Good morning folks,
What we’ve got here is failure to communicate…. and a failure on the left to acknowledge a spending problem. According to a report released yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office, unless Washington starts spending responsibly, the “federal debt held by the public will reach 76 percent of GDP by the end of this fiscal year, the largest percentage since 1950.” In other words, the President’s signature tax hike, that he demanded for years and recently signed into law, didn’t solve a darn thing.
Naturally, President Obama remains in denial. Not only does he deny the existence of a spending problem, he wants to spend even more. The Obama solution is to force hard working men and women to give more money Washington so it can promptly be mispent. Would you try to help a gambling addict recover by giving him more money to bet? Of course not. But that is exactly what the President is asking us to do. He’s even gone so far as to institute a gag orderbarring his Cabinet from even discussing the upcoming sequester/spending cuts so that he can push for yet another tax increase, infuriating even members of his own party. “It’s been under a gag order,” said Maryland Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski. “I’m against gag rules.”
Making matters worse, CBO forecasts that the unemployment rate, now 7.9%, will remain above 7.5% through next year, making 2014 the sixth consecutive year with a jobless rate that high, the longest stretch of such elevated unemployment in 70 years. Stagnation plus.
Paul Ryan said yesterday that the CBO report, “is yet another warning that we need to get spending under control.” “House Republicans have offered their solutions,” he said, “Now the President and Senate Democrats must do the same.” Unfortunately it looks like the Obama/Schumer/Pelosi solution is: Tax, spend, waste, tax more, spend more, waste more - repeat, no matter the result.
Seize the day,
Brad Dayspring
@BDayspring
Mark Bednar
@MarkBednar
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@RollCall “FDA Might Decide When a Cigar Is Just a Cigar http://roll.cl/11DD8ZP via @CQRCEmily”
@NationalJournal “Sen. Bob Menendez spent up to 87% of his savings to repay donor for controversial flights http://njour.nl/WNjJBY”
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@ZeroHedge “Ending Sat mail delivery saves $2 billion. USPS loss is $16 billion: must end delivery on 8 days per week for USPS to stop losing money”
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On The Radar
Economic Growth
ANALYSIS OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE BUDGET AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FOR 2013-2023. “And second, given the recent and ongoing debate about the nation’s fiscal policy, the baseline should presumably offer insight into the extent to which existing deficit reduction measures (the Budget Control Act (BCA) and the tax increases embedded in the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA)) have improved the federal government’s finances. Unfortunately, CBO’s baseline confirms that the nation, despite claims to the contrary, remains on a damaging debt pathway.”
White House Weighs Emission Rules. “President Barack Obama in next week’s State of the Union speech will lay out a renewed effort to combat climate change that is expected to include using his authority to curb emissions from existing power plants, people who have talked to the administration about its plans said.”
Social Security, Health Spending, To Hit $3.2 Trillion A Year. “Spending on Social Security and healthcare will double to $3.2 trillion a year over the next decade, threatening a sharp rise in national debt unless Congress acts to avoid the danger, congressional researchers warned on Tuesday.”
Immigration
GOP’s Raul Labrador quietly emerging as middleman for immigration reform: Rep. Raul R. Labrador is the only Puerto Rican, Mormon, tea party immigration lawyer in Congress, which the Idaho Republican figures makes him the perfect bridge between hard-line GOP resistance to an immigration overhaul and the urgent sense among Democrats that the November election won them a free hand on the issue… …Labrador argues that deporting the 11 million illegal immigrants estimated to be living here would bankrupt the country and sap industries that rely on their labor. Instead, he favors allowing those without documents to seek a nonimmigrant visa — part of a new, robust guest-worker program. It would allow them to step forward and gain legal status after paying a fine, without fear of deportation.
Americans Widely Support Immigration Reform. “At least two-thirds of Americans favor each of five specific measures designed to address immigration issues — ranging from 68% who would vote for increased government spending on security measures and enforcement at U.S. borders, to 85% who would vote for a requirement that employers verify the immigration status of all new hires. More than seven in 10 would vote for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants now living in this country.”
Immigration’s latest ally: Christian right: Social conservatives are directly targeting GOP offices and trying to show that they can give cover to lawmakers in the South, West and Midwest, who are worried about facing retaliation at the ballot box in 2014. “Many of the most hostile critics got beat, a fact not lost on the other House members,” said Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, referring to Republicans who have lost their seats since 2006. “I think there’s a bigger coalition in the House for immigration reform than people think.”
Health Care
Obama Health Law Will Cost $1.3T, CBO Says. “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated Tuesday that President Obama’s signature healthcare law will cost about $1.3 trillion over the next 10 years. The figure represents a slight increase since August, when the nonpartisan budget office estimated that the law would cost about $1.17 trillion before 2022.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor revives device tax repeal push: Long an opponent of the tax, Cantor isn’t alone this time, either. Some Democrats from key medical device industry states like Minnesota or Massachusetts support repealing the tax or at least delaying it. Meanwhile, opposition has spread to hospitals forced to cover new surcharges from companies seeking to recoup the 2.3% assessment. That chorus against the tax continues to include the trade group AdvaMed, and companies such as Boston Scientific ($BSX) and Smith & Nephew ($SNN), among others, are cutting hundreds of jobs and blaming extra costs created by the tax.
Read more: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor revives device tax repeal push - FierceMedicalDevices
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Read more: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor revives device tax repeal push - FierceMedicalDevices http://www.fiercemedicaldevices.com/story/house-majority-leader-eric-cantor-revives-device-tax-repeal-push/2013-02-05#ixzz2K84utGIk
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Massive Hype- And Hope- For Digital Health In Silicon Valley. “Second, while it’s important not to overgeneralize from a single case, it’s hard for me not to look at the challenges faced by this design-focused health company and see it as more symptomatic of Silicon Valley’s overall bias in digital health towards cool, consumer-facing technology, rather than pragmatic solutions to defined medical problems.”
X-Factor
India “Concerned” By China Role In Pakistan Port. “China’s role in operating a strategically important port in Pakistan is a matter of concern for India, its defense minister said on Wednesday, as New Delhi and Beijing jostle for influence in the region.”
This & That
World’s Tiniest Car Is Terrifying, Fantastic, Makes You Look Like a LEGO Astronaut