Given what is already known about the health bill that Obama is forcefully trying to get approved, we can clearly state with a good deal of certainty what the effects of the bill’s passage would mean.

a) Taxes will have to be raised.

b) Federal spending will spiral out of control.

c) Unemployment will increase dramatically.

d) Wages will be reduced.

So it’s not surprising that a recent poll showed that 38% of Americans strongly oppose the bill, whilst only 22% strongly favor it, especially when you consider that nobody would benefit from any of the changes until at least 2013.

Taxes

A conservative figure of $583 billion would have to be collected by way of higher income taxes, and although the White House claims that only the rich would have their taxes raised, it patently untrue.

More than half of those that would have to pay substantial additional taxes would be small business, and it would in fact be a tax on job creation.

Anybody that’s left uninsured will be obliged to pay a 2.5% penalty, so those that are unable to pay for health insurance will subsidize those that already have it.

Federal Spending

A budget office analysis that was released Friday July18,  said the intended House bill would “result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over 10 years”, partly because of an increase in Medicare spending that would be needed in order to avert sharp cuts in payments to doctors.

Moreover the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas W. Elmendorf, stunned listeners one day earlier when he was asked by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., whether costs would be lowered and he replied, “The health care overhauls released to date would increase, not reduce, the burgeoning long-term health costs”.

On the same day that the health bill was released, the Treasury Department announced that America had for the first time, amassed a one year deficit of $1 trillion, and it’s only July.

Unemployment

The bill contains a pay-or-play provision that would require all but the very smallest of businesses to provide health insurance, or else pay a fine equal to 8% of payroll.

Based on The White House’s own lowball internal estimates, the effect of hitting employers with an additional $300 billion in costs would result in the loss of a further 5 million jobs.

Wages

The health bill also mandates that employers offer health plans with greater benefits, and the Congressional Budget Office noted that employers will effectively pass along the costs of those increased benefits to workers, by paying lower wages.

The fact that Obama rammed a half read stimulus bill though both houses, and is now attempting to do the same with the health bill, has not been lost on Americans.

According to a July 13 CBS News poll;

a) The president’s approval rating now stands at 57%, which is down 11 points from April.

b) Approximately one half of Americans think the recession will last an additional two years, or more.

c) 52% think Obama is trying to accomplish too much.

d) 57% percent think the country is on the wrong track”

Last 10 posts by Michael Redbourn

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