Friday, March 25, 2011

Are We Ever in Trouble!

From our friends at The Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs. 

By David Foster

Data from the Census of 2010 continues to trickle out, a column from the Wall Street Journal has some figures on cities that have lost population. New Orleans leads the list, for obvious reasons. It lost 140,845 people, for a drop of 29.1% since the last Census ten years ago. Next comes Detroit, which lost a whopping 25% of its population over the same period and without the excuse of a natural disaster. Almost a quarter of a million people fled the Motor City! Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Santa Anna, and Baltimore are also on the list of the top ten losers, though with much smaller losses than Detroit. But the real story is Ohio. Cleveland is third on the list with a loss of 17.1%, which means that 81,558 people moved out in the last decade. Then come Cincinnati and Toledo with losses of 10.4% and 8.4% respectively. Ohio is the only state with more than one city among the top ten losers, and we have three in the top six! That's a distinction we could do without.

 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The New Health Care Reform Law One Year Later and Getting Worse by the Day

From Congressman John C. Fleming, M.D.;

Today, on the one year anniversary since government-approved health care was signed into law, a look at the implementation of the new health care reform reveals how the legislation has failed to deliver on costs, premiums, spending, and preserving Americans’ existing coverage:

19 — States where parents can no longer buy child-only insurance policies as a result of the law

30 — States suing to block the law from taking effect, or requesting waivers from its requirements

51 — Percentage of American workers who will lose their current health coverage by 2013, according to the Administration’s own estimates

1,270 — New bureaucrats requested by the Internal Revenue Service to implement the law this year

$2,100 — Increase in individual insurance premiums due to Obamacare, according to the Congressional Budget Office

$2,500 — Premium reduction promised by candidate Obama “by the end of my first term as President”

6,578 — Pages of new regulations issued implementing Obamacare through March 14, 2011

800,000 — Reduction in the American labor force due to Obamacare provisions that “will effectively increase marginal tax rates, which will also discourage work,” according to the CBO

2,624,720 — Total individuals in 1,040 plans granted waivers thus far exempting them from the law’s insurance mandates; nearly half of whom participate in union plans

7,400,000 — Reduction in Medicare Advantage enrollment as a result of Obamacare, resulting in a loss of choice for seniors and millions of beneficiaries losing their current health plan

40,000,000 — Firms subject to the health law’s new 1099 reporting requirements, which the National Federation of Independent Business called a “tremendous new paperwork compliance burden”

$118,000,000,000 — New costs imposed on states to implement Obamacare—budgetary costs that will lead to reduced services for other state programs like education or to higher state taxes

$310,800,000,000 — Projected increase in health costs due to Obamacare, according to the independent Medicare actuary, who called its promise of lower costs “false, more so than true”

$552,200,000,000 — Amount of higher taxes Americans will pay if Obamacare remains in place

$1,390,000,000,000 Federal spending on new entitlements during fiscal years 2012-2021 according to the CBO, a 48 percent increase from an earlier estimate

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU: Even though we have seen only a few of the law’s initial provisions take effect, American families and businesses are already facing higher costs, economic uncertainty, and loss of their current coverage. 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Liberal Confronts Herman Cain!

A Herman Cain video worth watching.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

New Sign for Congressman Benishek

From a tweet by Congressman Dan Benishek of Michigan’s 1st district who replaced Bart Stupak last November.

“New banner is up in our DC office... simple Northern Michigan common sense.”  posted by @CongressmanDan

benishek