RedState has a posting about our congressman from Wisconsin's First Congressional District
Congressman Paul Ryan is the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, and this clip of him schooling Katrina vanden Heuvel - one that’s been going around the blogosphere lately - is well worth watching. Ryan lays out the problems with the Democrat approach, and demonstrates vanden Heuvel’s misunderstanding of the issues superbly:
But the real surprise is not that Ryan did so well, it’s that vanden Heuvel didn’t come better prepared. Ryan has been consistently taking apart his liberal opponents for a while now.
Click here to read the entire post and to watch the montage of video clips of Rep. Ryan.
Very few people have paid attention to Nancy Pelosi's payroll tax on small businesses with ObamaCare. Over and over again we have been promised by Obama that no one making less than $180,000 a year as a single or a couple making more than $250,000 a year would see a tax increase. However, ObamaCare does exactly this. Obama continues to say that he will not sign the bill if the tax increase is in the bill.
I say baloney. This is the same man that promised he would not sign any bills with pork added and he did...to the tune on 9000 earmarks.
This is the same party that chucked "PayGo" as soon as the people stopped paying attention.
Even many Democrats are revolting against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 5.4% income surtax to finance ObamaCare, but another tax in her House bill isn’t getting enough attention. To wit, the up to 10-percentage point payroll tax increase on workers and businesses that don’t provide health insurance. This should put to rest the illusion that no one making more than $250,000 in income will pay higher taxes.
To understand why, consider how the Pelosi jobs tax works. Under the House bill, firms with employee payroll of above $250,000 without a company health plan would pay a tax starting at 2% of wages per employee. That rate would quickly rise to 8% on firms with total payroll of $400,000 or more. A tax credit would help very small businesses adjust to the new costs, but even a firm with a handful of workers is likely to be subject to this payroll levy. As we went to press, Blue Dogs were taking credit for pushing those payroll amounts up to $500,000 and $750,0000, but those are still small employers.
ObamaCare either raises taxes by astronomical amounts or our country's deficit increases by astronomical amounts.
That is the reality of ObamaCare. Period. End of Story. Any argument, whether from the President or any other liberal attempting to tell you otherwise is covering the truth.
According to the President, there will be no vote until October.
"This bill, even in the best-case scenario, will not be signed -- we won't even vote on it probably until the end of September or the middle of October," he said in a session here to muster public support for the reforms.
For those of us fighting to protect our freedoms, this could not be better news. For President Obama and the Democrats ramming this down our throats, this could not be worse news.
The President fired off every single weapon he had in his arsenal to ram this through before anyone truly knew what was in it. The President even called out his big guns, the media and could not make it happen. It was only a week ago tonight that the smartest most popular President ever had his prime time address. Surely his minions would not fail him, right?
But...but...but... the stars were aligned! How could this happen?
His fellow Democrats control everything. There is no need for Republican support on anything.
Maybe now the President and his minions in the media will actually realize that you can only fool the people for a short period of time before the folks get wise to slimy campaign tricks.
I know the VP is not ignorant. He is a dufus, but he cannot be this stupid, can he?
I am thoroughly convinced the Obama Administration has set VP Biden to the be their fall guy, making him look ignorant.
Well, the Obama Administration is sending VP Joe back out there all alone again and it does not look good.
In an op-ed in today's New York Times, Joe Biden writes:
The care with which we are carrying out the provisions of the Recovery Act has led some people to ask whether we are moving too slowly. But the act was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period — not a jolt that would last only a few months.
Surely the researchers at the Obama White House(after all, it is on the WH website) must know that it was only a few weeks ago that VP Joe Biden had this to say:
we also came forward with what we're going to talk about today, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an initial big jolt to give the economy a real head start.
Jolt, not a jolt???? Which is it?
Of course, Obama himself had this to say:
we need a big stimulus package that will jolt the economy back into shape and that is focused on the 2.5 million jobs that I intend to create during the first part of my administration. We have to put people back to work.
How ridiculous! Why would the WH do this? Send Joe right back out into the middle of this to use the same word(jolt) as they have in the past. Surely these guys are smart enough to know that someone is going to look backwards and see that a "jolt" to the economy is exactly what was promised by this administration.
Interesting article today from Kimberly Strassel at the Wall Street Journal.
All the accusations made by President pointing the finger at Republicans for his failures associated with health care reform must be a complete joke. Even worse, the Democrats in Congress are tripping along behind the President making the accusations the President is.
As Strassel points out, the Democrats control everything. In fact, they not only control Congress, they have massive majorities
How in the world can the Republicans be accused of derailing the President's reform when all it takes is a vote in the Congress to pass anything the President wants.
If he wants health care reform, he and the democrats can just pass it. It is that simple.
Here’s the dirty secret behind Washington’s health-care “fight”: Democrats won everything in last year’s election.
You wouldn’t know it from the way President Barack Obama is blaming the GOP for his flagging health agenda. “There are those [read the GOP] who are advocating delay just as a desperation move to try to kill it,” complained White House budget director Peter Orszag. Republicans are working to “block health-care reform,” groused the president. “Republicans should immediately put an end to their political games,” demanded Democratic Rep. Chris van Hollen.
Indeed. The party of the left owns the White House, a filibuster-proof Senate, and a 70-seat House majority. As one House Republican aide quipped: “We could have every GOP congressman and their parents vote against a Democratic bill, and still not stop it.” All Democrats have to do is agree on something.
That they can’t is testimony to Team Obama’s mismanagement of its first big legislative project. The president is a skilled politician and orator, but the real test of a new administration is whether it can shepherd a high-stakes bill through Congress. In retrospect, the mistakes are growing clear.
You wanted this government, Democrats. Your special interests, unions and Move On.org bought and paid for this government. Now it is yours. Not George Bush's or the Republicans. You own the entire flaming turd bag known as our state and federal government. Now grow up and act like big boys and girls and take responsibility.
Democrats, when that flaming turd bag explodes and splatters all over the American people, it is your fault. You own it all!
I cannot believe that the President of the United States decided that it was appropriate to make the reasoning behind his hard core drive to pass a massive take over of America's health care system by stating that the "stars had aligned".
The stars are aligned???? We have just got to pass this darn thing right NOW!!!! Why? Because the stars have aligned!
Can you imagine the reaction to President Bush if he had dared to say this???
Why did you invade Iraq at this time President Bush?
Because the stars had aligned and you know how long it takes to get things done in Washington...
Liberal media heads would have been spinning so fast they would have popped right off! Ping! Ping! Ping!
Anyway, even though the stars have aligned, health care will not pass before the August Recess, per Harry Reid.
Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday abandoned plans for a vote on health care before Congress' August recess, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's ambitious timetable to revamp the nation's $2.4 trillion system of medical care.
That statement has got to stink less than 12 hours after Obama alerted us all to the stars aligning.
2. You have said your health care bill will cut costs and not increase the deficit. But, independent analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office contradicts both claims, saying it will raise costs and increase the deficit by $240 billion in the first ten years. What independent analysis will you provide that supports your claims and refutes CBO’s?
3. You have repeatedly said that your health care bill allows any American who likes their current employer-based plan to keep it. But the most comprehensive independent analysis available, by the Lewin Group, contradicts your claim and found your bill will force over 80 million Americans to lose their current coverage. Will you provide independent analysis to refute this study?
“Madam Speaker, American families and small businesses are hurting. The economy has been hurting, but this morning in previewing the President’s speech tonight, our former colleague, the President’s Chief of Staff, said this: ‘[W]e rescued the economy.’
“Now, I’m sure that the 9.5 percent unemployment rate that we have in our country today and from most economic experts on its way up don’t believe that we’ve rescued the economy. The 11.1 percent unemployment rate that we have in Ohio, I’m sure those people are looking up today wondering, wait a minute, the President is going to say we rescued the economy? I don’t think so.
“Not only has the stimulus not worked and the economy not been rescued, the President continues to promote policies that will create more unemployment in America. The national energy tax that went through this House last month will cause millions of Americans to lose their jobs over the next 10 years, at 2.5 million per year. And we’re debating the health care plan, the government takeover of health care, which according to the President’s council of economic advisor’s model will cost five million more Americans their jobs.
“I don’t believe that the economy has been rescued. I yield back.”
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
So people who currently own private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Anyone who loses their current plan (usually through their employer) will NOT be allowed to buy individual plans from private carriers.
How is this "If you like your current health-care plan, you can keep it"?
So after this bill is passed no one will be allowed to buy individual private insurance.
Children on their parents' individual plans will not be able to purchase their own plan when they move out. How is that "keeping your current health-care plan"? It's not. It's just another lie Obama and the democrats are spewing to get ObamaCare rammed down our throats.
I am just trying to figure out exactly what Obama's plan is for the elderly.
At what point does President Obama sentence me to die?
Clearly in Obama's mind there are some folks that are just too old or just too sick to continue treatment because it is expensive.
Perhaps someone should ask Obama this question again tonight:
According to your health care plan sentence Americans to die? How sick do they have to be before your plan cuts off their treatment? At what age does your health care plan allow Americans to live before you cut off their medications and their treatment?
What happened to Obama's promise of "I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl suggests that "rationing" is all in your head. According to Kohl:
I want to be clear that lowering costs has nothing to do with limiting access to care, though opponents of health care reform will try to convince America otherwise. The idea of "rationing" is a myth, and anything resembling it will not be a part of health care reform. [emphasis added]
From a post back in May, Nancy Schmidt talks about how the myth of "rationing" works in Canada. And while the Senator has the best of intentions when he writes, "We must ensure that all health care systems provide better care in a more efficient way and reward those systems that already do so," at some point in time, someone, somewhere is going to determine what is the appropriate care in a certain situation and deny payment or options for care that doesn't follow the pre-determined guidelines. That's rationing.
On the same blog someone makes this comment:
Someone may want to ask Sen. Kohl why $1.1 billion was included in the $787 billion Porkulus bill earlier this year for the study and/or setting up of a program of "comparative effectiveness." If I'm not mistaken, that will eventually lead to rationing; especially for older America who will be found not qualified for many of the more expensive treatments.
Excellent question. Another question would be why aren't congressmen required to be on this government-controlled health care plan? They're the people writing the bill. Isn't it good enough for them?
Government puts itself, not patients, in control of care By Paul Ryan
Congress is moving fast to rush through a health care overhaul that lacks a key ingredient: the full participation of you, the American people. There has been much fanfare about the need for reform, and Wisconsin even hosted the president for a rally in Green Bay to highlight the need to get a grip on skyrocketing costs, expand access and preserve and promote what works.
I applaud these efforts - and have proposed legislation to achieve these shared goals.
The question is not whether health care in America needs to be reformed; the question centers on how we achieve our shared reform goals. More critically: Who should be at the center of health care in America?
Right now, the nucleus of power lies with third parties - insurers, employers and bureaucratic administrators. As we move forward with reform, should we shift the decision-making power to the federal government, or should we look to empower the patient and the doctor?
Real reform requires a sincere, open discussion of these important questions. Washington has failed in this respect - framing the debate as whether or not we're happy with the status quo. Congress and the White House have focused their public efforts on platitudes and press conferences, while the substance and the details have remained behind closed doors. It might surprise folks to learn that an actual legislative proposal was not released by the majority until this past Tuesday.
Before members even had time to read the 1,000-page bill, it already has cleared two major House committees and is set to be fast-tracked through Congress in the days and weeks ahead. Those members of Congress who voted for this bill already in their committees did so without knowing what the legislation costs. Before it's too late, let's take a closer look.
At the center of this legislation (H.R. 3200) is the creation of a new government-run insurance "option." Its advocates argue that only the creation of government-run insurance can facilitate "honest" competition among non-subsidized private plans.
With all due respect, this is a dishonest argument.
The public option is not designed to keep private insurance honest but to make private insurance go away.
A new government-run plan would stack the deck against any would-be competitors. The private sector has to pay taxes; the government collects taxes. The private sector has to account for its employees and benefits, while maintaining minimum reserve requirements; the government does not. The private sector pays whatever rates it negotiates with providers; the government dictates payments.
We have known for weeks about Obama's back crushing, budget busting health care plan, and we are finally hearing from the head of the RNC.
Finally:
The chairman of the Republican Party on Monday accused President Barack Obama of conducting "risky experimentation" with his health care proposals, saying they will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage.
Michael Steele, in remarks at the National Press Club, also said the president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key congressional committee chairmen are part of a "cabal" that wants to implement government-run health care.
"Obama-Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions," Steele said.
Obama has repeatedly said he does not favor a government-run health care system. Legislation taking shape in the House envisions private insurance companies selling coverage in competition with the government.
Even so, numerous Republicans in Congress continue to level the accusation at Obama and congressional Democrats, and Steele did so in sharply critical terms.
"Many Democrats outside of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Waxman cabal know that voters won't stand for these kinds of foolish prescriptions for our health care. We do too. That's why Republicans will stop at nothing to remind voters about the risky experimentation going on in Washington," the party chairman said. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is Senate majority leader; Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Republican officials said they were supplementing Steele's speech with a round of television advertising designed to oppose government-run health care. The 30-second spot, titled "Grand Experiment," criticizes recent government aid to the auto industry and banks as "the biggest spending spree in our history" and warns of "a risky experiment with our health care."
In his speech, Steele broadened his attack beyond health care to question Obama's truthfulness.
The president "tells us he doesn't want to spend more than we have, he doesn't want the deficit to go up, he doesn't want to live off borrowed money. But he also told us he didn't want to run an auto company. President Obama justifies this spending by saying the devil made him do it. He doesn't want to spend trillions we can't afford, but he says he just can't help it," Steele said in the prepared excerpts.
Things are not going as well as planned, so the Obama White House has decided against giving a standard budget update given every July by every president for decades.
Perhaps Obama is not the messiah after all:
The White House is being forced to acknowledge the wide gap between its once-upbeat predictions about the economy and today's bleak landscape.
The administration's annual midsummer budget update is sure to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in President Barack Obama's budget in February and update in May, and that could complicate his efforts to get his signature health care and global-warming proposals through Congress.
The release of the update — usually scheduled for mid-July — has been put off until the middle of next month, giving rise to speculation the White House is delaying the bad news at least until Congress leaves town on its August 7 summer recess.
Some of the political panic playing out in 1961 is playing again this year by the Barack Obama team.
Of course the liberals are accusing Republicans of "not caring about the elderly", or "not caring about sick people". We have heard all of these lies before. They have been part of the standard conversations for close to 50 years.
In 1961, citizen Ronald Reagan sought to alert America to the socialized medicine. The liberals desire to rob Americans of their freedoms to choose their own health care directions. Handing over our right to choose our own doctors, choose our own hospitals, and choose our own methods of treatment.
We are literally being forced to place our very lives in the hands of Washington politicians.
See the wise words of Ronald Reagan back in 1961. The game continues. Obama is just pushing the next step in complete control of our lives.
The problem is when a man sets himself up to be a god and a savior to the American people, he must damn well be able to pull it off. As a candidate, Barack Obama told this entire country he had the answers to all of their problems. He could fix the gas prices, their mortgages, get them high paying jobs, educate their children, give them free health care and make the rainbows dance and the seas part. Some suckers in this country actually believed him.
When it came time to deliver, turns out Barack Obama is actually a man, not a god.
Another day, another of President Obama's programs are exposed as a failure:
The Obama administration’s $50 billion program to curb foreclosures isn’t working, and the White House knows it.
Administration officials blame the mortgage servicers charged with carrying out the mortgage modifications and refinancing under the federal program. Many of their Democratic allies on Capitol Hill back them up, but others are criticizing the White House for fumbling the execution. Whatever the reason, the program hasn’t stopped the rising tide of foreclosures: Experts predict that at least another 2 million homes will be lost this year, and the administration’s plan has so far reached only about 160,000 of the 3 million to 4 million homes it was supposed to protect over the next three years.
That’s bad news for the economy — and bad news for the Democrats.
“Mr. Speaker, I think I must be confused. The unemployment rate in our country is at over 9.5 percent as I speak. Unemployment in my home state of Ohio is now over 11 percent. Two million Americans have been put out of work since the ‘stimulus’ bill was signed into law. Our budget deficit is already, this year, over $1 trillion and expected to reach nearly $2 trillion.
“Faced with this news, what’s the House doing today? Talking about a $700 million welfare program for wild horses and burros. Is it any wonder, Mr. Speaker, that our constituents may be confused about their Congress?
“Let’s get this straight. We’re debating a bill to spend millions of dollars to save wild horses, but yesterday, Democrats in the House blocked Republicans from offering an amendment to prevent federal dollars from being spent on saving unborn children. Oh yeah, $700 million today to save wild horses and burros – and yesterday we weren’t allowed to offer an amendment to save the lives of unborn kids. That doesn’t make sense to me, but I think most of my constituents would look up and go, well, that’s just Washington being Washington.
“And it doesn't make any sense that we’re debating a welfare program about wild horses when the American people really want to know, where are the jobs? Debating this bill, I frankly think, is an insult to the American people who are out there looking for work and small businesses who are looking for customers and trying to keep their doors open. If Democrats want to do something serious here in this House they should join with Republicans and focus our efforts on those things that will help create jobs in America, which, after all, is the number one priority of the American people.
“We probably ought to do a few other things if we’re going to talk about creating jobs and keeping jobs in America. Maybe we ought to scrap Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax which will cost about two and a half million jobs every year over the next 10 years. Or, maybe we should shelve the health care bill which is being debated in committee as we speak - which is going to take private health care away from millions of Americans and shove them into some government-run system - and on top of all that, has a giant tax on small businesses, taxes employment and will lead to greater job losses in our country.
“If we’re serious about wanting to create jobs, maybe, maybe, we could work together to bring the American Energy Act to the floor of this House - our all of the above energy strategy which will create well over a million new jobs here in America, bring us more energy to the marketplace with lower prices, reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil, and guess what? If we do all of the above, we’ll actually have much cleaner air than the bill that passed here last month.
“Mr. Speaker, I think American families and small businesses deserve better than what they’re getting out of this Congress. They expect us to work together on their behalf. They expect us to deal with issues to get this economy moving again and help create jobs, not to be debating a $700 million program - welfare program - to save wild horses and burros. I think the gentleman’s amendment is a good amendment. His amendment will cost $500,000. That’s $699,500,000 less than the underlying bill. It would be a step in the right direction so maybe our constituents, Mr. Speaker, would think we’ve got some sense for once in our lives. I yield back.”
Wisconsin will purchase two trains from a Spanish manufacturer that plans to establish assembly and maintenance facilities in the state, Gov. Jim Doyle announced Friday morning.
Talgo Inc. is expected to create about 80 manufacturing and maintenance jobs in Wisconsin.
Locations of the assembly and maintenance facilities haven't been chosen yet, but a statement from Doyle said they're likely to be located in south-central or southeastern Wisconsin. Antonio Perez, chief executive officer and president of Talgo Inc., the company's U.S. subsidiary, said it has scouted locations in Janesville and Milwaukee.
The two 14-car Talgo train sets, which will cost the state $47 million, will replace cars now used on Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha Service. They will boost the capacity of each Hiawatha train from 350 to 420 passengers. Hiawatha ridership jumped 24% last year, to 766,167
Er...We cannot fill the Hiawatha line as it is, but we are going to invest another $47 Million?
Who's bright idea was it to use taxpayer funds to buy two trains we do not need and place it on a failing rail line???
Oh that is right, it is Governor Doyle's not so bright idea.
Sorry, but creating 80 jobs is not a good enough reason to buy two trains we do not need. Let's see, $47 million divided by 80 jobs equals $587,500 a piece. Oh my goodness! 80 jobs, that's it!
PS. Why won't the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel post the actually cost for the trains ($47 Million)????
Oh, I can answer that question...it is because the liberal newspaper does not want you to actually know how much you will be spending for these new jobs.
If President Bush has flopped around and lead Americans to believe that there would be a gigantic boon in job creation because of his policies, the liberal media would be in utter hysterics by now.
President Obama promised during his campaign that he knew how to handle the economy and Republicans did not. Now, the stimulus was an utter failure based on the promises President Obama made.
Every week tens of thousands of more Americans lose their jobs.
President Obama has changed his tune. How is this country going to survive 4 years of this?
When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.
It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.
From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage.
A blithering idiotic Congressional Comittee just advanced the awful health care bill while raising taxes on the "rich".
Of course, the idiots passing this legislation seem to have no clue that it is actually the rich that employ the rest of us.
But hey, when it comes to destroying America, the lefties are running at a record pace to accomplish this mission.
The House Ways and Means Committee has passed legislation to revamp health care, approving tax increases on the wealthy to help pay for the plan.
The committee voted 23 to 18 to approve the bill. Three Democrats joined all committee Republicans in voting against the bill.
Over the next decade, the bill would impose $544 billion in new taxes on families making more than $350,000.
The vote came early Friday, more than 16 hours after members started debating dozens of Republican amendments that were ultimately rejected. Republicans complained that the bill would hurt small business owners who pay business taxes on their individual returns. Democrats say the tax increases will affect only 4.1 percent of tax filers who report small business income.
We have known for years that Governor Doyle has been swiping millions of dollars from segregated funds in order to excessively spend money in other areas. For example, we already knew that Governor Doyle has grabbed millions upon millions from the transportation fund in order to fund his pet projects in education.
A list has been put together by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau showing exactly has much money has been removed from segregated funds and used by Governor Doyle for his pet projects.
Governor Doyle has taken over $2 BILLION and used it for other items than what they were designated for. Money has been taken out of our roads, health care premiums, recycling and much more.
Where has that money gone?
It is time for Doyle to be held accountable for every single dime he has taxed us for and then not used it where he said he would.
Governor Doyle needs to be held accountable for every single dime!!!
Wisconsin Deserves Better By Scott Walker, candidate for Governor
Wisconsin deserves a government that puts the needs of its citizens first, a state that places public safety and the education of its children above the demands of the special interests. We deserve a government that finds new ways to do more with less, not one that looks for new ways to tax families and employers when they can least afford it.
With so many Wisconsin families and employers struggling to make ends meet, it is difficult to understand why Governor Doyle and the legislature would decide to raise taxes and fees by more than $2 billion while increasing new state spending by $3.6 billion.
To make it worse, they are not being honest with the taxpayers.
The Governor says that the budget protects the middle class. In reality, this budget protects government at the expense of our families and employers. It will force families to pay more for property taxes, automobile insurance, nursing home and hospital care, and cell phone use. At the same time, it reduces state funding for law enforcement, local government services, and even allows for the early release of criminals into our communities.
Governor Doyle and legislative leaders say their tax increases are balanced with deep cuts in state spending. However, they actually increased state spending by 6% and included $37 million for legislative pork projects that range from renovating a local opera house to purchasing recycling bins. But even with the deep cuts to public safety and a massive $2 billion tax increase, Wisconsin will be left with a $2 billion deficit in the next state budget.
According to Chief Executive magazine, Wisconsin is ranked as the 43rd best state in the Nation to do business – near the bottom. What have Governor Doyle and legislative leaders done to improve that ranking? They increased the capital gains tax on business investment by $242 million. This will only drive more employers and jobs out of Wisconsin.
We need to take our state in a new direction founded on the principles of limited government, economic growth, and personal freedom.
Through their ingenuity, hard work and determination, the people of Wisconsin have made our state a great place to live, work and raise a family. Our companies are recognized as world leaders in everything from manufacturing motorcycles to making a better bovine. We are famous for our Midwestern work ethic. In fact, Wisconsin once led the nation in reform—changing welfare and providing hope to low income families through education choice and charter schools.
Wisconsinites want government to live within its means and to set spending priorities that reflect their own priorities, rather than seek ever increasing amounts of taxpayer funds for programs that serve few, if any.
It is not enough to tinker around the edges of failed public policy. We need to change the way Madison thinks as well as the way it does business, but I need your help. Together, we can put government back on the side of the people and build a Wisconsin we can believe in again.
You promised new high paying jobs, President Obama.
You promised over 3 Million jobs for Americans, Mr. President.
You promised 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer, President Obama.
Your administration promised that if the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was rammed through by Congress, even as they failed to take the time to read it, unemployment would not get higher than 8.1%, Mr. President.
Now, in an op-ed written by the President in yesterday's Washington Post, President Obama is telling us the stimulus is working just fine, he is begging us to be patient and he is once again making promises he must now know he cannot keep. See below. See, the stimulus is working
The swift and aggressive action we took in those first few months has helped pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink.
Please be patient, President Obama begs:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not expected to restore the economy to full health on its own but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall. So far, it has done that. It was, from the start, a two-year program, and it will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall. We must let it work the way it's supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.
If President Bush would have made this statement, his head would have been ripped off by the media. The media would tell us that these are nothing more than excuses. However, President Obama is allowed to get away with this.
The President continues on in the op-ed with making the same promises he made during the campaign and beyond. These are all promises he has yet to keep.
To build that foundation, we must lower the health-care costs that are driving us into debt, create the jobs of the future within our borders, give our workers the skills and training they need to compete for those jobs, and make the tough choices necessary to bring down our deficit in the long run.
"Bring down our deficit in the long run" Is the President kidding?
No President in American history has spent money faster than President Obama.
No President in American history has created more debt than President Obama.
President Obama has failed to deliver on his promises and yet he continues to make promise after promise.
So far, the only direction this economy has moved is downward.
New Organization’s Absence in Budget Battle Implies only Purpose to Access Campaign Cash
Madison…With Wisconsin unemployment at nearly 9 percent, a new business organization unveiled today is a front group for Governor Jim Doyle’s reelection efforts after he proposed a budget with $3 billion in higher taxes, joint and several liability and new mandates for employers, according to State Rep. Robin Vos (R-Caledonia).
The group, organized by key Doyle insiders, has offered access to Doyle and top Democrats in exchange for corporate contributions to the group.
“The Wisconsin Business Council is obviously a front group for Governor Doyle,” said State Rep. Robin Vos, ranking Assembly Republican on the Joint Finance Committee. “If the business council were a serious organization, it would have organized to fight the budget, not emerge after its passage to spin glad tidings for Doyle as his poll numbers sink to record lows and Wisconsin hemorrhages jobs.”
The Wisconsin Business Council launched today with a handful of members. It has been widely rumored in public affairs circles that organizers of the group are promising access to Doyle and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Schofield).
“It’s the Jim Doyle diners club,” said Vos. “For a big corporate contribution, you get a seat on the board and dinner with Doyle. If it’s not pay to play, it sure smells that way.”
The Business Council has been organized by Doyle administration insider Marc Marotta, a partner at Foley & Lardner law firm. Marotta served as Doyle’s Administration Secretary in his first term, and served as the campaign chairman in 2006.
Additionally, Phil Prange, a former fundraiser for Governor Tommy Thompson’s campaign committee, is involved in the organization of the group. Prange has been tied in the press to Marotta and Doyle dating back to 2002.
“During the budget process, I heard from scores of business groups complaining about how bad Governor Doyle’s budget was for business,” Vos said. “The fact that this ‘business group’ registered no opposition to anything in the budget in addition to the fact that it is formed by long-time political operatives who have no interest in the health of the business community indicates to me that this is simply a money laundering, influence peddling operation for Democrats.”
“They were nowhere to be found when it came to joint and several liability, gross receipts taxes, capital gains tax hikes, income tax hikes, and other proposals that would hurt our families who will have fewer jobs,” Vos said.
Looks like some people in Racine weren't happy with the Democrats' dark-of-night budget dealings. So they decided to tell people about it using airplanes during the Racine parade.
H/T: Racine Post (And from the looks of the comments on the Racine Post, Racine Dems aren't too happy that people are pointing out the truth on what the Dems did to taxpayers.)
The reason you feel that way is because you are getting scammed. I am not exactly sure how Governor Doyle can sleep at night after making statements during the day that he did not raise your taxes. Somehow he manages to sleep.
Rep. Robin Vos has got a great article out today talking about how Governor Doyle plans on lying to you over the next year and a half. Governor Doyle is going to try to convince you that he actually cares about middle class Wisconsinites even as he raises taxes and fees.
Now that the ink is dry on Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget, his political spin machine will be running non-stop from now until the 2010 election to convince us that he has performed a fiscal miracle. You will hear claims that this budget is good for taxpayers; that it’s good for business; or that it’s the best we could expect given the current fiscal situation. The spin machine will spit out any claim necessary to mislead Wisconsinites into thinking that Gov. Doyle deserves to lead this state for another term. But there are vast differences between rhetoric and reality. Doyle’s claims are dishonest at best, deceitful at worst.
In his February budget address, Doyle said families making less than $300,000 won’t see a tax increase. What he should have said was families won’t see an income tax increase, but they will be nickeled and dimed to death by other hidden tax and fee increases.
A new phone tax will increase cell phone and landline bills by 75 cents per month. Auto insurance changes will increase automobile premiums. Massive tax increases on garbage haulers will show up on garbage collection bills. Homeowners will see a property tax increase of at least $319. The list goes on and on. Throughout the 700-page budget, Gov. Doyle quietly skims from taxpayers while he publicly says he is protecting them.
In the same address, when referring to funding increases, the governor got a lot of mileage out of saying that “staying even is the new increase.” That was a very responsible promise given the state was facing a $6.6 billion budget deficit. But it turned out to be a completely false promise. Spending actually goes up by more than 6 percent in this budget.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Governor Doyle Signs 2009-2011 State Budget into Law
On Monday, Governor Jim Doyle signed into law the 2009-2011 State Budget, also known as Assembly Bill 75, after several months of late night and early morning debates, and behind-closed-doors negotiations from the Joint Finance Committee up through each house of the Legislature. The final votes were taken on the state budget late last week by the Senate and then the Assembly, following the recommendations announced by the Conference Committee. Comprised of members from both the Senate and the Assembly, the Conference Committee reviewed each house’s version of the budget before selecting which provisions should be included in the final document that was signed by the Governor.
I was pleased to learn that the Conference Committee chose not to include the provision granting driving cards to illegal aliens within the final version of the budget. For one thing, as I’ve said before, this is a policy issue that has nothing to do with our state budget; and for another, the government should not be rewarding illegal behavior. I am glad that on this issue, the Governor chose to put the safety of our legal, law-abiding residents ahead of those who chose to break our laws by coming here.
Despite my satisfaction with the outcome of the provision regarding driving cards for illegal aliens, I am still disappointed with a number of other items the Governor chose to keep in the state budget. In his veto message, Governor Doyle said, “This budget protects the middle class,” which I find to be a very misleading statement considering the negative impact his budget will actually have on the middle class in the long run. Here are a few of the items that deeply concern me:
• Rental car fee of $18.00 for the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, including KRM: I fought hard to have this provision removed from the budget and replace it with a referendum for the voters of Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee counties to approve. Unfortunately, rather than allowing the affected residents to decide how they want to spend their transportation dollars, the government will force them to pay a steep price every time they rent a car within these counties.
• Additional funding for subsidized childcare (for programs like Wisconsin Shares) in the amount of $67.8 million while providing only $900,000 in additional funding for oversight of how this money is managed: As a member of the Legislative Audit Committee that helped launch the investigation which uncovered the rampant fraud of the Wisconsin Shares program and abuse of taxpayer dollars, I am appalled by the Governor’s decision to commit even more funding for this failed program. Until the Legislative Audit Bureau completes the second phase of its investigation of Wisconsin Shares this fall and offers recommendations as to how future fraud can be deterred, we should not be increasing the amount of taxpayer dollars used for subsidized childcare in Wisconsin.
• In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens: This is just another example of how we are encouraging and rewarding illegal behavior at the expense of legal residents. It is both wrong and unfair to the students from our neighboring states that choose to pursue their higher education in Wisconsin to continue paying out-of-state tuition while others who are not even here legally get the benefit of in-state tuition. I am also concerned that this will ultimately affect a legal student’s chances of being accepted by their first-choice school because of the competition they will face from illegal aliens and the demand for greater diversity on college campuses. Lastly, U.S. businesses are prohibited by federal law from hiring illegal aliens whether they have a college degree or not, so I do not see how our state will benefit from this in the long run.
• Reduction in the long-term capital gains exclusion from 60% to 30%: This measure could severely affect our business community, the engine of job growth in Wisconsin. With his budget, I believe the Governor is hindering the ability of business owners to reinvest in their companies and provide more jobs for our ever-growing unemployment pool by raising the tax on their capital gains. Here, the “Soak the Rich” mantra quickly becomes “Drench the Poor,” as the trickle down effect from higher taxes on business owners will ultimately affect the workers through wage and benefit cuts as well as layoffs. In addition to that, many retirees who depend on the capital gains earned through their mutual funds and other investments as a primary source of income could see their household budgets shrink.
• Property tax increase on homes valued at a minimum of $165,000: Under this provision, homeowners will see their property tax bill increase by $90 during the first year of the budget cycle, followed by a $130 increase in the second year. This makes no sense to me considering the sharp decline in home values and the ongoing struggle homeowners are facing as they fight to keep their homes.
These are just a few of the many provisions in the budget that I do not believe will benefit our great state in the near future. I find myself asking, how will these measures protect the middle class in the long run as Governor Doyle indicated? How do higher taxes, fewer jobs and wasteful spending benefit the average folks, especially during a recession? How is the 2009-2011 State Budget good for Wisconsin? Within time, we will see if the heavily partisan budget is enough to get Wisconsin’s economy back on track or if it completely derails.
The MacIver Institute has a great blog post that sums up the craptacular budget the Democrats passed without support from a single Republican.
One of the tax increases that the Democrats supported was doubling the garbage tax.
From the MacIver Institute:
Double The Garbage Tax - This will raise Wisconsin's garbage tax to the highest in the nation. Don't worry, I'm sure your local government will just absorb the increase in their budget. They would never pass that along to property taxpayers.
Guess what I received in the mail today ... the bill for the garbage pickup at the business I own. Please note the comment in the yellow box.
Democrats say they didn't raise taxes on the middle class. I'm middle class, (my household makes less than $100,000 per year) why did my taxes go up? The rich aren't the only ones who have garbage. I guess the Democrats in Madison didn't know that.
Wait until you get your property tax bill next year and see a "garbage disposal fee" on it.
That increase in your taxes is all because of the Democrats.
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