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POPSNo Tax Increase Needed for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid... If Congress were to act responsibly (yes, an oxymoron), it would hold down the growth of spending, as was done in the late 1980s and late 1990s, and eliminate those government programs that do not meet a reasonable cost-benefit test. As has been shown before, such actions would quickly eliminate the deficit.
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POPSObama's Stealth Socialism Decoded He assumes the economy is a fixed pie, whereby the successful only get rich at the expense of the poor. Following this discredited Marxist model, he believes government must step in and redistribute pieces of the pie. That requires massive transfers of wealth through government taxing and spending, a return to the entitlement days of old. Of course, Obama is too smart to try to smuggle such hoary collectivist garbage through the front door. He's disguising the wealth transfers as "investments" — "to make America more competitive," he says, or "that give us a fighting chance," whatever that means.
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POPSHope + Change = 70% Tax Rate Still, Barack assures us that John McCain's and George Bush's policy stances are indistinguishable, so let's so stipulate. Is that worse than the alternative? After all, what President in the modern era does Senator Obama's agenda most resemble? Huge expansion of the federal government? Check. Letting entitlement spending run wild? Check. "Windfall profit" taxes on oil companies? Strong desire to meet with dictators and state terrorism sponsors? Big doofy grin? Check, check, and check. The Tax Man Cometh Obama’s Plan Since the early 1980s — after Americans rejected Jimmy Carter and embraced Ronald Reagan and his tax cuts — the United States has benefited from relatively competitive tax rates. But if Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan becomes law, the IRS will become one of the most punitive tax men in the world. http://blog.heritage.org/2008/07/01/morning-bell-the-tax-man-cometh/ (Obama caricature by Cox & Forkum)
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POPSConservatives At Odds With McCain But perhaps more importantly, he has long been an advocate of entitlement reform. He was early an ardent support of personal accounts for Social Security, and has pushed for serious Medicare reform, including means-testing. Almost alone among Republicans, he opposed the disastrous Medicare prescription drug benefit. "On domestic policy, he has shown a disturbing predilection for elevating every personal pet peeve, from steroids in baseball to airplane service quality, to a federal issue. And, he has embraced heavily regulatory environmental policies and compulsory national service. Like George W. Bush, he tends to support federal power over federalism, executive authority over legislative, and generally leans toward the imperial presidency. For believers in individual liberty and limited government, it's a decidedly mixed bag. But, then again, aren't they all?"
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POPSVeterans’ Groups Pushs For More Predictable VA Funding “It is a lot cheaper to provide veteran care through the VA than it is to provide it by Medicare or Medicaid,” said Violante. “If we put the resources into the VA it would certainly be fiscally responsible.” Congress now appropriates VA medical care funds on an annual basis. Political squabbling has delayed VA funding in 13 of the past 14 years — something that has severely hampered the department’s ability to plan and manage its healthcare system, according to DAV’s talking points. Veterans’ groups say the change would ensure the agency can better handle the growing number of veterans dependent on it for medical care. An added benefit would be that advance appropriations would not fall under pay-as-you-go budgetary rules, which do cover mandatory funding. This means the advance appropriations would not have to be offset by spending cuts or revenue raisers, requirements that make it harder to move legislation.
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POPSNo more PR spam The clip is from a comment by Merlin Mann, but overall the comments--and post--are great. As Brian Oberkirch pointed out on Twitter, from the small amount that reaches (and annoys) me, a nothingblogger, I cannot imagine what the big boys have to put up with. Once again, a bunch of idiots ruin everything for a few smart, nice people who Get It.
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POPSBattle Of the Proxy Incumbents Fiction can be fun! Ultimately though, this fanciful bit of twaddle is unlikely to stick, what with McCain's voting record so thoroughly refuting it. And in a lot of ways, that's too bad. If only we could look back at McCain's votes and comments on the wildly effective investment income tax cuts and find a man who embraced pro-growth fiscal policy as eagerly as Bush, we might be better assured of the continuity of certain beneficial policies that Obama so laments.
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POPS Comprehensive Economic Revitalization Plan Here are a few of the plan's basics: Eliminate Taxes on Social Security Benefits. That money belongs to seniors, not the government. They paid into the system for a lifetime, and they should be free to spend every penny as they see fit. * Pass H.R. 192 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits. # Eliminate Taxes on Tips.The single parents and working students who earn their income chiefly through tips deserve to keep all of their money. This tax on "estimated income" is unfair and should be ended. * Pass H.R. 3664 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that tips shall not be subject to income or employment taxes. Reduce Overseas Military Commitments. Our bases and troops should be on our soil. * It's time to stop subsidizing our trading partners in Europe, Japan and South Korea.
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POPSBush Sends Record $3.1 TRILLION Budget to Congress Republicans are now the party of Big Government. The defense portion is higher also than any time since WWII. While Americans are pinched, the Federal Leviathan is sucking in and spending like never before, and under a republican president.
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POPSAmerica is over and the terrorists have won. Just as Russia fell trying to keep pace with American military spending, the USA will fall trying to fight an invisible enemy blown out of proportion. Someone, the terrorists of 9-11 and after have managed to destroy the US economy, and the culture of freedom and democracy. America is over.