Now, about that tax cut... (UPDATED)

(UPDATE #1): We were wondering when someone was going to get around do doing some heavy lifting for us. Recall the “support” that President Bush got when he proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that were far smaller than the cuts President Obama is proposing. Click on over to Verum Serum to view a video montage of Democrat pols tearing into Bush for his proposals and then in response to Obama’s… the sound of crickets.

Now aside from the obvious, (it’s their guy who is making the proposals) here’s a point made by VS that is probably even more relevant:

“… the other reason for the Democrats’ silent hypocrisy on this is that they know these proposed cuts are completely bogus. If the Democrats have their way, government spending for healthcare is going to explode in the coming years. At best, it will be a shell game shifting funds from one government healthcare program to another. But the idea that Medicare/Medicaid spending is going to decrease at the same time the government adds 50-100 million people or more to a government run healthcare plan…well, it’s beyond audacity."

Seriously. If the ultimate goal here is to eventually get everyone covered under some type of government plan (which it is) then how do you really “cut” any spending on government health care?

And the fact that the AARP has remained silent on this matter is due mostly likely to the fact that they were probably advised by back channel means that “…yeah, about those cuts to Medicare and Medicaid? Fogheduhbowdit”.

(here endeth the update)


Do you all remember the criticisms leveled at the Tea Partiers and in particular the criticism with respect to the name of the movement? The scoffing was “What are they protesting? Taxes? The President is giving these ingrates a (whopping and completely illusory $13/week) tax cut and they're whining about being taxed? Obviously, they must all be racist”.

Well, the Tea Partiers, the vast majority of whom live in the real world and whom possess a modicum of common sense, realized that if the federal government was going to continue spending money at astronomical rates while making zero cuts to the budget, then something was going to have to give.

Recall the “pay-go” concept trotted out by the Administration earlier this week and which we covered here that explained pay-go was to be implemented not as a way to exercise any real fiscal discipline but as a way to make it easier to raise taxes.

(cue sound of shoe hitting ground)

Health-care overhaul legislation being drafted by House Democrats will include $600 billion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said.

Alas, we have misspoke. There will be budget cuts, after all… to existing government-run health care plans. It’s the best of both worlds: you take home less money for the benefit of receiving less service from Medicare and Medicaid.

So, all the haters out there can submit their apologies, here. Since we won’t be holding our breath for any such mea culpas, we will continue to party under our shiny, happy banner of "Tax hikes: as inevitable as a sunrise"