Chief Medicare Actuary Richard Foster Told the House Budget Committee Obamacare Would not Reduce Costs or Let People Keep Their Current Healthcare … Broken Obama Promises

Game, Set and Match against Obamacare …

So much for the promises that President Barack Obama and Democrats made regarding Obamacare, it turns out they were untruths. Barack Obama may want to put Obamacare in the rear view mirror, but the fact of the matter is it will be a key issue in the 2012 elections.

Chief CMS Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee that two of the central promises of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled. Medicare’s independent economic expert told the Congress that Obamacare  ”probably” won’t hold costs down, and it “won’t” let everybody keep their current health insurance if they wanted to. Remember when Nancy Pelosi said that “we have to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it? I guess she was 100%. And the hits keep on coming from the Obama landmark legislation that was rammed down the throats of Americans against their will.

The landmark legislation probably won’t hold costs down, and it won’t let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.

Foster’s assessment came a day after Obama in his State of the Union message told lawmakers that he’s open to improvements in the law, but unwilling to rehash the health care debate of the past two years. Republicans want to repeal the landmark legislation that provides coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, but lack the votes.

Foster was asked by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., for a simple true or false response on two of the main assertions made by supporters of the law: that it will bring down unsustainable medical costs and will let people keep their current health insurance if they like it.

On the costs issue, “I would say false, more so than true,” Foster responded.

As for people getting to keep their coverage, “not true in all cases.”

After hearing such comments, think that a majority of Americans are not going to want to repeal Obamacare? Richard Foster is hardly a partisan, he is the independent Medicare actuary who is just merely presenting the facts. Remember when Barack Obama said,  there were three principles of Obamacare … reduce health care costs, individuals keep whatever doctor and health care plan they have, and all Americans must have quality and affordable health care. However, it would appear that two of the three tenants of Obamacare are fallacious.

No wonder President Barack Obama said during his SOTU speech that he did not want to revisit Obamacare and only make changes to the government take over of health care, if he deems the change appropriate. No wonder Obama does not want to go back and “re-fighting the battles of the last two years,” he would actually have to explain his broken promises to the American people.

So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses …

So instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward.

However, Richard Foster’s comments did not just end with his slamming of Obama’s principles of Obamacare, but then came  came Foster’s assault on the double-counting utilized in the CBO scoring.

REP. JOHN CAMPBELL(R- Calif.): “Is it legitimate to say… that you can add a dozen years to the solvency of Medicare or that you can reduce the deficit, but it is not correct to say both simultaneously?”

FOSTER: “Both will happen as a result of the same one set of savings, under Medicare. But it takes two sets of money to make it happen. It happens directly for the budget deficit, from the Medicare savings, and then when we need the money to extend the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, we have a promissory note –  it’s an IOU, not a worthless IOU, but it is an IOU – and Treasury has to pay that money back. But they have to get it from somewhere. That’s the missing link.”

Obama being open to “ideas about how to improve” Obamacare, is that as sincere as the president saying there would be transparency, but instead had back room deals to pass the government take over of health care? The Democrats and Obama are probably already creating their talking points against the independent actuary. Being against Obama care, he might even be called a racist. However, didn’t the media already come out and say that Obamacare will not reduce costs? we also remember that the Democrats were silent as to discussing Obamacare during the 2010 midterm elections, the reason being because the keys of Obamacare were a lie.

Finally,  Richard Foster stunned the House Budget Committee by saying that he was more confident in Paul Ryan’s ‘Road Map’ cost controls than Obama’s health law. OUCH! It is rather evident why most right minded thinking people want Obamacare repealed. The legislation has been a lie since day one.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat from Maryland, went on the attack against committee chairman Paul Ryan’s “Road Map” plan, which is a long-term proposal to make entitlement spending solvent.

Van Hollen pressed Foster on whether Ryan’s plan would work, prompting Foster to point out that one of the biggest problems in health care now is that most new technology that is developed increases costs rather than decreasing it.

Alleged Tucson Gunman Jared Lee Loughner Researched Lethal Injection & Assassinations on Internet Prior to Shooting Spree

Can you say “premeditation” and he knew exactly what he was doing?

Jared Lee Loughner’s lawyers job was just made a lot more difficult. As reported by the Washington Post, Jared Lee Loughner, the suspected gunman who killed six and wounded 13 in the Tucson, AZ shooting, researched on the Internet lethal injections and solitary confinement in prison in the weeks prior to his assassination attempt of US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-D). But wait, it gets better or worse depending on whether you are a member of the prosecution or the defense … Loughtner researched political assassins and punishments he could face for murderon-line as well. Can you say that Loughner will be considered sane, in the legal sense.

Jared Loughner, he might look crazy, but he knew exactly what he was doing

Loughner pulled up several Web sites about lethal injections and solitary confinement in prison, said the sources, who asked to be anonymous because the investigation is ongoing. He also viewed Internet sites about political assassins, according to an analysis of Loughner’s computer that was completed by investigators last week, the sources said.

Police seized Loughner’s computer when they forcibly entered his family home in Tucson on Jan. 8, shortly after the shooting outside a Safeway that killed six people and injured 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

With Jared Lee Loughner planning and staging his shooting spree, it is going to be extremely difficult for his defense attorney, Judy Clarke, to prove that he was insane in the multiple indictments against Loughtner.

Loughner was arraigned in a federal courthouse in Phoenix on Monday. Judy Clarke, Loughner’s defense attorney from California, asked the court to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf on three counts of attempting to kill federal employees, including Giffords.

Loughner was also indicted on charges of attempting to assassinate two of Giffords’s aides, Ron Barber and Pam Simon, who were injured in the attack. Two other federal employees, U.S. District Judge John M. Roll and another Giffords aide, Gabe Zimmerman, were killed.

Obama Offer Spending Freeze as CBO Says this Year’s Budget Deficit to hit $1.5 TRILLION!!!

$1.5 TRILLION!!!

The CBO,  Congressional Budget Office, has predicted that this years federal budget defict will be 1.5 trillion, with a “T”.  This is the forecast and all President Obama offered in last night’s SOTU speech was to “freeze” discretionary spending for the next five years. That’s it, a freeze? Sorry, much more is going to have to be done than a freeze. Let’s see if Obama provides any leadership to do the tough work or is he just worried about reelection.

A new estimate predicts the federal budget deficit will hit almost $1.5 trillion this year, a stunning new record.

The latest figures from the Congressional Budget Office are up from previous estimates because Congress and President Barack Obama teamed up in December on bipartisan legislation to extend Bush-era tax cuts that were due to expire. The new estimates will only add fuel to a raging debate over cutting spending and looming legislation that’s required to allow the government to borrow more money.

As reported at The Hill, the increase in the deficit would bring it to 9.8 percent of gross domestic product. The CBO’s projections assume that current laws remain unchanged.

The CBO’s projections assume that current laws remain unchanged. If the nation continues on its current path, the CBO said, the total national debt will rise from 40 percent of GDP in 2008 to 70 percent by the end of 2011, reaching 77 percent of GDP by 2021.

Other bleak news from our economy after Obama stated that “the state of the nation” was good.

• New-home sales in 2010 fall to lowest in 47 years.

The Commerce Department says sales for all of 2010 totaled 321,000, a drop of 14.4 percent from the 375,000 homes sold in 2009. It was the fifth consecutive year that sales have declined after hitting record highs for the five previous years when the housing market was booming.

Economists say it could be years before sales hit a healthy rate of 600,000 units a year.

• DOLLAR CRUMBLES After Obama’s Disappointing SOTU Performance
• 9.4% Unemployment when everyone knows that the actual rate is much higher.
• Underemployment at near 20%. (Gallup poll)

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 – A War on Police

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Before Obama’s SOTU … Republicans Pass Non Binding Spending Cuts by The 256-165 Bi-Partisan Vote

Just hours before President Obama delivered the SOTU, the GOP House of Representatives passed a non-binding, bi-partisan spending cut measure that would cut federal budget to 2008 levels or less by a 256 to 165 vote. Seventeen Democrats cross party lines and voted with the GOP. Its all about the spending and cutting the federal deficit, which party is going to be perceived as not being serious about reducing the deficit? The loser of this issue loses badly in 2012.

Just hours before President Obama delivers his State of the Union Address, the GOP-led House easily endorsed cutting the federal budget to 2008 levels or less.

House Speaker John Boehner, left, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, right, talk to reporters about the federal budget. The 256-165 vote was aimed at getting Democrats to go on record about federal spending, a key issue in the 2010 election that helped Republicans take the House majority.

Seventeen Democrats, most members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, sided with 239 Republicans to pass the non-binding measure.

Earlier today, President Barack Obama released part of his SOTU that stated that he would ask for a spending freeze fopr the next 5 years. Wow, Mr. President, that will amount to nothing. It is the same old promises from the past when it comes to spending. Of course this year Obama will call it “investing”, not spending. So we are supposed to believe that Obama has become a fiscal hawk … hardly as so aptly stated by Protein Wisdom, “Freezing the budget after increasing discretionary domestic spending by 84% is hardly a sacrifice”.

Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose a five year budget freeze on non-security related discretionary spending, ABC News has learned.

Opposition to Obamacare Reform Spikes to a Record high at 55%

A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health shows that 55% of Americans have an unfavorable views of Obamacare. The opposition to Obama’s government take over of health care is up 9% since last month. As much as the Politico wants to say that Americans do not want to spend time dismantling the health care pig, that is the only way that it will make the 55% of those against Obamacare happy.  Of course, if Obama really wants to prove that he has made a change and shift right to the middle, rather than just window dressing … he would not stand in the way of a repeal of Obamacare and tell Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reaid to allow a vote to take place in the Senate.

Public opposition to the health care reform law spiked to a record high in a new poll out today — but Americans don’t necessarily want Republicans to spend time trying to dismantle it.

Fifty percent of Americans have unfavorable views of the law, according to a joint survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. Opposition to the law jumped 9 percentage points from last month and is the highest since April, when Kaiser began asking the question every month.

The new opposition to President Obama’s biggest domestic policy initiative has been driven largely by independents. Fifty-seven percent of independents had an unfavorable view of the law this month, up sharply from 41 percent in December.

What do these polls tell us … Obamacare will be an issue in the 2012 Presidential election and have a say in the US Senate elections as well.

Nancy Pelosi Says No to Date Night SOTU with Eric Cantor, She Already has One

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) slipped Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a note in study hall asking if she would be his date to the State of the Union address. However, the former House Speaker said no and stated she’s already had a date. It was true heartache for Eric Cantor being rejected by little Nancy.

The invitation from Cantor was made Monday evening through staffers for the two leaders, spokesman Brad Dayspring said.
 
The pairing would have been among the more high-profile for an event that has in recent days been compared to a school dance, as lawmakers scurry to find cross-party seatmates for the president’s annual address. Instead of the traditional party-line seating arrangement, dozens of members have planned to sit with lawmakers from the other party as a symbol of renewed civility.

BTW, no Weasel Zippers you are not the only one that finds the “date night” SOTU a total irritating bunch of BS. It is not important are mean anything who you symbolically sit next to an a faux image of unity … IT MATTERS WHAT ONE STANDS FOR NOT WH YOU SIT NEXT TO!!!

Carol M. Browner, President Barack Obama’s Climate Change Czar Out the Door

Carol Browner is out as the Cap & Trade, Climate Change czar. Another one bites the political dust in Obama’s radical czardom. Interesting how some are leaving, especially as stated at Hot Air, after Fred Upton, the new GOP chair of the House Energy and Commerce committee, had suggested  that he planned on investigating her authority.

Carol M. Browner, President Barack Obama’s top energy and environmental adviser, plans to leave the White House in the coming weeks, White House officials said Monday night.

Browner, who served as Environmental Protection Agency administrator for all eight years under President Bill Clinton, has emerged as one of the most experienced Washington hands in the current West Wing.

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Daily Commentary – Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 – Convict Monkey on the Lam

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Rahm Emanuel Gets Thrown off the Chicago Mayoral Ballot … Says, “He Will Prevail”

After having his name taken off the Chicago Mayoral ballot, Rahm Emanuel says he will prevail. Of course he will, its the Chicago way.

Rahm Emanuel was thrown off the ballot for mayor of Chicago Monday by an appellate court panel. Wow, who would have thought an Illinois court would have done such a thing? The court decision can be read HERE.  The Court concluded, by a 2 to 1 vote, that the  Emanuel neither meets the municipal code’s requirement that he have ‘resided’ in Chicago for the year preceding the election, nor falls within any exception to the requirement.

Rahm Emanuel was thrown off the ballot for mayor of Chicago Monday by an appellate court panel. But Emanuel ­— who has led the other candidates in fund-raising and in public opinion polls — cautioned he won’t get off the ballot without a fight.

“I have no doubt, at the end we will prevail at this effort,” Emanuel told reporters at the Berghoff Restaurant.

The Chicago Board of Elections planned to start printing ballots without Emanuel’s name unless Emanuel’s lawyers can get a “stay” of the appellate court ruling. Emanuel’s lawyers filed their request for a stay just before 5 p.m. Monday.

“We … order that the candidate’s name be excluded (or if, necessary, be removed) from the ballot,” Judge Thomas Hoffman wrote in the opinion upholding the requirement under the state’s municipal code that candidates for mayor in Illinois must have “resided in” the town where they are running for a year before Election Day — in this case Feb. 22. Hoffman was joined by Justice Shelvin Marie Louise Hall.

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