They Won’t Change It: Dems Keep Pushing ObamaCare, Debt and Tax Hikes

August 29, 2012

They Won’t Change It: Dems Keep Pushing ObamaCare, Debt and Tax Hikes

Democrats’ Failed Policies Have Put America on the Wrong Track

  • Too many Americans believe the nation is on the wrong track, and it’s not hard to see why as the economy continues to struggle while Democrats keep borrowing and spending despite the rising debt.

  • Democrats continue to defend ObamaCare despite its huge threat to the economy, small businesses and seniors who rely on Medicare.

  • Democrats also want massive new tax hikes on small businesses to feed their spending addiction instead of making Washington live within its means.

Too many Americans believe the nation is on the wrong track, and it’s not hard to see why as the economy continues to struggle while Democrats keep borrowing and spending despite the rising debt:

NBC/WSJ: 54% DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA’S ECONOMIC RECORD, 61% SAY THINGS ARE ON THE WRONG TRACK: (NBC/WSJ Survey, August 2012)

AP POLL: 60% SAY THINGS ARE ON THE WRONG TRACK: (“The AP-GfK Poll,” Associated Press, August 2012)

65% RATE THE ECONOMY AS “POOR”:(“The AP-GfK Poll,” Associated Press, August 2012)

FOX POLL: 46% SAY COUNTRY HAS CHANGED FOR THE WORSE IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS, ONLY 29% SAY FOR THE BETTER: (Dana Blanton, “Fox News Poll: Race for the White House Tightens,” Fox News, 8/24/2012)                                                       

MAJORITY OF VOTERS DISAPPROVE OF OBAMA’ HANDLING OF THE ECONOMY: “By 54-42 percent, more voters disapprove than approve of Obama’s handling of the economy.” (Dana Blanton, “Fox News Poll: Race for the White House Tightens,” Fox News, 8/24/2012)

BUT DEMOCRATS KEEP SPENDING WITH FAILED STIMULUS POLICIES THAT WILL HURT OUR ECONOMY:

CBO: FOURTH STRAIGHT YEAR OF TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICITS: (Alan Fram, “CBO Projects $1.1 Trillion Deficit for 2012, Modest Recovery,” Associated Press, 8/22/2012)

SIZE OF NATION’S ECONOMY AT $15.596 TRILLION: (Bureau of Economic Analysis, Accessed 8/7/2012) 

NATIONAL DEBT LARGER THAN NATIONAL ECONOMY, STANDS AT $15.975 TRILLION: (TreasuryDirect.Gov, Accessed 8/28/2012) 

$5.35 TRILLION INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 8/28/2012)

STUDY: ECONOMIC GROWTH TAKES 25% HIT FROM DEBT LEVELS AT MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF ECONOMY:  (Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/30/2012) 

Democrats continue to defend ObamaCare despite its huge threat to the economy, small businesses and seniors who rely on Medicare:

98% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED IN JAN 2011 AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE: (Roll Call 14, Clerk of the U.S. House, 1/19/2011)

96% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE AGAIN: (Roll Call 270, Clerk of the U.S. House, 4/14/2011)

97% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAIN THIS JULY TO KEEP OBAMACARE IN PLACE: (Roll Call 460, Clerk of the U.S. House, 7/11/2012)

SMALL BUSINESSES WARN THAT OBAMACARE IS FORCING THEM TO DROP COVERAGE, HURTING THEIR HIRING:

UBS RESEARCH: OBAMACARE IS “ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT TO HIRING”: “Arguably the biggest impediment to hiring (particularly hiring of less skilled workers) is healthcare reform… By raising the cost of labor, healthcare reform systematically discourages hiring, especially of low-wage workers whose mandated benefits are high relative to their wages.” (“Great Suppression II,” UBS Research, Pgs.1, 5, 9/19/2011) 

73% OF SMALL BUSINESS JOB CREATORS CITE OBAMACARE AS AN “OBSTACLE TO HIRING NEW WORKERS”: (Peter Schroeder, “Survey: Uncertainty, Gas Prices Slowing Hiring by Small Business,” The Hill, 4/16/2012) 

“NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF EMPLOYERS EXPECT TO SEE A COST HIKE IN THEIR HEALTH PLANS”: “Nearly two-thirds of employers expect to see a cost hike in their health plans when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014, and a quarter say they will have to make changes to their coverage to avoid penalties, according to the survey by the Mercer consulting firm.” (Kathryn Smith, “Businesses Brace for Health Care Cost Increase, Report Says,” Politico, 8/8/2012)

57% OF SMALL BUSINESSES ARE “VERY” OR “SOMEWHAT” LIKELY TO DROP HEALTH COVERAGE FOR WORKERS: “Should employees begin to leave for an exchange, 26 percent of currently offering small employers are very likely to explore dropping their health insurance plans and another 31 percent are somewhat likely to do so.” (“Small Business and Health Insurance: One Year After Enactment of PPACA,” NFIB, 5/24/2012)

1 IN 8 SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ALREADY SEEN THEIR HEALTH COVERAGE TERMINATED DUE TO OBAMACARE: “One in eight small businesses told the National Federation of Independent Business that since the health law passed in 2010, their health insurer had either terminated their plan or notified them it is going to be eliminated. … Dennis said the NFIB was ‘not aware of any data that suggested’ insurers had dropped coverage of small businesses in such large numbers in years before the passage of the health law. For this reason, they felt confident the health law was the cause, he said.” (Bara Vaida, “Some Small Businesses Say Health Insurers Are Dropping Their Coverage,” Kaiser Health News, 7/25/2011)

JOB-DESTROYING OBAMACARE TAX HIKES ARE ON THE WAY:

CBO: $1 TRILLION IN OBAMACARE TAX HIKES OVER 2013-2022: (Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,” Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012, p.6)

NFIB STUDY: 150K SMALL BUSINESS JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: (“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)

AT LEAST 14,500 JOBS OR AS MANY AS 47,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION: 3.2 MILLION JOBS AT FRANCHISE BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO BE PUT AT RISK”:(“High Court Ruling Puts Jobs at Franchise Businesses at Risk,” International Franchise Association, 6/28/2012)

Democrats also want massive new tax hikes on small businesses to feed their spending addiction instead of making Washington live within its means:

89% OF DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST PREVENTING TAX HIKES(Roll Call 545, Clerk of the U.S. House, 8/1/2012)

FORMER CBO DIRECTOR: DEMOCRAT PLAN TO HIKE TAXES IS “MADNESS”: (Ronald D. Orol, “Democrat Idea to Let Bush Tax Cuts Expire Is ‘Madness’,” MarketWatch, 8/2/2012)

FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE: IF DEMS GET THEIR WAY “RECESSION WOULD OCCUR EARLY NEXT YEAR”: “The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that, if the full range of tax increases and spending cuts were allowed to take effect–a scenario widely referred to as the fiscal cliff–a shallow recession would occur early next year…”(Bernanke testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Web site, 7/17/2012)

JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION: 940,000 SMALL BUSINESSES TO GET HIT BY DEMOCRATS’ LATEST TAX HIKE: “Congress’s Joint Tax Committee—not a conservative outfit—estimates that in 2013 about 940,000 taxpayers will have enough business income to meet Mr. Obama’s tax increase threshold.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)

710,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY DEMOCRATS’ TAX HIKE PLAN: (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012, Appendix C)

1.8% DROP IN WAGES: “Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8%, reflecting a decline in workers’ living standards relative to what would have occurred otherwise.” (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012)

MORE THAN HALF OF NET BUSINESS INCOME WILL BE HIT BY HIGHER TAX RATES UNDER OBAMA PROPOSAL: “And of the roughly $1.3 trillion in net business income, about 53% will get hit with the higher tax rates. This is because millions of businesses report their income as sole proprietors and subchapter S corporations that file under the individual tax code.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)  

OBAMA’S NEW TAX HIKE WOULD HAVE SOME SMALL BUSINESSES PAYING HIGHER TAX RATES THAN GENERAL ELECTRIC AND J.P. MORGAN: “So Mr. Obama wants these businesses to pay higher tax rates than the giant likes of General Electric or J.P. Morgan. Does that qualify as ‘tax fairness’?” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)

They Won’t Change It: Dems Keep Pushing ObamaCare, Debt and Tax Hikes http://ow.ly/dizp9