Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) put forth a counter-offer to the President’s politically unrealistic and economically unintelligent “plan” on the fiscal cliff. That plan, which was hammered by Heritage and me yesterday (see how I did that? I’m as important as Heritage!) seems to have been in response to public opinion on the fiscal cliff debate, which a new Washington Post/Pew Research poll shows puts far more blame on the GOP than on President Obama.
Tag Archives: Dustin Siggins
Republican counter-offer to Obama is bad for three reasons
Earlier today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released a letter to President Obama with the House’s counter-offer to President Obama’s fiscal cliff proposal. From the letter, seen at the Speaker’s website:
With the fiscal cliff nearing, our priority remains finding a reasonable solution that can pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed into law in the next couple of weeks. The best way to do this is by learning from and building on the bipartisan discussions that have occurred during this Congress, including the Biden Group, the Joint Select Committee, and our negotiations leading up to the Budget Control Act.
Think Progress post: partisanship over context
On Wednesday afternoon, Center for American Progress reporter Scott Keyes reported on comments made by Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee. According to Keyes on Think Progress:
Cloaking his predilection for the rich as concern for the less fortunate, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) argued Wednesday that raising taxes on the wealthy would primarily hurt the poor. Lee’s comments came on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s (R) radio show as the two discussed the looming fiscal showdown in Congress.
Two key points on the budget the pundits and politicians miss
Earlier today, I posted about the four prominent Republican Members of Congress who have recently said they are okay with raising taxes:
In a recent radio interview, Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said he is willing to raise taxes in order to help solve America’s debt problem. Chambliss’ comments (as well of those of Senator Graham (R-SC), Senator Corker (R-TN) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY), all of whom have supported tax increases in the last few days) have inspired a firestorm of criticism from many quarters.
The great conceit of the federal government
In 2008, Main Street was forced by Washington to bail out Wall Street through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Now, with the debt accumulated by TARP and other federal attempts to spend our way out of economic doldrums crushing the nation, the politicians want the taxpayers to bail out the federal government. Which leads to the following question: Why should successful, law-abiding Americans be forced to pay more of their incomes into a system that clearly will not use their dollars effectively, efficiently, or morally?
This is the great conceit of the federal government, yet proponents of tax increases ignore it. While spending continues to be irresponsible, we the people are supposed to send more money to Washington to try to balance out the effects of this behavior. Never mind that this involves trusting Congress to actually use the extra income to reduce the deficit and not put it towards new spending.
So, no, D.C. You won’t get any more of our money by increasing tax rates. If you want more money, cut spending and do tax reform. You’ll get the double whammy of less federal interference in the economy and a greater ability for private citizens to flourish. Oh, and you’ll be closer to actually staying within the bounds of the Constitution, something most federal politicians are unfamiliar with.
This piece was originally published at the Tea Party Patriots blog.
Dustin Siggins is the online content coordinator and blogger for Tea Party Patriots, and formerly a frequent contributor to HotAir.com. He currently contributes to American Spectator’s blog, Race42012.com, and RightWingNews.com. He is also the co-author of a forthcoming book on the national debt with William Beach of The Heritage Foundation. The opinions expressed are his own.
Could biometric scanning reduce Medicare fraud?
Ron Lynch is the Managing Partner and founder of NorthStar Business Consulting. Founded in 1990, it focuses on business consulting within the health care industry. Ron and I met on a plane from Charlotte, NC to Dallas, TX over the summer. One of our many conversations focused on his support for biometrics (particularly iris scanning) retinal scanning to prevent Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Below is a follow-up discussion and interview we did on that subject.