Democrats Move to Drive America to Destruciton : Minority Reid Attacks Majority

Harry Reid & Chuck Schumer

Want to know who's responsible for the country's disastrous head long plunge into a subservient nightmare of big government, look no further then these two democrats.

But not pictured is Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the progressive socialist  liberal democrats that all voted for ObamaCare and are complicit in all sorts of other criminal actives, and worse, they stand shoulder to shoulder to protect Mr Obama's ideology of socialism. All good soldiers in the cause.

And don't be fooled by some rhetoric from the progressives that claim 'not me', it wasn't just some, but all democrats, every last one! And it's not just ObamaCare, it'd all of the other actions that have driven our country into Constitutional crisis. The IRS attacks, Benghazi, Fast and Furious to mention just a few. Oh, and a White House that's attacking our allies and defending our enemies.

Immigration? : 5 to 10 million illegals given amnesty and full rights by executive order? What's wrong with that?

But now to add insult to injury, they are demanding ObamaCare be fixed by a new Republican congress that seems to be unable to do anything that matters to the country. They seem to be frozen in fear of not being liked by the democrats?

Who will stand for all of us in the trenches? What next?

EPA Attacks Constitutional Right to Own Propety : Individual Freedom to Chose

As we have mentioned on previous occasions, the EPA is the most destructive agency in the country, bar none. There powers to totally control all aspects of our lives is unlimited.

With absolute power to do what ever they deem necessary to achieve their collective goal of total control of all things necessary for survival of average citizens, and with a progressive socialist White House that is in total control of the agency, little wonder the attack on personal freedom and prosperity is so frightening and catastrophic to our country.

This is what Mr Obama was promising when he said he will "transform" America. And the people cheered!

That congress that has Constitutional powers to stop this nightmare agency, but is doing nothing at all to stop them, is probably the most frightening. And maybe even worse, if that's possible, they don't seem to care as well.

The EPA Wants to Control All Waters of the United States
Source: Bonner R. Cohen, "EPA Presses Forward with Controversial WOTUS Rulemaking," Heartland Institute, February 23, 2015.

February 25, 2015

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to regulate all "waters of the United States (WOTUS)." Should the WOTUS proposal withstand legislative and legal challenges, the EPA's reach will affect farms, ranches, orchards, mines and timber industries, having jurisdiction over millions of acres of private property. Seen as an attempt to establish a federal zoning system, the newly acquired authority could require land owners to request permits to conduct routine tasks.

According to the Clean Water Act (CWA), the EPA's current jurisdiction extends only to navigable waters. Those waters include rivers, bays and shipping channels but now they want to regulate ditches, stock ponds and areas that are periodically wet due to rain and snow.

While EPA supporters insist the proposal is a necessary step to resolve questions over which waters are covered in the Clean Water Act, the American Farm Bureau, the National Home Builders Association and the National Mining Association see it as nothing more than federal overreach.

Congress could prevent the EPA's power grab by passing the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act, which blocks the EPA from reinterpreting the limitations defined in the Clean Water Act. Congress could take further action by passing a spending bill that would withhold funding from WOTUS.
 

Direct Primary Care Providing Alternative to ObamaCare : Doctors Fight Back

The prevailing media agenda is that ObamaCare is here to help those that supposedly want or need help, the prevailing government plan for the entire country is not to actually help those in need, but to drive the entire medial system into the arms of special interest groups for the sole purpose of establishing a 'single payer' system. 

Knowing that there are people, doctors taking the initiative to fight back, that are not laying down in the onslaught of government over reach by progressive socialist liberal democrats to once and for all make everyone subservient to Washington bureaucrats, are attempting to provide a solution and it seems to be a good one.

But know this, if ObamaCare is not stopped now, repealed or replaced, what we used to know as good medical care will not be available to the majority of citizens. Only those in power will have the best of everything.

Remember how the old Soviet Union  ideology worked out for everyone over there? Sitting on your hands in the next election will guarantee a history lesson that will not be pleasant.

Is Direct Primary Care the Free Market Answer to ObamaCare?
Source: John Grimsley, "The Doctor Posts His Prices Online. Health Care Should Move in the Same Direction," The Daily Signal, February 23, 2015.

February 25, 2015

Government intervention in health care has lead to objectionable medical costs, market distortions and hidden prices. Moreover, the lack of free market competition has resulted in waste and inefficiency among doctors and medical facilities.

That is why, today, Direct Primary Care is making a comeback, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act's high insurance deductibles and premiums. Unlike Obamacare's complicated and layered payment system, patients who use Direct Primary Care pay a negotiable price directly to the doctor without third party interference.

For the patient, it means they know what they are paying for, before they pay for it. For doctors, it means they can deliver quality healthcare services at a low, transparent, and competitive prices.
Consider what is already happening:

• Dr. Smith, an anesthesiologist and cofounder of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, posts prices online. His facility provides high quality services for one-tenth to one-fifth of the cost of neighboring medical centers.
• Patients have successfully negotiated lower prices at local facilities for procedures by leveraging the Surgery Center of Oklahoma published prices.

Indeed, the Direct Primary Care's delivery model could provide a sustainable alternative the overcomplicated payment system offered by many health care facilities, but because of a provision in Obamacare where doctors are prohibited from investing in physician-owned hospitals, expanding patient choice will be an uphill battle. 

Therefore, lawmakers should work toward removing bad policies that prevent the expansion of patient choice and provider competition.
 

Government Policies Designed to Limit The Option for Disadvantaged?

I wonder who is responsible for all of these inequities that are in place and designed to make sure the poor and disadvantaged stay that way? Let's see, who was in power when all of these regulations and freedom crushing policies were proposed and voted into law? Who voted for these same people time and time again?

And wait for it, who was attacked by the progressive socialists liberal left democrats, and their buddies in the media, when proposals were made to change the existing nightmare of being disadvantaged in a society, with new proposals to help bring back jobs and self respect, where the prevailing agenda is, 'pull up the rope, I'm aboard' has driven the ideology of the democrats that are in power? Got any ideas?

How has it helped our country to keep voting for democrats? If you understand this, we are on the way to recovery.

Reflections during Black History Month: How Government Policy Affects Quality, Affordable Housing
Source: NCPA Staff, "Reflections During Black History Month: What Public Policies Are Hurting African-Americans?" National Center for Policy Analysis, February 2015.

February 16, 2015

In honor of black history month, the NCPA has compiled a list of well-intentioned government policies that have actually hurt black Americans.

Consider what government has done to limit the supply and available of affordable, quality housing:

• "Smart growth" urban planning (in an effort to reduce "urban sprawl") prices lower- and middle-income families out of the housing market. A study by the Urban Institute (as reported in an NCPA publication) found that smart growth policies reduce both housing affordability and economic opportunity, especially for minorities.
• Efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods are often hamstrung by government regulations that raise costs. For instance, the federal Davis-Bacon Act sets construction wages at the prevailing level — which turns out to be the level set by the building trades unions. No federal money can go to a project that doesn't pay at this deliberately inflated scale.
• Furthermore, one-size-fits-all federal environmental rules raise housing costs in neighborhoods where environmental problems have long gone untreated. Both developers and banks are naturally wary of taking on a property that may come with liability for pollution discovered in the future but caused by owners decades before. Banks can't take environmental improvements as collateral. Thus the amount of equity financing required for a given project increases.
• Local policies complicate the clearing of titles on abandoned inner-city properties. Developers seeking to acquire these properties are required to pay back taxes, sometimes dating back a quarter-century or more. The message here: Don't buy and improve vacant land that may be dragging down the property values of the entire neighborhood.
• The loss of housing affordability disproportionately affects minority households due to their generally lower incomes; thus, the white non-Hispanic home ownership rate is 50 percent higher than the ownership rates for Hispanic and African-American households.

 

Hispanics To Dominate Employment by 2020

If this is truly the case for employment where Hispanics dominate the labor market, where does this leave the whites and for that matter, what about the black population?

Hispanics to Dominate Job Growth by 2020
Source: Nick Timiraos, "Hispanics Could Account for 40% of the U.S. Job Growth by 2020," Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2015.

February 25, 2015

The United States' Hispanic population could play a significant role in driving employment growth over the next 20 years. Within the next five years, Hispanics could account for 40 percent of the job growth and more than 75 percent from 2020 to 2034.

Notwithstanding current and projected immigration patterns, the Hispanic share of the United States' labor force is set to increase an average of 2.6 percent by 2034 while the overall labor force increases just 0.6 percent. Within the next 20 years, the Hispanic Population could hold 11 million of the 14 million new jobs.
What factors account for these numbers? Consider:

• In 2013, nearly 45 percent of the Hispanic population was under the age of 35 while the non-Hispanic labor force was only about 33 percent.
• During the same year, less than 12 percent of the Hispanic work force was older than 55, as opposed to more than 23 percent of the non-Hispanic work force.
• By 2020, immigration will exceed employment growth.

The Obama Administration insists emerging immigration will contribute more to employment growth and economic productivity than any other policy. Yet, the newly Republican-controlled Congress could have the final word should it choose not to fund the executive amnesty order Obama announced last fall.
 

Education Controlled by the States Works : Wisconsin Is Proof

If you are concerned about our university systems in this country, and education in general, that are out of control with cost soaring and ideological corruption running wild, look no further then the state of Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker has brought reforms to the University of Wisconsin and other aspects of education in that state with his new budget.

Imagine a university that has to take responsibility of producing a program to educate the students that works, and at the same time the options to make it happen without over reaching politicians.

Want something that works to take back control of education from the corruption of federal and state bureaucrats without having to start from scratch, follow Scott Walker's lead. He's done it and it works!

State Controlled Education: Still A Good Idea
Source: Lindsey Burke, "What Congress and States Can Do to Reform Education Policy," Heritage Foundation, February 18, 2015.

February 24, 2015

If the new Republican-led Congress wants to help repair the broken American education system, they should take a good look at some of the proposals made by the last Congress.  The Higher Education Reform and Opportunity (HERO) Act and the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act each aim to return control over education to state and local governments.

State-controlled education could give students the opportunity to customize their higher education experience. Several ways this can be accomplished include:

• States could allow businesses, nonprofit and universities the ability to accredit and credential courses, thus giving students an alternative way of receiving college credits.
• State lawmakers could encourage public schools to offer competency-based degrees whereby students would earn credits and degrees based on proficiency rather than for enrolling and completing a predetermined number of courses. 
• Limiting federal loan programs could ease the burden of student debt.

Advancing reforms through the HERO Act and A-PLUS Act will provide freedom to those closest to K-12 and higher education. While the HERO Act separates federal higher education financing from the accreditation process, which gives states the freedom to establish a new system, the A-PLUS Act reclaims state authority in determining K-12 education priorities.
 

Wisconsin's Scott Walker Budget Reforms Education

Reforming a system, the University of Wisconsin, that reeked of cronyism and corruption, which had to be a given when politicians are involved. And it's not just a higher educations system in Wisconsin but most other states as well.

Wisconsin has been a state lead by Walker that plowed new ground for guts and determination to fix a broken university system, and an entire state that had fallen into a morass of progressive liberal democrats that brought the state to it's knees with debt and malfeasance. But what else could happen when democrats are in control? It's given. Our entire nation is becoming a socialist nightmare.

Governor Walker started the ball rolling with his Act 10 giving public employees individual options on union membership, and now in his second term brings new reforms and ideas that will benefits the citizens of Wisconsin and not just those in power.

Education Reforms Will Give Wisconsin's Higher Education System Greater Autonomy
Source: Heather Kays, "School Choice Supporters Applaud Wisconsin Governor\'s Budget" Heartland Institute, February 17, 2015.

February 24, 2015

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced several important reforms to Wisconsin's education system in his 2015-17 budget proposal. There are three key points: removing the cap on the number of charter schools in the state, eliminating state funding for Smarter Balanced tests tied to Common Core, and giving the University of Wisconsin greater autonomy in exchange for a $300 million budget cut over two years.

Walker's budget proposal will end the teachers' union monopoly on children's education, give schools more independence and improve the Wisconsin education system.

The proposal can improve equality among students. By lifting limits on charter schools, more students will have the opportunity to attend the school of their choice. This can benefit both individuals and the general public in the long run. Walker's proposal to free the University of Wisconsin System from the state government bureaucracy will reduce costs for both.

And based on the previous experience of Act 10 reforms, changing the UW Education System is expected to be a great success. Also, trading a small portion — $300 million of the $6.1 billion total — the UW Education System's  budget for greater autonomy will enable public universities to provide better education, which can give students the essential skills to compete in a global economy.

The proposed reforms to the University of Wisconsin system could lead higher education to a sustainable path by empowering leaders, protecting taxpayers and promoting long-term stability.
 

Mandate for Doctors - October 2015 : New Unfunded Billing System

Given this next mandate and probably more to come this year, where will the next shoe fall if this monster is not stopped before it is completely implemented? If ObamaCare is allowed to go on as designed and not repealed, the damage to our country and medical care will be irreversible. 

We will have to live with this progressive socialist disaster for decades if not generations before it can be completely dismantled.  Even then I can't imagine any politician that would have the clot to actually do something that is beneficial to the country. 

Another Unfunded Mandate That Could Set Back Health Care
Source: John Grimsley, "Congress Is About to Impose Another Unfunded Mandate on Doctors," Daily Signal, February 19, 2015.

February 24, 2015

The American medical community will have a new burden, come October 2015. Doctors have billed their patients using ICD-9 codes since the 1980s but if Congress fails to act, a new and vastly more complicated system will replace the ICD-9. NCPA senior fellow John R. Graham describes the new ICD-10 as easily ridiculed.

The change will be a boon for healthcare IT companies that stand to profit from the new system.  However, the shift will place a heavier burden on solo practitioners and other small, local health providers. While a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommends moving forward with the transition, there are dissenting opinions.

• Nearly three-quarters of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' stakeholders contacted by GAO expressed serious concerns about the lack of adequate training and testing.
• One-fourth of physician practices indicate they are not prepared for the transition.

The impact of such a transition is likely to fall disproportionately on rural and elderly populations. Doctors will spend more time on coding and less time practicing medicine. Doctors treating Medicaid patients may also lose reimbursements until their state governments can adjust to the ICD-10 system.

Congress could avoid the financial losses that will follow from the required investment in new software programs. Additionally, imposing yet another unfunded mandate on the medical community will result in prolonged confusion as state governments and physician practices divide their time between catching up to a more complex coding system and treating patients.
 

IRS Forfeiture Law Corrupt : Individual Rights Forfeited

It seems the IRS is living up to it's reputation as just another government agency that is out of control as it fellow agency the EPA leads the way in corruption and malfeasance. 

Loose Civil Forfeiture Law Leads to IRS Money Grab
Source: Dick M. Carpenter II and Larry Salzman, "Seize First, Question Later: The IRS and Civil Forfeiture," Institute for Justice, February 2015.

February 23, 2015

Civil forfeiture is a controversial legal process whereby the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can seize a person's bank assets without the police charging the owner with any wrongdoing. According to the IRS, a series of cash withdraws or deposits under $10,000 are evidence of "structuring." The federal government requires banks to report all transactions larger than $10,000.

Loose civil forfeiture standards empower the IRS to seize property without a meaningful investigation, forcing owners into difficult legal battles. And because the funds are used to support the ongoing work of law enforcement, the IRS will continue money grabbing.
According the IRS:

• In more than 1,500 cases from 2005 to 2012, the IRS has seized more than $242 million in suspected structuring violations.
• IRS seizures increased 166 percent from 2005 to 2012.
• One third of the IRS's structure-related seizures occurred without any allegations of fraud, money laundering or smuggling.

The IRS is seizing more than it can justify. In order to prevent federal money grabbing, criminal forfeiture should replace civil forfeiture, therefore removing financial incentive to seize property from innocent people. Criminal forfeiture requires the full due process of the law. That is, criminal wrongdoing must be proved.
 

Poor Are Kept Poor by Design : Progressive politics of Class Warfare

What the greatest threat to the poor is progressive socialist liberalism. That is, having those in power tell the poor and disadvantaged that the only way to survive is to allow others to take care of them. In return all they have to do is vote like they are told, but only find when they do vote like they are told receive nothing in return that helps them out of poverty.

Any attempt of solve the problem of poverty through proposals to give individuals the opportunity to gain self respect by having a job to better themselves is seen as an attack on them by the progressive socialists.

Decades of history proves this point, after $trillions of dollars spent, the poor are not only still with us but worse then before as this article so thoroughly points out. Then the next question to ask is why do so many that complain about the plight of the poor and disadvantaged vote by the millions to keep those that have their collective boots on the throats of the poor in power?

Wealthy People Are Not the Greatest Threat to Poor Neighborhoods
Source: Lost in Place: Why The Persistence and Spread of Concentrated Poverty—Not Gentrification—Is Our Biggest Urban Challenge, City Report, City Observatory, December 2014.

February 23, 2015

Gentrification is not to blame for the economic woes in America's poorest urban areas. Examining data taken from population and income changes in 16,000 census tracts from 1970 to 2010challenges the notion that wealthier people moving into poorer neighborhoods add to the plight of impoverished residents.

Rather, concentrated poverty creates cycles of decline where new residents are difficult to attract, investments and new jobs are absent and the cost of public services is too high to maintain.
Because of this, there is a gradual decay in population in habitually high-poverty neighborhoods.

Since 1970, the population in high-poverty urban areas has decreased 40 percent.
Studying small, reasonably stable subdivisions near central business districts from all 51 American metropolitan areas shows:

• The number of people living in high-poverty from 1970 to 2010 has increased from two million to over four million.
• The number of high-poverty neighborhoods increased from 1,100 to 3,100 during the 40-year period.
• 66 percent of neighborhoods identified as high-poverty in 1970 had not escaped high-poverty by 2010.
• 91 percent of high-poverty areas in 1970 were unable to rebound to levels of poverty below the national average in 2010.

Contrary to many arguments, high-poverty areas do not suffer when gentrifiers move in. In fact, data suggests poverty is most likely to rebound when urban areas see a significant population increase. Perhaps what is most evident in gentrified urban cities is the discrepancy between wealth and poverty.