Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Death Panels, Carbon Tax, and a VAT - The Cost of "Reform"

Oh, how they mocked Sarah Palin when she warned us the death panels were coming. And oh, how right she was. All you need to know is written in the pages of the New York Times, followed by Democrats the way a good Christian will follow the bible. We had Paul Krugman the other day crowing about how much money could be saved by denying care (his blog is called The Conscious of a Liberal, by the way, and how accurate a title that is), and now we have David Leonhardt bragging about The Power of No:

From an economic perspective, health reform will fail if we can’t sometimes push back against the try-anything instinct. The new agencies will be hounded by accusations of rationing, and Medicare’s long-term budget deficit will grow.

So figuring out how we can say no may be the single toughest and most important task facing the people who will be in charge of carrying out reform. “Being able to say no,” Dr. Alan Garber of Stanford says, “is the heart of the issue.”

It’s easy to come up with arguments for why we need to do so. Above all, we don’t have a choice. Giving hospitals and drug makers a blank check will bankrupt Medicare. Slowing the cost growth, on the other hand, will free up resources for other uses, like education.

Well, now that all of America has been turned into Medicare clients, Leonhardt dreams of denying people that one last treatment that can save their lives so that the money can be spent on additional liberal programs. Gee, I though that was why we were decimating the military strength of our nation, to pay for health care reform. Now we have to start dying at 65 to pay for it too?

No, a weakened military and a shorter lifespan is still not enough to pay for Obama's follies. To add to the misery that will be life in Barack's America, we are going to need to pay a VAT - a value added tax - on everything we buy. From one of Obama's chief economic advisers:

Acknowledging it would be a highly unpopular move, White House economic adviser Paul Volcker said yesterday the United States should consider imposing a "value added tax" similar to those charged in Europe to help get the deficit under control.

A VAT is a national sales tax that, like state and city sales taxes, would be collected by retailers.
Volcker, at the
New-York Historical Society, told a panel on the global financial crisis that Congress might also have to consider new taxes on carbon and energy.

So wait - dying early won't be enough for Barack, a weakened national security structure won't be enough for Barack, even a value-added tax won't be enough for Barack - he's going to need a "carbon tax" as well? No wonder Obama has refused to revisit his thinking about "climate change", despite it falling into disrepute all across the globe. He needs the money from selling carbon credits to pay for his social welfare programs! Wait for it to be sold to you in the guise of a "moral responsibility", and wait for the Times columnists to call you an equal to "Holocaust deniers" should you oppose. Man, if the Democrats thought people were pissed about health care reform....

Gee, why didn't some one try to warn us that health care reform would force us to pay more taxes on every single thing we touch, would reduce the quality of our health care, and force us to cull our military? Oh, wait, some people did, and Obama, the Democrats, and the media called them fear-mongers and liars who were trying to scare the American people...

Remember this: When the Democrats claim someone is "spreading fear", that usually means they are telling the truth about a liberal program. When the Democrats accuse foes of their agenda of misleading the public, it is usually because these foes are leading the public towards the truth of the liberal agenda.

A new dictionary for a new world. When you buy it, prepare to pay a VAT on it...

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