Obamacare

[Rangerguru]

One Big Ass Mistake America...

By Phil Kerpen

Guess what? Everything we've ever heard about the democrats plan for
health
care reform is true. And it's not a pretty picture.


The House Democrats released their long-awaited draft health care reform
bill today, and every rumor about what tax hikes would be included was
true--and then some.

The big shocker is that the surtax on high-income earners, including
small
businesses, is much steeper than the rumored 3 percent that I talked
about
in my podcast yesterday. Instead it's 5.4 percent. Not of taxable
income,
mind you, but of adjusted gross income. That means the tax applies to
income
that was spent on home mortgage interest, medical expenses, property
taxes,
charitable contributions, and nearly everything else currently deducted
from
taxable income.

Combined with President Obama's plan to repeal the Bush tax cuts on
schedule
in 2011, this would mean hiking the top marginal capital gains tax rate
from
15 percent to 25.4 percent--much higher than Obama promised on the
campaign
trail, and near the 28 percent rate from before the 1997 Bill Clinton
tax
cuts. Such a tax hike would slam the brakes on capital formation and
wallop
capital markets with another gut punch just as they are finally
beginning to
recover from the financial crisis. It would also dramatically inhibit
badly
needed business investment.

The tax hit on capital gains, however, would pale compared to the new
top
rate on ordinary income, already scheduled to go from 35% to 39.6
percent in
2011, but now pushed up to 45 percent with the new surtax, and actually
substantially higher than that as a percentage of taxable income because
the
new 5.4 percent surtax is applied to AGI.

Such punitive income tax rates would be a huge impediment to business
activity throughout the economy, especially for the small and
medium-sized
business that create nearly all of the new employment that we need to
lead
us out of the recession.

And it actually gets a lot worse. Employers would also be mandated to
provide health insurance under the bill, and the cost of health
insurance
would likely skyrocket because of new regulations called guaranteed
issue
and community rating. The only alternative, which many companies would
either be forced into by cost considerations or choose for simplicity,
would
be to pay a payroll tax of as much as 8 percent. That's on top of the
existing 15.3 percent payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare,
creating
a new total payroll tax of 23.3 percent.

There would also be a new tax on individuals who don't have health
insurance, flying in the face of President Obama's key primary campaign
promise not to require people to be insured. That tax would be another
2.5
percent of AGI.

These eye-popping numbers, of course, don't include state and local
taxes,
which are also rising in most of the country.

The tax hikes in this bill represent the last piece of the puzzle--along
with loose monetary policy and high government spending--to repeat the
key
economic blunders of the 1970s, with all the misery that came with them.

Phil Kerpen

[Rangerguru]

[Rock Island Ranger]

This is going to hobble free enterprize.

[Rock Island Ranger]

FINALLY...THE $50,000 QUESTION WAS ASKED !!!!!.....YESTERDAY ON THE "ABC..OBAMA SPECIAL ON HEALTH CARE"......OBAMA WAS ASKED "MR. PRESIDENT WILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GIVE UP YOUR CURRENT HEALTH CARE PROGRAM AND JOIN THE NEW "UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM" THAT THE REST OF US WILL BE ON ????.....OBAMA IGNORED THE QUESTION AND DIDN'T ANSWER IT !!!.....A NUMBER OF SENATORS WERE ASKED THE SAME QUESTION AND THEIR RESPONSE WAS...WE WILL THINK ABOUT IT !!!!
IT WAS ALSO ANNOUNCED TODAY ON THE NEWS THAT THE "KENNEDY HEALTH CARE BILL".....HAS WRITTEN INTO IT THAT CONGRESS WILL BE ( FROM THIS GREAT HEALTH CARE PLAN)..EXEMPT !!!!!

HOW ABOUT THOSE APPLES......NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR OBAMA OR CONGRESS.....BUT "OK" FOR THE REST OF US ????????

I saw this on an email from someone. I gotta say, if its true and it most likely is, the "lead by example" aspect we know as Rangers doesnt apply to our National leadership. Of coure, the Healthplan, retirement, ect that had been enjoyed by Congress/Senate has always been a great deal better than that which most of us have. This type of leadership really does enrage me.

[rgrokelley]

I have a question- what if you have insurance with your employer already? You still gotta pay into this crap?

If the government is now going to be the primary insurance provider (insurance hell, it is straight up health care provider), why would your employer wish to continue to use their own funds to insure you anymore? This will put private health care out of business.

There is part of the new plan that says after the law takes effect, private insurers can no longer sign up anyone new. So when the government says that they won't take away private health care plans, they are not being totally truthful. They won't take away the one you have now, but no one else will be able to get into private health care. So without new blood, the companies will soon fold.

This is so fucked up.

[Ranger Bill]

Supposedly, there are more than 1,000 pages in the Health Care Bill and it is another sterling example of nobody really knowing all that's in it, but for sure it will be fodder for numerous court cases and a breeding ground for more fraud, waste and abuse.

[Rangerguru]

I heard that if you continue with your current plan, you will have to pay a $1000 penalty to the gubment.

[Rangerguru]

Here's the link to the flow chart detailing how to go about being seen by a doctor.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/files/jec-health-chart.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rgrokelley]

Watch this on youtube, and you'll see a government official telling Congressman Paul Ryan that you won't be able to get private health care anymore after 2013.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPSHAqrS ... r_embedded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[K.Ingraham]

As I type at 1325 edt, the Chairman just started a rally, er.."newsconference" on the subject. I'm sure you all just signed off in order to go watch it & become better informed on his true position.

[Jim]

There is a lot of emotion around this issue. When Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, the legislature mandated health care for all citizens of the commonwealth. Does anyone know how that is working out?

[K.Ingraham]

I can't give you any sort of answer except to repeat what I heard on TV news earlier today; supposedly, now that people must purchase something (which unstabilizes the market since choice is removed), prices have "skyrocketed".
Just what constitutes "skyrocketing" or any actual examples the talking heads didn't bother with.