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Obama Admin Wants Americans To Drop Their “Pride” And Go On Food Stamps… Exactly when did self-sufficiency and hard work became bad traits? Via Daily Caller: One in seven Americans are on food stamps, but the government is pushing to enroll more — in many instances working to overcome Americans’ “pride,” self-reliance or failure to see a need. “Our common goal is to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” the United States Department of Agriculture explains on its “Outreach Toolkits” page. “Our purpose is to ensure that those going through difficult times can feed their families healthy, nutritious food. By working as a team, we can accomplish these goals.” The USDA has adopted a range of strategies and programs designed to bring more people to SNAP, including taking on “pride.” A 2011 Hunger Champions Award document reveals that local assistance offices have been rewarded for “counteracting” pride and pushing more people to sign up for benefits. The Ashe County Department of Social Services in Jefferson, N.C., for example, received a “Gold” award for confronting “mountain pride” and increasing food stamp participation by 10 percent.
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Five major ObamaCare taxes that will hit your wallet in 2013 Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/05/five-major-obamacare-taxes-that-will-hit-your-wallet-in-2013/#ixzz1zrGKu41W While the individual mandate tax gets most of the attention, the ObamaCare law actually contains 20 new or higher taxes on the American people. These taxes are gradually phased in over the years 2010 (with its 10 percent “tanning tax”) to 2018 (when the tax on comprehensive health insurance plans kicks in.) Six months from now, in January 2013, five major ObamaCare taxes will come into force: 1. The ObamaCare Medical Device Manufacturing Tax This 2.3 percent tax on medical device makers will raise the price of (for example) every pacemaker, prosthetic limb, stent, and operating table. Can you remind us, Mr. President, how taxing medical devices will reduce the cost of health care? The tax is particularly destructive because it is levied on gross sales and even targets companies who haven’t turned a profit yet. These are often small, scrappy companies with less than 20 employees who pioneer the next generation of life-prolonging devices. In addition to raising the cost of health care, this $20 billion tax over the next ten years will not help the country’s jobs outlook, as the industry employs nearly 400,000 Americans. Several companies have already responded to the looming tax by cutting research and development budgets and laying off workers. 2. The ObamaCare High Medical Bills Tax This onerous tax provision will hit Americans facing the highest out-of-pocket medical bills. Currently, Americans are allowed to deduct medical expenses on their 1040 form to the extent the costs exceed 7.5 percent of one’s adjusted gross income. The new ObamaCare provision will raise that threshold to 10 percent, subjecting patients to a higher tax bill. This tax will hit pre-retirement seniors the hardest. Over the next ten years, affected Americans will pony up a minimum total of $15 billion in taxes thanks to this provision. 3. The ObamaCare Flexible Spending Account Cap The 24 million Americans who have Flexible Spending Accounts will face a new federally imposed $2,500 annual cap. These pre-tax accounts, which currently have no federal limit, are used to purchase everything from contact lenses to children’s braces. With the cost of braces being as high as $7,200, this tax provision will play an unwelcome role in everyday kitchen-table health care decisions. The cap will also affect families with special-needs children, whose tuition can be covered using FSA funds. Special-needs tuition can cost up to $14,000 per child per year. This cruel tax provision will limit the options available to such families, all so that the federal government can squeeze an additional $13 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years. The targeting of FSAs by President Obama and congressional Democrats is no accident. The progressive left has never been fond of the consumer-driven accounts, which serve as a small roadblock in their long-term drive for a one-size-fits-all government health care bureaucracy. For further proof, note the ObamaCare “medicine cabinet tax” which since 2011 has barred the 13.5 million Americans with Health Savings Accounts from purchasing over-the-counter medicines with pre-tax funds. 4. The ObamaCare Surtax on Investment Income Under current law, the capital gains tax rate for all Americans rises from 15 to 20 percent in 2013, while the top dividend rate rises from 15 to 39.6 percent. The new ObamaCare surtax takes the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent and top dividend rate to 43.4 percent. The tax will take a minimum of $123 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years. And, last but not least... 5. The ObamaCare Medicare Payroll Tax increase This tax soaks employers to the tune of $86 billion over the next ten years. As you can understand, there is a reason why the authors of ObamaCare wrote the law in such a way that the most brutal tax increases take effect conveniently after the 2012 election. It’s the same reason President Obama, congressional Democrats, and the mainstream media conveniently neglect to mention these taxes and prefer that you simply “move on” after the Supreme Court ruling. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/05/five-major-obamacare-taxes-that-will-hit-your-wallet-in-2013/#ixzz1zrDtwH8N
Boston Scientific announced that, due to the projected tax burden of Obamacare on their medical device field, they are scrapping plans to build two new factories in the USA and moving them to China and Ireland. Heard this news on the radio this morning. Hope and Change.
This one may, or may not affect me. I will have to find out if Cindy has a flex spending account available to her and if there is anything that prevents a couple from having one account each. I have been putting $4000 per year into mine and we have been using every penny. It helps offset the out of pocket expenses before my healthcare coverage for both of us goes to 100%. If Cindy has that available, and there is no provision against it, we will open her account with $2500 and will throttle back to $2500 on mine.
I started a Health Savings Account (HSA) when it was offered, along with a high deductible health plan, about 5 years before I retired. When I became eligible for Medicare, I no longer was allowed to contribute. However, the amount saved (wife and I fortunate to not need major medical care during the contribution years) has been very beneficial in meeting normal medical expenses during my first couple of years of retirement.
Your HAS is different from my flex spending account. My account is a use it or lose it. At the end of the year there is usually between $100 and $300 left in the account. When that happens, we go out and buy something that is a "nice to have" item: New sun glasses, second set of transitional lens glasses, etc. Can't bank any money for the next year. It is not pre taxed of course but I have been supplementing retirement funds with silver. I think gold is about as high as I can expect it to get. Silver still has some room to grow.
Breaking: June Employment Report Shows U.S. Economy Added A Scant 80K Jobs, Unemployment Rate 8.2%… Hope and change continues to crash and burn. WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring that shows the economy is struggling three years after the recession ended. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2 percent. The economy has added just 75,000 jobs a month in the April-June quarter. That’s one-third of 226,000 a month created in the first quarter. Job creation is also trailing last year’s pace through the first six months of 2012. Stock futures fell modestly after the report came out. Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 24 points before the report at 8:30 a.m., and were down 60 points minutes later. Yields for government bonds sank, an indication that investors were putting money into the Treasury market. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was 1.59 percent just before the report and 1.57 percent after it came out. A weaker job market has made consumers less confident. They have pulled back on spending, even though gas prices have plunged. High unemployment could shift momentum to Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. An Associated Press-GfK poll released last month found that more than half of those surveyed disapproved of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy.
A president with any talent knows that in his reelection year the economy has to be strong. Unfortunately this clown just can't do anything to get the economy going except create a few dozen green jobs with hundreds of millions of dollars. The latest job approval rating I was on this guy was 49%. How the F do we have so many millions that apparently don't care about being unemployed???
Today the president claimed that the economy is "making progress" in a campaign speech that only Herbert Hoover or Jimmy Carter could be proud of. Only 80,000 Americans were able to find jobs, despite the beginning of summer, which normally brings hundreds of thousands of temporary jobs at resorts, beaches and tourist traps. That number was even less than the 85,000 Americans who applied for disability last month...
He is making progress. He's getting more and more folks on the public dole. The more Americans sucking from the public tit, the more they vote for a mommy government.
Chutzpah: Vacationer-In-Chief Digs Romney For Taking Fancy Vacations… Is he out of his mind? Mooch alone has taken over 16 vacations during his presidency, costing the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars not to mention the 101 rounds of golf he has played. PITTSBURGH, Pa. — With Mitt Romney spending the week at his multi-million-dollar Lake Winnipesaukee vacation manse, President Obama reminisced about his humbler family vacations as a child — part of his attempt to better relate to working-class voters during his two-day campaign swing through Ohio and Pennsylvania. “I remember my favorite vacation when I was a kid, traveling with my mom and my grandma and my sister, and we traveled the country on Greyhound buses, railroads. And once in a while we’d rent a car, not that often, and stay at Howard Johnsons,” Obama told supporters at Carnegie Mellon University. “Didn’t matter how big the pool was; if there was a pool, I’d jump in. I was 11 years old, and I was excited just to go to the vending machine and get the ice bucket and get the ice,” he told the crowd. Not exactly jet skis on Winnipesaukee. Hint, hint. The president continually said that his story embodies the American Dream. “None of us came from privileged backgrounds,” Obama said of his and the First Lady’s families, in a not-so-subtle jab at his wealthy opponent. “None of us had a lot of wealth or fame. But what we understood was that here in America, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, no matter what church you worship at, no matter what region of the country, if you are willing to work hard, if you are willing to take responsibility for your life, you could make it if you try here in the United States of America,” he said to applause.
For how much longer? He speaks out one side of the mouth, demonizing those that have been successful through their own hard work. Just as quickly out the other side, champions the ability to succeed in these United States. Disgusting.
CBO: Wealthy Americans Pay More Than Their Fair Share Of Taxes, Lost Most In Recession… Won’t stop the Hope and Change class warfare train from barreling into November. (Washington Times) — Wealthy Americans earn about 50 percent of all income but pay nearly 70 percent of the federal tax burden, according to the latest analysis Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office — though the agency said the very richest have seen their share of taxes fall the past few years. CBO looked at 2007 through 2009 — the latest years data are available, but enough to include the early effects of the last recession — and found the bottom 20 percent of American earners paid just three-tenths of a percent of the total federal tax burden, while the richest 20 percent paid 67.9 percent of taxes. The top 1 percent, whom President Obama has made a target during the presidential campaign, earned 13.4 percent of all pre-tax income but paid 22.3 percent of taxes in 2009, CBO said. When tax burden is figured in, the top 1 percent took in only 11.5 percent of income. In terms of actual earnings, the top 1 percent suffered the most in the recession, with their average earnings dropping from $1.9 million to $1.2 million. The lowest 20 percent saw their incomes drop from $23,900 to $23,500 during that time.
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Yikes: Only 14% Rate U.S. Economy As “Good” Or “Excellent” — 81% Says It’s “Poor” Or “Not So Good”… The 14% who gave the economy positive ratings assumed to be mentally ill or high on crack. Via Quinnipiac: The U.S. economy is as bad as Europe’s, voters say: 14 percent say America’s economy is “excellent” or “good” while 86 percent say “not so good” or “poor;” Europe’s economy is “excellent” or “good,” 11 percent say, while 81 percent say “not so good” or “poor.” A total of 67 percent of American voters are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the impact of the European economic situation on their personal economic future. “Americans are watching what’s going on in Europe and are concerned that problems could make their way across the pond to the United States,” said Brown.
:roll: Texas Demolishes USDOJ’s Case Against Voter I.D. Home - by BigFurHat - July 13, 2012 - 15:00 America/New_York - 14 Comments The jig is up. In court, the DOJ could not produce one compelling piece of evidence that anyone would be disenfranchised by proving who they are before they vote. Mega949 - Testimony has concluded in the trial of Texas ‘Voter I.D.’ law, after attorneys for the state demolished the main arguments raised against the law by the Obama Administration, and got the key witness for the Justice Department to admit he got his information from Wikipedia, 1200 WOAI news reports. The Justice Department presented what it said was evidence that as many as 1.5 million Texans don’t have the government issued photo i.d. required to vote, but Attorney General Greg Abbott says of the people on that roll, 50,000 are dead, 330,000 are over the age of 65 and can vote by mail, where a photo i.d. is not required, and more than 800,000 are on the list improperly. Among the people who the DOJ listed as ‘lacking the required documentation needed to vote’ are Former President George W. Bush, San Antonio State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and Licia Ellis, who’s husband, Houston state Senator Rodney Ellis, on Wednesday blasted the voter i.d. law as ‘just like the racist murder of James Byrd’ who was dragged to death in east Texas in 1998. In fact, University of Texas students conducted a telephone survey of random people on the DOJ’s list of people who allegedly don’t have the documents required to vote, and found that more than 90% of them, including 93% of African Americans and 92% of Hispanics on the list, actually have a photo i.d. Which brings us to Victoria Rodriguez. The San Antonio teenager was the only individual in a flurry of ‘experts’ the Department of Justice called to the stand to represent the 1.5 million allegedly set to be disenfranchised under the Texas law. Rodriguez testified that she not only lacks a photo i.d., but lacks the documentation need to obtain one, and State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer said requiring her to pay to obtain those documents would amount to an illegal ‘poll tax.’ Under cross examination, Rodriguez admitted that she has a birth certificate, a voter registration card, and a Social Security Card, and only two of those three forms of i.d. are required to obtain a free voter i.d. card offered by the DPS. Rodriguez testified that she ‘doesn’t have time’ to go the DPS office to obtain the voter i.d. card, but she testified she had plenty of time to fly more than 1500 miles to Baltimore, catch a train to Washington DC, and sit for hours in a federal courtroom to testify about how unfair the Texas voter i.d. law is.
Same day same case, different article written for our liberal rag Houston Chronicle... Chronicle on the Voter-ID Law