Thursday, June 20, 2013

The Usual Business......

Most Americans contend they have had it with business as usual inside the beltway. Judging by the numbers of congressmen and senators reelected for consecutive terms, I suspect that most of these people are lying. This is just my opinion, of course, but I don’t think they’re fed up enough.

Nevertheless, there is a good reason why most (if not all) Americans should have little confidence in the Congress. Let us take the Immigration Bill (S.744) as an example. Here we have a piece of legislation that will cost the American taxpayers trillions of dollars. Congress does not want the American people to know that, so in order to hide the truth from the American voter, Congress asked the Congressional Budget Office to analyze the cost of this bill for the first ten years. The reason for this is simple: Congress moved all the costly aspects of the bill to kick in past that ten-year mark.

They did this same exact thing with the so-called Obama Care legislation. Nancy Pelosi was right to say that you have to read the bill to know what was in it, and of course, no one did. Now we learn that Obama Care is a train wreck getting ready to happen —and this from the Democrat in the Senate who helped to write the bill to begin with.

In any case, the Congressional Budget Office had performed their analysis, and as it turns out, the Gang of Eight (including Democrat Marco Rubio) have blatantly lied to the American people.

First, the bill will burden taxpayers with literally trillions of dollars in welfare and entitlement costs for newly legalized immigrants under the amnesty provision. According to economist Robert Rector, “S.744 provides only a temporary delay in eligibility to welfare and entitlements. In time, all 18.5 million immigrants will become eligible for nearly every government entitlement program, including Obama Care.”

Second, the proposed legislation will not stop illegal immigration; in fact, it will increase the attractiveness to illegal entry because for the second or third time, the US government will signal to illegals the fact there are never any consequences to breaking America’s immigration laws. The CBO has said that the best this bill will do is slow illegal immigration by 25%. This means a net gain of 7.5 illegal aliens in the next couple of decades.

Third, the proposed bill will drive down real wages in the United States. This is common sense. More people available for jobs, the less valuable these workers become.

By concealing the costs and continuing to trump the so-called humanitarian aspect of proposed immigration changes, Congress once more seeks to bamboozle the American people. No matter what Rubio and others tell conservatives, this immigration bill is another train wreck waiting to happen. It guarantees three things: amnesty, increased welfare costs, and lower wages for US workers.

If this is what you want for America’s future, then do nothing. Uncle Sugar and Auntie Nanny will take care of everything. On the other hand, if this information really does piss you off … contact your elected representatives and tell them you will not stand for it.

CBO Cost Estimates

Mustang Sends

45 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Those in their ivory towers, including the weasels who are America's so-called political leaders and the multi-millionaires, will not be adversely affected -- at least, for many years. The ivory towers allow those dwelling therein to shield themselves and, possibly, their children. But another generation down the line, the ivory towers will not offer as much protection. WE THE PEONS don't matter except to fund the folly that our so-called political leaders foist upon us.

The impact of the immigration bill on ObamaCare will be huge -- and a negative impact, at that.

Meanwhile, people like Warren are finding themselves unable to buy health insurance, which will continue to be ever more expensive. After losing his employer-based health insurance due to regulations imposed by ObamaCare and the consequent hike in premium, Warren finally found an individual policy this year. The other day, he got a letter from the health insurance company, which will fold on January 1, 2014. There are millions of Americans in the same situation as Warren, and the much-touted exchanges are underfunded and overwhelmed.

WE THE PEOPLE are expendable, and now our government is looking for others to bilk. Those others include immigrants. We must not kid ourselves that our political weasels are approaching the matter of immigration reform because they have humanitarian concerns.

Z said...

ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEE? Warren's company's folding already?

THIS is what we Conservatives KNEW the minute Obama said "if you like your insurance you can keep it"

WE knew that it wasn't the point that WE could keep it, but that THE COMPANY would have to fold. We can't KEEP IT if it isn't THERE.
Am very worried.

My employer is offering me med. insurance and I've clung to my own private policy instead of taking it, but I'm thinking I'd better move. I'd been worried that I couldn't go back to private health insurance if I quit working before Medicare, but who knows if my private company OR Medicare will be there, anyway??? oh, man.
After what Warren's been through, this REALLY steams me.

yes, WE THE PEOPLE can go to hell, apparently...and so can our doctors who are DREADING obamascare.

Z said...

and why are you up blogging at 5AM, Always!!???

Always On Watch said...

Z,
I get up around 4:00 A.M. so that I can get the day going. The older I get, the longer it takes me to get going -- and to tend to Mr. AOW.

Yes, the health insurance company that Warren got his private policy from is going under. The specific cause given: federal regulations of ObamaCare, which turns out not to be so affordable after all.

And employers are bailing on providing health insurance coverage. I'm sure that you've read the information about that on the web, right? See THIS, for example (dated June 19, 2013):

When Regal Entertainment Group (RGC) in April blamed ObamaCare for the fact that it was cutting some of its workers' hours, backers of the law mounted a furious backlash against the theater chain, among other things filling its Facebook page with boycott threats.

"Greed and selfishness make me sick," one of them said.

Darden Restaurants (DRI) felt this intense heat last year after suggesting it might shift to more part-time work to minimize the cost of the law's mandate that companies offer coverage to all their full-time workers. CEO Clarence Otis even blamed its lowered outlook for 2013 in part on "recent negative media coverage" over "how we might accommodate health care reform."

Yet while private companies are getting all this unwelcome and hostile attention, local governments across the country have been quietly doing exactly the same thing — cutting part-time hours specifically so they can skirt ObamaCare's costly employer mandate...


Medicare will likely be there for our generation. Later? Probably not -- or severely restricted.

Z said...

Always, thanks for that information. That's absolutely correct:

I was talking to the Domino's Pizza manager the other day (we get pizzas for the kids at school from time to time) and he is a Hispanic conservative who says he's been there about 10 years and has had very, very little turnover, but now he has to hire people for under 30 hours because of Obamacare and then people quit because they need more hours! Of course, soon they'll find NOWHERE to get more hours because we're hearing, more and more, that companies can't afford to....
He's so sad about this because he's losing all the good people.

This is driving small businesses into the ground and REALLY affecting the poor workers who don't have college educations and won't be able to work enough hours to subsist anymore.......
Typical leftwing brainstorms; the poor always get hurt the worst. Just like the 'no money down' housing which has forced so many out when the balloon payments were due. The poor got hurt the worst.
If ONLY Americans woke up to this fact...and they say "Republicans hate the poor"
MY GOSH

Fredd said...

A fly on the wall in the Oval Office heard Obama's reply to the complaints that your pizza guy had about losing good people because of the Affordable Care Act:

'He's just a pizza guy. Americans are tired of pizza anyway. I hear that cake is popular now, so let them eat cake.'

Or so the fly told me...

Always On Watch said...

Warehouse workers are also affected. Just wait until shelves in the stores are empty and car parts can't be obtained because there are not enough employees to move the goods. Thanks, Obama.

Always On Watch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Always On Watch said...

This morning on ABC News: "Senate Agreement to Bolster Border Security." And don't miss the last sentence of the article! Selective, huh?

Always On Watch said...

Marco Rubio the martyr -- or currying votes. Whatever.

Anonymous said...

AOW, it's horrible and very sad. We'll all have to flock and beg for nationalized healthcare that the country can't even afford.

This stuff really depresses me.

Anonymous said...

It seems like the last resort is to pray for our health and take care of us.

Anonymous said...

"I suspect that most of these people are lying."

Were they lying or were there no other options?

Lisa said...

I find it remarkable that millions of people can't see through all the "transparency", yet those of us who can are made out to be the villians.......or the racists.

Like sheep to the slaughter. I don't think this country can withstand 3 more years of this administration.

Unknown said...

Were they lying or were there no other options?

This is an interesting point. Do we presume that political candidates simply appear before our very eyes and that “we the people” have no control over whom from among our communities gets to run for political office? Do we actually think that we have no ability to advance individuals who we know are honest, trustworthy, and dependable? Do we actually think that we must sit back and be content voting for other people’s candidates?

No one has ever said that democracy was easy. Nothing in our American experiences even suggests such a thing. Democracy is hard … which is why many of the nations in post-World War I Europe abandoned it. It is how we ended up with Hitler and Mussolini running fascist states in Germany and Italy. So the question is, do we no longer regard democracy worth the effort? I think that if this is true, then we no longer deserve the freedom others fought and died for.

Dave Miller said...

Mustang... the Heritage Report which you highlight fails to consider any positive economic activity by immigrants. Isn't it fair, if we accept the validity of their cost numbers, to also include the taxes, as well as the spending that this group will be doing?

Also, the projections for their study go out 50 years... I dare say no one can reasonably expect to have any degree of accuracy out that far, even though it is a standard DC practice.

Even though the CBO shows a net gain over a 20 year period, I am guessing that too will be high.

The bottom line for me is that we've got to something. Apart from securing the border, which I agree with, what is the conservative plan, the GOP plan, or the libertarian plan for the roughly 11 million people now here?

Z said...

Dave, Mustang doesn't speak for the GOP but I did ask him what he thought might be a plan. I'm hoping he's writing that up for us...because he responded with what could work.

I'm off to work. Will respond to everyone later....
have a great day, everybody and thanks for your comments.

And thanks again to Mustang for giving us a lot of food for thought.

Mustang said...

Your point is valid, Dave. I wish I could say that our politicians have a plan that is good for America (first), and fair in the process (second). I do not always think that both are possible at the same time.

Reagan and the Democratic House lied to the American people in 1986 when they assured us that Amnesty would solve the problem of illegal aliens then, and into the future. I use the pejorative term “lie” because it was either that, or we must admit that our politicians are not as clear thinking as we give them credit for. It is hard to imagine any politician who has done more damage to our country than Alan Simpson, idiot extraordinaire. Now here we are nearly 30 years later and the only thing that has changed is the cost of doing business.

I do not believe that people have a right to be here if they are not legally here. I understand the human aspect of this … but it is hardly fair to expect the American taxpayer to pay for all of the world’s problems. The two principal reasons we have an illegal problem is (1) the Mexican government is an abject failure, and (2) we have created a magnet effect on a disenfranchised people. Who doesn’t want a decent paying job? Who doesn’t want a decent place to live? Who doesn’t want medical care, paid for by others? By gosh, I can’t actually blame the people for wanting to come to the land of milk and honey … I just don’t understand why we provide “free services” to illegal persons, and deny it to those of our own who suffer homelessness, mental infirmity, starvation, and disease.

As to the costs, I’m quite sure illegals are reaping far more in benefits than they are paying out in taxes. I will see if I can uncover any statistics that discuss this aspect one way or another. What is the “political plan?” Kick the can down the road in order to remain in office as long as possible.

Z said...

BRAVO, Mustang.
See you later.

JonBerg said...

Lisa said......

" I don't think this country can withstand 3 more years of this administration."

Well, what about the 8 years of Hillary to follow?

Got your attention, eh!


lukn4help said...

What does allowing illegals to stay in the country have in common with the EEOC forbidding companies from doing criminal checks for employment and with the city of Seattle's new law outlawing background checks on job applicants?
Is it just me or is our society unwilling to hold individuals responsible for their own actions. In each of the three situations above people have broken laws but in our social need to be 'fair' we cannot hold them accountable. Is this what is also causing us to reward unwed (I know that is not a politically correct word) mothers with payments for each additional baby? How many of our 'social justice' efforts are, in fact, pathological altruism?
Just wondering?

FreeThinke said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I was listening to the radio and a guy made a great point: the immigration problem will never be solved as long as we have poor economies around us. The only way to solve it is to have latin and south american countries become more prosperous, safer and with a stronger rule of law. Good luck with that :( I was talking to a guy from Guatemala today and he mentioned how dangerous it was, how people were killed for a few bucks.

FreeThinke said...

Mustang,

Were you being sarcastic, ironic, writing with tongue-in-cheek, or simply in error, when you said the following:

” ...the Gang of Eight (including Democrat Marco Rubio) have blatantly lied to the American people.”

I can’t begin to fathom your reason for sharing this extraoridinary bit of hyperbole.

“It is hard to imagine any politician who has done more damage to our country than Alan Simpson, idiot extraordinaire.”

I certainly agree with the following:

”I just don’t understand why we provide “free services” to illegal persons, and deny it to those of our own who suffer homelessness, mental infirmity, starvation, and disease.”

I, myself, have been saying for several years, however, that the illegal immigrants, themselves, would never have become a millstone around our necks had it not been for the SEDUCTIVE LURE of “FREEBIES” dangled metaphorically all along our southern border. That really brought in the UNDESIRABLE elements by the hundreds of thousands -- especially in MEXIFORNIA aka LA LA LAND.

Before the D’Rat version of SANTA CLAUS got into the act, the men who came here for no other reason than to find work were making a great contribution -- and had been -- very quietly -- since the earliest days of the republic.

I think we’re looking at this thing through the wrong end of the telescope. It isn’t the “ILLEGALS” who caused the problem, it is -- as always -- the GOVERNMENT.

We don’t want to further enrich this corrupt regime under which we must live by making it any easier for them to collect any MORE TAXES from ANYONE.

We need to to do two things:

1. RESCIND the FOURTH AMENDMENT

2. DISMANTLE the ENTITLEMENT SYSTEM brick by brick

The rest would quickly take care of itself very nicely if we did. "No tries to fishing after the creek runs dry."


Perhaps we are SUPPOSED to be governed by “laws,” but in TRUTH we are ALWAYS governed much more by REALITY than by THEORY.

Just ask the earliest settlers who landed here with little more than hope, faith and courage. Then ask the pioneers who carved the westward trail out of the wilderness in their Conestoga wagons, and lived in sod huts, lean-to's, and one-room log cabins.

"The earth is the Lord's -- and the fullness thereof, -- the world and they that dwell within ..."

Laws fashioned by men can never supersede God's Law.

Unknown said...

@ Dave

I noticed that your comment addressed the economic activity of immigrants and I have to say that I give you a great deal of credit for your clever word play. This isn’t an immigrant problem, it’s an illegal immigrant problem.

Sam Huntington said...

I don’t know if Mustang intended hyperbole or not, but Alan Simpson milked the system for more than 30 years, amassing a fortune while in the Senate, but thinks financial security will result from cutting promised social security and veterans benefits. I’d have to agree that Simpson is an idiot.

If there is one thing we can say with certainty, it is this: Washington is far more proficient developing failed solutions, than they are at devising permanent resolutions. Washington not only fails to address root causes of our illegal problem, they have contrived to make things worse.

I think there are practical, fair, and effective solutions to this problem, but I don’t think Washington has ever tried them. Congress prefers expediency so that they can move on to the next failed issue. As Mustang said, politicians rely on our weakness as a people, and use that feebleness to their own advantage. It is financially lucrative; it guarantees politicians a long and prosperous career. What are these solutions? (1) Secure our border; (2) Protect American workers; and (3) Implement a fair immigration law.

IMO, Washington falls short when it ignores common sense solutions that everyone can agree on, and focuses instead on comprehensive programs that divide Americans into two camps, which is mighty convenient, when you think about it. Before charging off into the din of the immigration battle, why hasn’t Congress implemented the mandates from the 1986 laws?

So, how about this: a piece-by-piece legislative agenda that implements a process that provides complete transparency, robust dialogue, careful deliberation, and thoughtful implementation of immigration reform? I doubt Congress is even capable of doing this.

Z said...

FrogBurger, interesting...
I've said for years "we ought to just give half the money we're spending on illegal immigrants to their countries and let them get started building families and economies there" BUT they'll never get it.
Plus, that's stupid :=) Why SHOULD we?

Also, I have a friend from Guatemala...actually about 5 friends from there. You CANNOT leave ANYTHING in your car if you go to the market for 10 minutes.
You can't come to a stop light with a good watch on your arm and your elbow out the window.

One Guatemalan friend (actually he's from Beliz and was a cop/military in Guatemala for about 10 years) told me he witnessed a guy steal a watch off a woman in her car and at least FIVE PEOPLE in different cars shot him.......DEAD on the spot!
They couldn't arrest because they didn't know which cars fired the shots.

It's a JUNGLE there.
Coming to a neighborhood near us, of course.



MUSTANG, are you going to respond with a post for tomorrow on your ideas?
I'm dying to read that...please do!

Dave Miller said...

Jack... no word play was intended... I was speaking of people here without papers, illegally, or any other way you want to describe it.

It is a fact that people here illegally, like anyone else, generate economic activity when they spend money...

Mustang, I would agree that one should be here legally before being able to access public services.

It is that way in Mexico and I see no reason to have it any other way here.

Many of my Mexican friends, on both sides of the border, do not understand why we give so much away to essentially strangers.

Z said...

Sam, I think part of the problem in Washington is that in the old days everyone at least understood what was GOOD FOR AMERICA; today, a whole half of it doesn't seem to.

When Tip O'Neil and Reagan argued they both knew, at least, what the goal was. I don't believe that can still be said; today, some think the good of America is hubristic and ugly to the rest of the world...and they think that we need to be kind, not righteous. As if righteous will always rule kind out, which is always their inference.

Z said...

You all recognize, of course, that the big news in America today is that Kardashian and Kanye's baby won't start with a K.

Man, and we wonder why we're screwed up.

Always On Watch said...

Z,
the big news in America today is that Kardashian and Kanye's baby won't start with a K.

Are you KIDDING me?

What a pathetically superficial people Americans have become!

Unknown said...

Nothing superficial about kim kardashian, there is. To figure out who's getting it, how often, and under what circumstances requires a program even for the world’ greatest mathematician, I think. No easy task, that is.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Even legal immigration has it's costs.
I know three legal aliens who work here, taking a job a citizen is available for, working for low wages and not complaining lest they lose their visa sponsor.

Mustang said...

Ed, shouldn't we wonder why we are admitting "low skill workers" from other countries? Given our education system here, we already have an abundance of those.

I hear people saying that we import labor from Mexico to perform jobs that Americans simply refuse to do. Well here's a clue: take those lazy Americans off welfare, and they'll either do those jobs, or starve to death. This would clearly be a win-win situation for America.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Yes, Mustang.
But I'm talking about highly skilled jobs.
Accounting, automation, process.

Ed Bonderenka said...

And I've wondered for a few years now why people have been so enamored of Rubicon since he ran?
I never got that and wonder what he could have done in the Florida legislature to earn such admiration.
Are we so desperate that we're gullible?

Scotty said...

Mustang said: "I hear people saying that we import labor from Mexico to perform jobs that Americans simply refuse to do."

The other thing that is never said is, it's because of those "imports" wages are kept abnormally low.

When jobs are not filled those wages will go up in order to entice more workers.

The math is pretty simple.

Impertinent said...

@Sam:

"If there is one thing we can say with certainty, it is this: Washington is far more proficient developing failed solutions, than they are at devising permanent resolutions. Washington not only fails to address root causes of our illegal problem, they have contrived to make things worse."


It takes my breath away that these ivy league clowns continue to manufacture FUBARs year after year. Then blame someone ( themselves actually ) for creating the mess...then these same cretins have the hubris to say they'll fix...what they themselves with their Princeton, Yale and Harvard diplomas screwed up?

It's a dog constantly chasing his tail round and round.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Scotty, who is good at math anymore?

Always On Watch said...

I don't know about where you people live, but here in Northern Virginia there is a dearth of American teenagers to mow laws, shovel snow, etc. More or less, if you are hiring out those tasks -- as I must now do, of necessity -- it is the immigrants that come along to do the work.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Yep. Spoiled brats handed everything.

Always On Watch said...

Ed,
Recently, my neurologist insisted that I find someone to shovel snow. I couldn't find a single young person in my neighborhood willing to do so -- even if I paid him $20/hour.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't find a single young person in my neighborhood willing to do so -- even if I paid him $20/hour.

I'd shovel snow for that price anytime. Is 40 still young? :)

Ed Bonderenka said...

"even if I paid him $20/hour."
And that's tax free.
My grandson didn't want the $20 I'd give him to pick up all the fallen branches in my back yard.

Always On Watch said...

Ed,
Yep.

It's surreal.