Another day, another three billion ($3,000,000,000) dollars. That’s roughly the amount of money our nation adds to its national debt total each day under the Administration of President Obama. And there doesn’t appear to be any relief in sight.
Along with most Americans who believe that leaving this massive I.O.U. to future generations is both reckless and immoral, 60 Plus has been active in rallying seniors and patriots of all ages to support the few sensible plans coming from Capitol Hill which — though far from perfect — at least begin the necessary task of reducing spending and instilling fiscal sanity in the backrooms of Congress.
Americans work extremely hard every day, and seniors are staying in the workforce longer even after a lifetime of sacrifice for their families and paying more than their fair share of taxes. Though many think the chances are slim and none that anything can be done in the near future to reign in Obama’s runaway spending, 60 Plus and our 7.2 million senior activists believe the crushing national debt is THE civil rights issue of the day, and will never tire in our fight to end the spending madness that is shackling opportunity and prosperity for every generation to come.
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” — John Adams
In this issue:
- Senate Democrat Budget NOT Worth Waiting For
- Obama: No Spending Problem Here
- Obama Aims to Torpedo Seniors’ Prescription Drug Benefit
- Old Nemesis of Seniors Aims to Make a Comeback
- Obama: The Anti-Energy President
- Ranchers and Farmers Brace for Death Tax Impact
- Senior Essay Contest
Senate Democrat Budget NOT Worth Waiting For
Despite the law saying that the United States Senate shall submit and pass a budget each fiscal year, the U.S. Senate under Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has not bothered to pass a budget in over four years, 1,670 days and counting. Instead Senate Democrats have authorized spending through a series of continuing resolutions, which shield them from having to explain to the American people what their budget priorities are, and how they will be paid for.
Normally we might be inclined to say “better late than never” when it comes to the arrival of an actual Senate budget, but with the introduction of Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-WA) budget proposal this month that raises taxes nearly $1 trillion and actually increases spending, we say better never than late.
Amazingly, after four years of producing NO budget, Democrats give us this leviathan of new taxes and spending, all while our economy is barely at a crawl. Of course this budget has no chance in the GOP led Congress, where the case has been made forcefully that the cause of deficits is spending, not lack of revenue. Backing up GOP claims is news that the U.S. Treasury will be receiving record revenue from taxpayers this year, $2.7 trillion paid to Uncle Sam.
So even with record revenue, the President is still running annual deficits around $1 trillion, and Senate Democrats want to raise taxes on working Americans by another $1 trillion in the midst of the worst economic recovery on record. It’s clear when it comes to spending us into bankruptcy, no amount of taxpayer money is ever enough for the President and his big-spending allies.
Obama: No Spending Problem Here
President Obama, back when he was candidate Obama, called President George W. Bush “unpatriotic” for adding $4 trillion in new debt during his two terms.
That kind of rhetoric could lead one to believe that fighting deficits is a priority for the President, and that he would welcome a new budget proposal from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) that seeks to balance the nation’s books in 10 years, even while his plan increases federal spending each year.
Well, don’t hold your breath. Obama has nearly doubled the additional U.S. debt he once criticized Bush for, and he achieved this in half the time. Now Obama is saying that balancing the budget, even in theory, isn’t even a concern of his. Essentially this is confirmation that his spending philosophy includes deficits — and debt for future generations to worry about — as far as the eye can see.
60 Plus Chairman and Founder Jim Martin has been a vocal opponent of Obama’s reckless spending for years, both for the harm it causes our nation and because his profligate spending fails to address the looming crises in Medicare and Social Security. Medicare is on course to come up short and slash benefits in less than 9 years. Even former Obama Chief of Staff Bill Daley said Medicare “will run out of money in five years” — and that was two years ago!
Martin joined a chorus of fiscally conservative voices praising the Ryan budget for seeking to reform Medicare and Medicaid as linchpins to balancing our budget within the next decade. Said Martin:
Let’s be clear, if we do nothing Medicare will not be there for future retirees. Paul Ryan, we seniors owe you an immense debt of gratitude for taking on the challenge of saving a teetering Medicare program that everybody acknowledges is in severe financial straits. All the Democrats do, however, is wring their hands and demagogue you with their favorite talking point to scare seniors, ‘Ryan’s plan destroys Medicare as we know it.’ Bah humbug, I say.
Budgets are more than just numbers and calculations — budgets reflect the values and character of a nation. By steering our nation to a balanced budget in 10 years and reforming the way Washington scores its baseline, the Ryan budget embodies the hope of tens of millions who desperately want to see fiscal sanity return to our nation’s capital.
In short, the Ryan plan represents real hope for our nation, as the path we’re on will not have a happy ending for our children and grandchildren. Doing nothing about our debt and the looming insolvency of Medicare is not leadership. Chairman Ryan’s budget is.
Obama’s aversion to spending restraint took a political turn with the sequestration, the automatic spending cuts set in motion by an agreement between the Congress and President several years ago. While Obama falsely claimed that the sequestration cuts are hurting children and the elderly, he still found millions to waste on such things as giving taxpayer funded food stamps to Mexican citizens.
Americans deserve better than a President who puts out falsehoods to protect his reckless spending while doing nothing to help protect and strengthen the teetering Medicare program. There’s a deficit in Washington, all right, and it’s a deficit of truth coming from the White House.
Obama Aims to Torpedo Seniors’ Prescription Drug Benefits
Medicare Part D has been a huge success for seniors; in providing much needed drug coverage, for lowering the costs of Medicare hospital stays, and in showing how healthcare costs can be maintained through market competition and patient choice.
You would think that the Democrats and President Obama would want to preserve this success, but you’d think wrong. Instead, Obama stated in his State of the Union speech that he’ll seek to vastly overhaul Part D through higher taxes on healthcare providers and price controls on drug companies. If Medicaid is any model, these government controls inevitably make costs go up for seniors as costs are just passed on to them, while stifling patient choice and innovation in creating new drugs.
In an op-ed published in the Daily Caller, 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin noted that free-market reforms that have proven successful are Obama’s worst nightmare, because it undermines his argument that government-run bureaucracies are the best way to deliver health care to seniors and working Americans. Obama isn’t targeting Part D because it’s a failure, but because it is a success. Said Martin:
Instead of embracing the reforms that have led to Part D’s stunning success, President Obama is doing everything he can to undermine it with a price-control scheme in the form of a “soak the rich” tax on health care providers. We all know that tax will be passed on to seniors in the form of higher premiums and co-pays. Call it the “politics of spite.” Anything that empowers individuals and actually works is bad by Obama’s meter. Anything the government controls is by definition good. By rejecting reform and doubling down on the failed models of the past, Obama is speeding our nation toward bankruptcy. It’s absolute madness.
When was the last time any government program came in 45% under projected costs? We can’t think of any. It just goes to show how ideological the President and his Democrat allies are, that they are willing to torpedo a program that is successful for seniors and saving America money, just to keep healthcare decisions firmly within the government’s grip.
60 Plus is proud to say that we are committed to standing with our friends like a wall to protect Medicare Part D from the President and his far-left healthcare bureaucrats.
Old Nemesis of Seniors Seeks a Comeback
60 Plus has learned, to our dismay, that insurance vultures once vanquished in Florida for preying on the elderly with phony scams are attempting to make a comeback. Well we’re on to them and ready to stop them dead in their tracks.
Pushing for something called ‘stranger-originated life insurance,’ (or STOLI), scam artists are hoping to loosen consumer protections on deals that leave seniors and their family holding the bag on plans that sound too good to be true.
Writing in the Tallahassee Democrat, Jim Martin said:
As chairman of the 60 Plus Association, with 790,000 senior supporters in the Sunshine State, I am working with the American Legion and local senior organizations across Florida to shine a light on this issue. Last week, we took our concerns to Tallahassee and were joined by Rep. Bryan Nelson, R-Apopka, to show lawmakers that re-opening the door for STOLI fraud in Florida is a major threat to seniors, and guaranteed heartbreak for Florida families.
60 Plus will continue to protect seniors from insurance scams across America and alert legislators when shady operators move into their state with another “great deal” to try and separate the elderly from their money.
Obama: The Anti-Energy President
During his State of the Union address, President Obama proudly patted himself on the back, proclaiming that energy production on U.S. land has never been higher than during his term.
While technically true, the production of energy is in spite of Obama, not because of him. Since 2007 the increase, 40%, of oil and gas production has come entirely on state and private lands, while federal production has actually dropped 33% (federal, as in the lands Obama’s Dept. of the Interior controls).
While some may use certain language to point out the President’s fib, we’ll just say he is completely disingenuous in portraying himself as successful in producing energy for political purposes, while his agenda is chock full of anti-energy policies. To read the full report from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, click here.
Ranchers and Farmers Brace for Death Tax Impact
Despite the fact Democrats say we need to keep the federal death tax to “spread the wealth” and make the rich pay their “fair share,” the reality is “the rich” hardly ever pay the death tax, but it hits working Americans disproportionately, killing many family businesses, farms and ranches.
Read one such story here.
With the increase in value of the land underneath family farms and ranches, many will be closed for good if there’s a death in the family and the remaining members can’t pay the government the millions of dollars they’ll require nine months after the death of a loved one.
These stories repeat throughout America, in the heartland, Midwest, Deep South and across the plains where family farmers work 12 hour days to put food on America’s table. Their reward? Uncle Sam, standing right behind the grim reaper. It’s immoral and un-American, which is why 60 Plus has taken the lead in abolishing the death tax once and for all.
Help spread the word, and make sure your legislators and your neighbors know the death tax isn’t paid by the rich! It’s paid by working American families that can least afford to pay it.
Senior Essay Contest
What does the Constitution mean to you? Now you can tell us as part of a new contest sponsored by ConstitutingAmerica.org, an organization committed to defending and championing our founding document.
The winning senior essayist and a companion will be invited to attend the 2013 Constitution Day Weekend Celebration in Philadelphia in September and will receive national exposure in media interviews and on the Constituting America website. All eligible essays must be no longer than 850 words, typed or handwritten and all mailed entries must be postmarked by July 5, 2013. All entry submissions must be accompanied by the entry form.
For a complete set of rules, guidelines and other information visit constitutingamerica.org for details. Good luck!
