitlements to a larger number of people.  

It's a great way to buy votes, but it doesn't do anything to fix, reform, or improve health care.  I'm sick and tired of all the pretending that this legislation is anything more.

Side Note:

Backdoor single payer is also stronger in Reid's bill.  The new bill charge's only $750/year to those that refuse to purchase health care.  That's a mere $62.50/month.  I can't imagine why anyone would purchase health care insurance under this mandate, if the same legislation is going to bar insurance companies from refusing coverage based on preexisting conditions.  It creates a situation where no one will buy insurance until they need to use it, which will either make private insurance more expensive or put private companies out of business.

Another Side Note:

I was unable to determine from the report whether Reid's bill had the same revenue generating scheme as the Bacchus bill. The Bacchus bill collected 10 years of taxes to fund 7 years of costs.

Read the scoring here.

Update #1

MSNBC has the scoop on some more gimmicks in the Senate bill. The effective date for the legislation is one year later, 2014. Therefore, the effects of legislation that will occur for six of the ten years in the ten year window, will be spread out accross ten years. That's in part, how the senate bill comes in lower then the congressional bill. Also, tax start a year earlier, so we will collect taxes for 7 years to pay for 6 years of costs. Does that sound like it pays for itself?

Hungry for more news? Check out these links!

Democrats hit hardest by Obama recession and more at Left Coast Rebel. See more excellent writing on this topic at Reaganite Republican.

What about the 255 million people not in Reid's bill?

Who in the world vetted and supported Eric Holder's nomination? Track and Klik have video of Eric Holder...sounding...how can I say it?...You'd better just see for yourself.

Even more!

The Czar of the Czars!

Alas the Democratic Hodgepodgery!

Obama is thinking really really hard on Afghanistan

It depends on your definition of Created

The CBO has scored the health care bill. I'll be looking to get you some input tomorrow after I've read it. In the meantime, while CNN is productively fact checking SNL and the AP is doing the important job of fact checking Sarah Palin, the Washington Examiner is fact checking something that matters. Obama's saved and created jobs. They have pooled all the bogus saved and created news reports and made an interactive map. It's very interesting.

So far 10% of the jobs saved and created are bogus and this is strictly what has been reported. It is not a full audit.