Apres health care, le deluge
Word on Capitol Hill is that the Democrats are scrambling to find ways to pay for the $1 trillion+ that will be required to pay for health care reform. My guess is that they're going to play fast and loose with the actual cost projections until the Trojan Horse is in place. They'll justify the lowball estimate as the necessary lie to enact legislation that will rewire one-sixth of the U.S. Economy. Greater good and all that.
Social Security was once good legislation and a bargain too! But it was so good that nobody could ever cut the program. Medicare, too. Now 80% of taxpayers pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes. Here's how those programs started small and grew expensive:
Payroll tax rates by decade:
1940: 2%
1950: 3%
1960: 6%
1970: 9.6%
1980: 12.3%
1990: 15.3%
Those rates are for employee and employer together. If you're unlucky enough to be self-employed, those rates are for you and you alone. There is zero chance that the cost of national health care will not rise in the same manner. Once we pass this bad legislation, there will be no way to unring the bell.
Update - Signs of sanity: Blue Dog Democrats rebel.
1 comment:
I certainly hope some people in both houses of Congress begin to balk.
But recent history shows that nearly any pol will risk voting with the other side if sufficient goodies are offered and even a flimsy cover story can be created.
The game is to convince enough voters back home that you really opposed what you voted for. To do that you want complex rules, massive bills with thousands of provisions and details, parliamentary maneuvers, and a friendly or dormant media.
But we shall see. A extreme fear of not being reelected is the ultimate trump card.
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