The Right Scoop
There was a bombing at a social security office in Casa Grande today.Looks like the entitlement cuts have already started?Pissed somebody off?Maybe that's why the SSA needs all that ammo?Vehicle barricades?Congress has known for a long time that entitlement programs would have to be cut,just have to figure out how to blame it on the other side.Gotta get re-elected,ya-know.
So why are they(Obama and Congress) taking money out of Medicare which is an entitlement that is underfunded already?
I once said to my daughter that hers would be the next 'Greatest Generation'. Between the enormous debt we have and the ensuing Depression that is coming along with Islam spreading like a cancer, I think I underestimated how right I am.
It's ugly but it is going to get uglier.
Debt is the biggest problem facing our country. Another big problem is tax increases by the Obama administration... during the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.
New taxes under Obama. Especially how they pertain to the "Obama I Don't Care" monstrosity.
1. A 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco: On February 4, 2009, just sixteen days into his Administration, Obama signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco, a hike of 61 cents per pack. The median income of smokers is just over $36,000 per year.
Note. I'm not defending smokers. Just showing tax "increases" under Obama.
2. Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (takes effect in Jan 2014): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by Obama-appointed HHS bureaucrats -- must pay an income surtax.
The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that six million American families will be liable for the tax, and as Americans for Tax Reform has pointed out, 100 percent of Americans filing a tax return (140 million filers) will be forced to submit paperwork to the IRS showing they had “qualifying” health insurance for every month of the tax year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 317-337)
3. Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax (takes effect Jan. 2014): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2000 for all full-time employees. Applies to all employers with 50 or more employees. If any employee actually receives coverage through the exchange, the penalty on the employer for that employee rises to $3000. If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer). Bill: PPACA; Page: 345-346
"Combined score of individual and employer mandate tax penalty: $65 billion/10 years"
4. Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income (Tax hike of $123 billion/takes effect Jan. 2013): Creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income: Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 87-93
5. Obamacare Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Tax hike of $32 bil/takes effect Jan. 2018): Starting in 2018, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($10,200 single/$27,500 family). Higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,941-1,956
6. Obamacare Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Tax hike of $86.8 billion/takes effect Jan. 2013)
7. Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax (Tax hike of $5 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Americans are no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957-1,959
8. Obamacare HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Tax hike of $1.4 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,959
9. Obamacare Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Tax hike of $13 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Imposes cap on FSAs of $2500 (currently unlimited). Indexed to inflation after 2013. There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,388-2,389
10. Obamacare Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Tax hike of $20 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Medical device manufacturers 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. This law imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on total sales, even if the respective company does not earn a profit. Exempts items retailing for <$100. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,980-1,986
11. Obamacare "Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Tax hike of $15.2 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction for medical expenses to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). The new provision imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. Waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994-1,995
12. Obamacare Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Tax hike of $2.7 billion/took effect July 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons. Making matters worse: According to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, the Obama IRS didn’t bother to issue compliance guidelines until three quarterly filing deadlines had passed: “By the time [IRS] notices were issued, tanning excise tax returns had been due for three quarters." Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,397-2,399
13. Obamacare elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Tax hike of $4.5 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013) Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994
14. Obamacare Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike (Tax hike of $0.4 bil/took effect Jan. 1 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,004
15. Obamacare Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Min$/took effect immediately): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new "community health assessment needs," "financial assistance," and "billing and collection" rules set by Obama-appointed HHS bureaucrats. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,961-1,971
16. Obamacare Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Tax hike of $22.2 bil/took effect Jan. 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980
17. Obamacare Tax on Health Insurers (Tax hike of $60.1 bil/takes effect Jan. 2014): Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. Phases in gradually until 2018. Fully-imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,986-1,993
18. Obamacare $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Tax hike of $0.6 bil/takes effect Jan 2013). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,995-2,000
19. Obamacare Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 ($min/takes effect Jan. 2012): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957
20. Obamacare “Black liquor” tax hike (Tax hike of $23.6 billion/took effect immediately). This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105
21. Obamacare Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Tax hike of $4.5 billion/took effect immediately). This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 108-113
I'm with Congressman Archer, "I'm scared"! This was an excellent interview! Thks RS! What is frustrating to me is that many understand these devastating concepts, know what the solutions are to correct them but instead, there seems to be no way to stop it! So now I have to take steps to try and protect what I can from a government that is hell-bent on taking away any freedoms I once had. And it continues!
Speaker Gingrich mentioned some great ideas last night on Greta! Hopefully, Speaker Boehner will be taking some of his cues!
I have a precious old cookbook that was my grandma's that has tons of family recipes stuck into it, going back to the great depression era, when feeding a family was really a game of mathematics and pure luck. There are family notes throughout that book, of bad times and good times, of getting through bitter winters and keeping cool in the summer. Making two ears of corn and a ham bone into a wonderful soup with a few leftovers and some seasonings. Real back to basic stuff that most of us don't even know about. It's been worse; we can get through this too.
I bought a huge package of chicken breasts (bone in) a few weeks back. It was originally $16, marked down to $7.
After cooking them, the meals of chicken lasted me close to a week. I saved all the bones, threw them in a slow cooker with some carrots and onions (later on, rice) and I have finally finished the soup. My mom grew up in the Depression (in Edinburgh Scotland) and makes the best soups around, she learned that from her mother and I learned that well because I grew up eating them.
Forget all of the fancy-schmancy takeout and frozen meals, give me a pot of soup like I made or like your mom made, Constance. Most people I know look at me and shake their heads, saying it's too time consuming to make.
Shaking my head here at that one.
Chicken soup is by far the best meal ever!!!
Thanks for reminding me- I think I will make a huge pot of it this sunday. :-)
I'm starting to think we have to have an economic meltdown in order for the Obama Democrats to face anything resembling accountability...
Is it actual inflation, or the result of intentional bad policy and political greed and looting?
The evidence points to the latter.
Since 2008 we have seen prices on commodities like gasoline and food go up and down for no reason but politics.
This was the case with the long gas lines during the Carter administration. Leftists and opportunists always create artificially manipulated shortages, misery, chaos so they can profit.
The politicians, their policies, profiteering and political agendas have created this mess.
It is absolutely a political product.
sad but true Conniption, surely we deal with what we voted for among our politicians from the house to the senate, to the White House. It's like, "Is there anybody out there we can trust" or " Whom are we going to send for us" well not much in this life maybe !
i am almost persuaded to quit working and concentrate on my own spiritual well being. Seems all the signs point to the Lord's return, many things are not going much anywhere, and wondering what would be the value of our dollar in the very near future.Myself, my family and many good friends support a lot of foreign missions in many foreign countries, as well in home missions. For that reason I can't stop working, knowing that we struggle against some force that rules in the darkness.
so i bear this in mind after listening to the excellent interview from Mark and thank you so much Scoop for posting it, that I'll work till HE comes.
let not our heart be troubled, one more time !
There's a communist in the White House folks, just ask any immigrant from Cuba or the Eastern bloc..
"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
There is no way through this except through Jesus Christ. Americans are NOT getting it.
All my savings will continue to disappear. Why did I save? I should have bought a better car, a bigger house, traveled more, more trips to better restaurants, a wide screen TV, etc.
true dat spin43,
i do the tithe & offering. well tithe is not mine, but offering, this is certain above and beyond, it's a formula i dearly believe and proved time and again !
I often feel as you do. There is only so much we can personally control, though. I have saved all of my life and have lived rather humbly. Those habits you have formed over a lifetime are lifesaving. Someone like you will survive true disaster, because you know how to do with less and sacrifice when it is needed. Those people who spend all their money on those big houses, TVs, and all the bling in life will be standing there wide-eyed and confused when there is true financial ruin in this country. Never regret how you have lived your life if you lived it honestly and did the best you could. Saving money mattered, even if you find yourself losing it now. The strength inside of you will be there when you need it the most.
A bigger house? Hah!
Here's a glimpse of your future in regard to an ageing population needing care:
In the UK, if an old person owns assets above £23,000, they have to use them up, paying for their care, before the state supports them. That always means selling the house, so no inheritance for the children.
What's wrong with that, you ask.
This: the benefit scroungers who have been living off the benefits, paid for by the taxpayers (who bought that house and paid for it), are getting the exact same 'care' as those who have to sell everything. Oh, and the itemised bills show that the care providers bill the self-payers more for the same thing (medicine, doctor's visit) than they bill the scroungers.
Yes, one could give that house to the children right now - but beware you don't need to go into care before seven years have passed, else the house will be sold.
There are a lot of shenanigans in the political debate right now - in the end it all comes down to the fact that people who've worked and contributed, and have supported "the Poor" in a lifestyle they often couldn't afford, are also supporting them in old age.
That's socialism.
So better blow it all, have a great life for a bit, and then ask the government to give you the hand-outs all the rest get ....
Sick, isn't it!
Here in America we get penalized big time for daring to have "something". The more you have, the more they take. Beginning to make me think I'd be way better off if I didn't work so hard all those years to try to better myself and have "something." Yes, it is sick!!
Inflation is "coming"?? As an old retired single senior lady I'll take a leap and say that inflation is already "here" and has been "here" for a couple of years. My budget is shrinking monthly and I cringe and shake my head in shock everytime I go to the grocery store. Prices on every single item are outrageous and for the first time in my long, very independent hard working life, I'm feeling poor and worried about the simple act of surviving.
Once the Chinese recognize and admit to the fact that the bonds which the USA is selling them isn't even worth using as toilet paper, its all over. They will own the USA.
This isn't just incompetence, this is a deliberate attempt to sabotage the American economy. This is happening in plain sight, right before our eyes.
Hey don't worry at least women have contraception and gays can (not really) get married.
Fucking idiots.
No I'm serious what fucking idiots, to the people who voted about contraception and gay marriage instead of this Tunguska sized debt bomb whose fuse is near the end. Well I hope those women and other caring liberals enjoy their contraception because they only way they are going to get any money is to sell themselves. Can you say "me love you long time?"
Whoa, that is probably the angriest rant I have ever posted.
And many of us share your frustrations and rants- but please try to tone down the cuss words, or at least use the $**@) symbols :-) Thanks.
Look how long California has put it off. That's why Obama won. No one wants to take their medicine.
Get ready for bank holidays, credit cards that stop working, prices that go up by the hour? The question is when. One day we will wake up and DC will be under siege? Thoughts?
I can't help but think of the account in the Bible of Joseph in Egypt after he interpreted pharaoh's dream. The dream spelled out 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. The 7 years of plenty were spent storing up a portion of wheat in reserve for the 7 years of famine that would follow. When the famine finally came the stored wheat was portioned out to sustain the citizenry through the famine.
I can't help but think that that is what we're up against. Like others have said, now is the time to get right with God and prepare for the worst but hope for the best. Get debts in order. Pay off as much as you can, save what you can, prepare what you can, and pray as much as you can.
Read the rest of the story of 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph stored the surplus in government bins. When the famine struck, people sold all they had to the government in return for sustenance, finally including themselves as slaves to the government. Sounds like a scenario that is occurring in our own country already.
The key is to stock up on what you can. Learn food processing, hydroponics, wind/solar energy, guns/ammo buildup - all the things to survive. When it all hits, what we have saved will be worth nothing. Use that worthless money now to provide your families with the protection they will need when there is no more decent, civilized society.
It's a harsh reality, but a valid one. I started taking precautions to get off the grid 10 years ago when I retired. I have no debt (save my house, which will no longer need to be paid for when the dollar collapses) and I have the resources for survivability (water purification, hunting capability, stored long-term goods, self-producing energy). All these things need to be prepared for beforehand, not after the fact. It's sad, but true.
Certainly not an uplifting interview but an informative one and to think we have Obama for the next 4 years.
I just spoke to my accountant today... she does our taxes. I called her to ask her opinion about cashing in my ROTH IRA. I'm concerned about oiur economy and wanted the cash to better prepare - and I have a few other (better-funded) retirement fallbacks... though not much money in anything - not enough to live on anyway.
She said NOT to cash in my IRA (especially a ROTH). Okay, fine... let's roll with that and see what happens. Since she's a staunch conservative, I asked her about her economic outlook for our country. She audibly grunted. Her disgust for Obama is only slighty less than mine.
She told me that this tax season, we'll all have a small ripple but one year from now, she said there are going to be a lot of pissed off people in this country. A lot.
So, my faith remains firmly in the Lord and nothing else... but I am absolutely prepping for the worst and hoping for the best. I'll leave you with this joke:
Heavy rains caused massive flooding in a town. A man resorted to climbing onto his roof as the waters rose. A boat came by and the people on board begged him to get in and go to safety. He told them, "God will save me." As the waters kept rising near the peak of the roof, a helicopter came by and lowered a ladder so he could climb to safety. Again, he dismissed his would-be rescuers saying, "God will save me." An hour later, the man was pushed off the roof by the rushing waters and he drowned. When he got to Heaven he looked to God and said, "I trusted you to save me. What happened?" God threw his arms up and exclaimed, "I sent you a boat and a helicopter. What more did you want?"
Great link. MUCH appreciated!
Not sure I know this guy... but he seems to offer great advice and insight.
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