Tax and Spend

The Democrats are nothing if not consistent. It seems that, in the first half of fiscal 2015, the Obama administration kept true to form ... taxing its peons to the hilt while still spending $430 billion more than it took in (which we will now go hat in hand to the Chinese for) ... running up a bigger deficit than this same period last year ... to the tune of an additional $17 billion ... see: CNS News Story. This is all as reported by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Seems to me I recall that President Obama was bragging not too long ago about how his economic policies were continuing to put our nation on a firmer financial footing. But at this rate the United States will accumulate a national debt of over $20 trillion before our fearless leader leaves office. It has been estimated the a national debt of $25 trillion would be so large that it would suicidal. Kinda like the United States of Greece.

Are you worried?  I am ...

Green Fees

United States tax revenues hit a record high of almost $2.5 trillion (inflation adjusted and despite a first calendar quarter GNP that contracted by almost 3%) in the first ten months of fiscal 2014  … yet our spendthrift government still ran a deficit of over $460 billion for this same period … see: CNS News Item (including an interesting chart). Just extrapolating these income and spending rates would put the U.S. on track for a full year deficit of $553 billion. This compares unfavorably with an earlier Congressional Budget Office deficit projection of $514 billion … see: CNN Money Story.

Possibly a reason for this increased shortfall might be that just in the first three days of President Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard vacation our deficit grew by $7.6 billion (that’s $925 billion on an annualized basis) … see: Breitbart Item.

Then again, I do hear that the green fees are pretty steep at the Farm Neck Golf Club on the Vineyard.

Affordable Care Facts

We are finally starting to get some cold hard facts behind the Affordable Care Act and the “healthcare.gov” website … according to CNN Money:

Some 87% of the 5.4 million people who have signed up through healthcare.gov, which handled enrollment for 36 states, qualified for subsidies. The department is still gathering data for the 14 states and District of Columbia that ran their own exchanges, which attracted roughly another 2.6 million sign-ups.

This means that 4.7 million of “healthcare.gov” enrollees are getting subsidies. The average monthly subsidy provided to these 4.7 million enrollees is $264 ... versus the average premium that they paid after subsidy being $82. This means that just this partial piece of Obamacare is going to cost the American taxpayer $1.24 billion per month in the first year. And you might be shocked at how one qualifies for this largess (again from CNN Money):

Anyone earning up to 400% of the poverty line -- up to $45,960 for an individual and $94,200 for a family of four -- was eligible for a subsidy. The subsidies were pegged to the cost of the second-cheapest silver plan in one's area. People could choose from four coverage tiers ranging from the cheapest, bronze, to the most expensive, platinum.

Shhh! Don’t let this all get out … otherwise these Obamacare percentages are going to skyrocket … particularly after this fall’s elections when the employer mandates kick in … and tens of millions of employees lose their healthcare insurance. Even before this happens the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the total cost of the Affordable Care Act subsidies this year will total $12 billion … see: CNN Money. Now we finally understand the logic behind the naming of this piece of wealth-distribution legislation.

It will be “affordable” to everyone but the U.S. taxpayer.