Chart About Recent Expansions In The American Economy:

YEAH, they pull several tricks to pass bills. Two of the BIGGEST are giving the bill a CUTESY name that is usually the OPPOSITE of what it does. The OTHER is taking an IMPORTANT, or apparently POPULAR bill, and putting phrases in it to achieve ANOTHER goal. It is often CONTRARY to the stated goal, or has NOTHING to do with it.

Like the ACA bill having language that STATED that it should provide funds to lower level employees to train them to be doctors and THEN, without any change in their level of work, or position, be paid as a DOCTOR! It was CONTRARY to the ACA stated goal. It ALSO said all should be in a UNION, CONTRARY to the acronym, etc... Or how about a welfare clause tucked into the agriculture subsidies? They recently had to FINALLY tear those things apart to vote separately on them.

Of course NATIONAL bills have often contained clauses to support some dumb STATE project.

Steve

A lot of people would LOVE to get $174K for *********PART******** of their BASE pay for *******PART TIME******* "work" doing essentially NOTHING of merit! And get HUGE vacations where they are expected to do SO much less! AND, as part of their pay, they get a LOT of subsidies, including travel, security, and a pension. GIVE ME A BREAK! If not for the idea of getting your name raked through the mud and having to revisit it every 2-6 years, and have a small window of time to prepare, and having to get so many to help campaign, nearly everyone would be doing it, Of course, again, inflation comes into play! The more people that campaign for the position, the less likely any particular person will benefit, and the more trouble each campaign will be. There too though, the incumbent USUALLY wins.

The money is NOT supposed to be there for "welfare", raises, congress pay, etc.... It is supposed to be there for GENERAL WELFARE! The constitution actually STATES what that is!

HERE is the detail:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.


MAN, the government has gone against SO much of that, and drifted SO far! It EVEN limits the army to 2 years!!!!!! It is clear that they expected the MILITIAS to take care of DOMESTIC battles! The NAVY was to take care of FOREIGN ONES, on the seas. For the air, of course, an exception must be made, since they had no idea of what was to come.

Steve

You're taking about total federal budget outlook and I was talking about medical spending.

There is a difference.

That is a problem with quoting CBO to bolster an argument on either side of any financial issue.

The CBO can only project an outcome using the economic information is it
GIVEN. Change the numbers - you change the outcome. That's why both sides of every issue quote only portions of CBO comments and documents...only the parts that agree with them.

The CBO doesn't give a "prediction" but a projection that's subject to change.

I'm saying the quote didn't include income from the program that would be counted against the expenses.

But when the income is counted, the picture is quite different.

And projections can change based on new information and circumstances but the CBO is clear that if all stats stay basically the same the ACA will help curb medical expenditures of the federal government.

And where is your link pointing to the CBO at the CBO saying the ACA will do more harm than good to American businesses as you recently alluded that it would do?

You can't say the CBO says the ACA will cost American jobs as some of your friends tried to say I think it was last summer. As a matter of fact the CBO prejects the ACA will help create jobs.

BTW... Here's the CBO director on the spot on whether the ACA will cost jobs.

Steve the bottom line with the CBO reports is that they are simply estimates (in their words) or guesses. All they take into account is what they are given. When they are presented with something like all businesses with 50 full time employees will provide health insurance to their employees, they use just that information for their estimate. They don't take into account how many businesses will stop expanding at 49 full time employees because the numbers don't favor going to 50 or the businesses who will cut their employees hours to part time to avoid the extra expense. How many businesses weren't started because of the law? They have no way of knowing those things so they can't take them into account. The best they can do is estimate, or guess.