Tag: Fiscal Cliff

Propaganda Alert from The Associated Press

Shear propaganda as written by the White House in an attempt to create some news:

President Barack Obama has signed into law a five-year extension of the U.S. government’s authority to monitor the overseas activity of suspected foreign spies and terrorists.   ….

The law does not apply to Americans. When Americans are targeted for surveillance, the government must get a warrant from a special 11-judge court of U.S. district judges appointed by the Supreme Court.

via The Associated Press.

This is of course the White House trying to move the news off of Hillary not testifying on Benghazi, Eric Holder selling guns to Mexico yet Obama now saying those guns should be illegal anyway (I guess to prevent Holder from selling any more to Mexican drug cartels,) and the ever present fiscal cliff.

Lest we forget, Holder is the guy who said that the U.S. government can kill you without so much as a hearing or trial.  So forgive me but it’s more than just a little out of place for the same people to now try to make a big deal over taping some phone calls.

“Don’t worry.  We won’t read your emails and tap your phone without a court order. … But, we can drone bomb your ass to kill you and your entire family based on the opinion of some nameless person in the administration who thinks you’re a threat.  Ya, we don’t need a court order for that.”

$45k/yr is the “New Rich”

Implemented in 1969 to make sure upper-income Americans pay their share of taxes, the AMT has increasingly snared more middle-income Americans over the years because it was never indexed for inflation.

During the 2011 tax year for example, the higher tax hit single taxpayers with incomes as low as $48,450 and joint filers making only $74,450.

But millions more Americans could be subject to the AMT in their 2012 returns if Congress fails to reach a deal on the fiscal cliff before year-end. That’s because the AMT is currently scheduled to hit individuals making as little as $33,750 a year and joint filers making $45,000.

via CNBC.

Being married and making over $45,000 a year is the “new rich.”

Incredible.

The Fiscal Entitlement Cliff

The U.S. Census Bureau says 108 million Americans live in households where at least one person participates in a means-tested program. We estimate that 80 million are the primary recipients….

Since the president took office:

• Medicaid is up from 46.9 million to 56 million people.

• Disability beneficiaries are up from 7.5 million to 8.8 million.

• The food stamp program has grown from 32 million Americans to 47 million.

Add to that 80 million beneficiaries 40 million Americans age 65 or older on Social Security and Medicare (9 million of the 49 million on Medicare, including some under age 65, also receive means-tested benefits).

That 120 million does not include the numerous smaller entitlement programs.

Put them all together, and a number approaching half of the country participates in an entitlement program.

Now add in the 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries, thanks to ObamaCare, plus an estimated 12 million people who enter the health insurance exchanges by 2014, where most will receive federal subsidies.

The budget implications of these programs are huge. For fiscal 2012, America spent $2.2 trillion of its $3.7 trillion budget on entitlement programs — $400 billion less than the $2.6 trillion in gross annual revenues.

Oh, and interest on the federal debt was $220 billion.

Thus, the cost of entitlement programs plus interest on the debt are nearly equal to total federal revenues today.

Virtually everything else the government does is with borrowed, or printed, money.

via Investors.com.

I realize that this is all a little hard to understand for a lot of people.  So to put it in easy to understand terms:

This is like living on a credit card — spending 50% more money than you actually earn — and then dying and leaving the bill for your kids.