General Reform

Posted on 9 June 2017 by eehines

25% of us don’t see doctors because that costs too much.

32% of older millennials (is there such a thing? Gad) skip the doctor. 13% of Americans don’t have any health coverage plan at all—paying the penalty is more valuable to them. Half of us don’t think we’ll have affordable health insurance much less Obamacare’s health coverage welfare.

This, together with today’s other post, just illustrates the fact that no single part of our economy—or of our Federal government—can effectively be treated in isolation: not Obamacare alone, not Federal spending alone (especially not by “cutting” through reducing the rate of growth in spending), not taxing alone, not debt handling alone.

This is a preview of General Reform. Read the full post (165 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

The Rich Are Out Of Money?

Posted on 6 June 2017 by eehines

They are in Connecticut, anyway, or at least out of trust in the State’s government regarding their money. Or the State is out of rich. Aetna, Inc, one of the giants of health and dental coverage that’s headquartered in Connecticut is looking hard at joining the exodus from the State, having grown tired of being the State’s tax piggy bank.

Governor Dannel Malloy (D) says he’ll match other states’ financial incentives—not exceed—if only Aetna will stay, but as The Wall Street Journal put it, “taxpayer money can’t buy fiscal certainty and a less destructive business climate.”

This is a preview of The Rich Are Out Of Money?. Read the full post (302 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

Another Hypocrisy of the Left

Posted on 5 June 2017 by eehines

Among the tax reforms in the current plan before Congress is the elimination of the state and local tax payments as deductions from individuals’ Federal income tax returns. Who actually benefits from these deductions, though? Taxpayers in New York, California, and a couple of others. States dominated, for the most part, by the Progressive-Democratic Party. There’s an ox being gored.

Who else benefits from these deductions?

…88% of the benefits in 2014 flowed to taxpayers who earn more than $100,000, while 1% went to those who earn less than $50,000….

This is a preview of Another Hypocrisy of the Left. Read the full post (286 words, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

Disingenuosity

Posted on 30 May 2017 by eehines

At the State level, more and more legislatures are succeeding in ceasing to send taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood recently announced the shuttering of four of its 12 Iowa’s clinics in Iowa [sic] after the Hawkeye state’s Republican-led legislature voted earlier this year to cut funding to clinics that performed abortions. Also last week, the health care nonprofit announced it was closing its only clinic in Wyoming and three of its clinics in New Mexico in what it called a “realignment of resources.”

This is a preview of Disingenuosity. Read the full post (355 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Budget Cuts and Bribery

Posted on 21 May 2017 by eehines

…or budget cuts and coercion, depending on your perspective.

The president’s budget, due for release Tuesday, will spare the two largest drivers of future spending—Medicare and Social Security—leaving trillions in cuts from other programs. That includes discretionary spending cuts to education, housing, environment programs, and foreign aid already laid out by the administration, in addition to new proposed reductions to nondiscretionary spending like food stamps, Medicaid, and federal employee-benefit programs.

What’s going to be ignored in the inevitable hoo-raw over these allegedly terrible cuts to various aspects of our nation’s “safety” net is the truly terrible downside of those aspects.

This is a preview of Budget Cuts and Bribery. Read the full post (463 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Foolish

Posted on 19 May 2017 by eehines

President Donald Trump is willing to talk to the Progressive-Democrats in Congress in order to achieve tax reform, and it might seem like a good idea. In the present situation, though, it’s a waste of time.

As the Trump administration reached across the aisle on tax reform for the first time Wednesday, Democrats communicated some requests of their own regarding the tax overhaul. Those requests included a middle class tax cut and that the overall bill not be part of a reconciliation package….

This is a preview of Foolish. Read the full post (227 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

Medicaid Cuts?

Posted on 18 May 2017 by eehines

Some conservative Republican Senators are looking to cut Federal transfers to the States earmarked for those States’ Medicaid programs. Others are concerned.

[T]he [conservative Senate Republicans’] Medicaid plan could affect many more people and shift significant costs onto hospitals and states.

This is a preview of Medicaid Cuts?. Read the full post (419 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

A Thought on Tax Reform

Posted on 15 May 2017 by eehines

The Wall Street Journal‘s piece by Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economist, on tax reform had this subhead [emphasis added]:

The House proposal beats Trump’s plan, which is more regressive and would induce huge tax avoidance.

There are a number of questions considered in the article, but the prior question, it seems to me is that tax avoidance bit. The question of tax avoidance is an interesting non sequitur. Kotlikoff (or the WSJ‘s headline writer), like too many others, is tacitly assuming Government is entitled [sic] to our money; he is giving not the least particle of thought to the need to establish, first, that Government even needs the money before there can be any tax to be avoided.

This is a preview of A Thought on Tax Reform. Read the full post (181 words, estimated 43 secs reading time)

Going Soft

Posted on 12 May 2017 by eehines

Senate pseudo-Republicans are balking at one good item that was contained the House-passed American Health Care Act: repeal of Obamacare’s trillion dollars’ worth of taxes. These guys actually don’t see the value of that repeal. Senator Susan Collins (R, ME) is typical:

I don’t see how you can repeal all of the pay-fors…and still meet the goal of providing health-insurance coverage for people who truly need assistance[.]

Aside from the false premise of needing Federal government “pay-fors” as a default position, rather than a last result, the Lady from Maine and her fellows plainly either don’t understand free market principles, or they have no confidence in free markets.

This is a preview of Going Soft. Read the full post (358 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Confusion

Posted on 11 May 2017 by eehines

The latest whiner pundit to weigh in on President Donald’s tax reform principles, laid out in a concise one-pager. And yet these pundits pretend to confusion over it.

President Donald Trump’s plan is silent so far on crucial details Americans need to calculate their tax bills, including the personal exemption and the size of the tax brackets.

And

The president’s latest plan for middle-income households…has left tax experts puzzled. That is because his one-page tax outline released in April is silent on essential details, including how the tax code will treat the personal exemption that reduces taxable income depending on family size. It sets tax brackets of 10%, 25%, and 35% without establishing the income levels that divide them.

This is a preview of Confusion. Read the full post (302 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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