Pay As You Go. Really?
You have no doubt heard the "pay as you go" mantra from the Democrats who, in case you've haven't heard, control everything there is to control these days. "Pay as you go" requires that any expenditure requires an equal reduction in some other expense or an increase in taxes, so that the total budget remains "balanced".
There was a rolling of eyes amongst Dems when Pelosi again brought this to the fore. There were many who wished she hadn't said that since it might cramp their style so far as spending on old and new programs.
Among the problems is this little item. House Democrats want to get doctors' support for a health care bill and they think they can do that by adding a new wrinkle to the bill requiring that Medicare reimbursements be increased annually and automatically. The biggest problem they encountered was that darned old "pay as you go" thing. (The president didn't really have "nothing but fun" when he spoke to the members of the American Medical Association the other day in Chicago. They let him know that they were not happy with him when they were behind closed doors.)
After all, this simple permanent fix would carry a price tag in the hundreds of billions of dollars that would have to be added to the health care bill and that already runs to more than $1 trillion. Remember, the CBO "score" on any bill must be at or under a trillion dollars over ten years if the bill is to have any chance of passage even though the Democrats have the votes to do anything they choose.
What to do? What to do?
Well how about if the Democrats simply fake the numbers and keep this magic Medicare portion of the bill off the budget. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) who is chair of the Ways and Means Health subcommittee said that was exactly what they'd need to do. This was during a C-Span interview last Sunday.
You see the problem is really this: The Democrats can do anything they want anytime they want. If they think they can get away with it, it'll be done.
Never mind that us citizens can't get away with changing the rules we live by. We can't decide to sweep part of our household expense off the table and just ignore it. We really understand what is meant by "pay as you go" since we live that way or we go bankrupt.
Somehow people seem to lose touch with reality during the flight to Washington, D.C. They profess to still be human when they're in the home district or state, but they go through some mystical transformation on the trip back to the capitol.
This is simply a $285 billion bait and switch.
There was a rolling of eyes amongst Dems when Pelosi again brought this to the fore. There were many who wished she hadn't said that since it might cramp their style so far as spending on old and new programs.
Among the problems is this little item. House Democrats want to get doctors' support for a health care bill and they think they can do that by adding a new wrinkle to the bill requiring that Medicare reimbursements be increased annually and automatically. The biggest problem they encountered was that darned old "pay as you go" thing. (The president didn't really have "nothing but fun" when he spoke to the members of the American Medical Association the other day in Chicago. They let him know that they were not happy with him when they were behind closed doors.)
After all, this simple permanent fix would carry a price tag in the hundreds of billions of dollars that would have to be added to the health care bill and that already runs to more than $1 trillion. Remember, the CBO "score" on any bill must be at or under a trillion dollars over ten years if the bill is to have any chance of passage even though the Democrats have the votes to do anything they choose.
What to do? What to do?
Well how about if the Democrats simply fake the numbers and keep this magic Medicare portion of the bill off the budget. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) who is chair of the Ways and Means Health subcommittee said that was exactly what they'd need to do. This was during a C-Span interview last Sunday.
You see the problem is really this: The Democrats can do anything they want anytime they want. If they think they can get away with it, it'll be done.
Never mind that us citizens can't get away with changing the rules we live by. We can't decide to sweep part of our household expense off the table and just ignore it. We really understand what is meant by "pay as you go" since we live that way or we go bankrupt.
Somehow people seem to lose touch with reality during the flight to Washington, D.C. They profess to still be human when they're in the home district or state, but they go through some mystical transformation on the trip back to the capitol.
This is simply a $285 billion bait and switch.
Posted by The Curmudgeon at 6/25/2009 10:25 AM 
Categories: Politics,Taxes,Economy,Quality of Life,National Issues
Categories: Politics,Taxes,Economy,Quality of Life,National Issues
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