Big government at work

[New Mama]

America is no longer the place where entrepreneurs thrive. Government regulations discourage innovators. I heard about this on the news this morning. A company has developed a way to farm fish in the ocean. This process eliminates all the reasons not to like farm raised fish. Mainly the fish don’t have to swim in their own crap.

The company Open Blue www.openblue.com/ is setting up in Panama because of the regulation nightmare in the States. Here’s a partial list of the agencies and regulatory requirements that would have to approve the license for ocean fishing:

Environmental Protection Agency
Army Corps of Engineers
Fish and Wildlife Service
Drug Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Jones Act
OSHA rules
Regional
Fishery Management Councils and various state agencies involved in historic preservation and tourism would all have a say.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made several attempts a decade ago to promote a national aquatic farming initiative that would cut through the red tape and set up a one-stop-shop for deep-water fish farming permits. Bills were introduced in Congress twice but were shot down due to opposition from entrenched fishing interests.
www.forbes.com/sites/billfrezza/2012/11/25/regulatory-uncertainty-drives-a-fish-farmer-to-foreign-waters/

So here is a kid, the son of a New York fishmonger who drops out of school and opens a fish farm in Puerto rico. He develops open ocean fish farming and can't even bring it back to our offshore waters. As the fishing industry dies here a new booming business is forced to look to grow elsewhere where innovation is welcomed.

It makes me sad.

[New Mama]

As ObamaCare marches forward keep in mind that in addition to the possible fiscal cliff event January 1st, a 3.8% surtax will be added to investment income for individuals earning over $200,000 and married couples earning more than $250,000. This surtax, applied to capital gains and dividend income, will cover stocks, bonds, securities and derivatives.

I should add that additionally the 2.3% tax on medical devices will hit the makers of things like surgical sutures, pacemakers and joint replacement implants as part of ObamaCare payment too.

[New Mama]

Surprise....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers.
Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.
"It just adds on to everything else that is expected to increase health care costs," said economist Paul Fronstin of the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute.
The fee will be assessed on all "major medical" insurance plans, including those provided by employers and those purchased individually by consumers. Large employers will owe the fee directly.

www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/12/11/surprise_new_insurance_fee_in_health_overhaul_law_116391.html

And so it begins.

[Merlot Joe]

When ever there is a tax or cost that affects the working public or some sort of government program, the governments way of collecting it is let the employer pay for it. $63.00 doesn't sound like much but to a small company with 10 to 20 employees that's just another straw on the camels back, and soon or later the camel is going to break down.


Edited to add: This will also mean less new jobs and maybe more layoffs. Not what the Obama administration is looking for. But what do they care!!!! They are not looking for any more votes.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Did anyone bother to notice that it only lasts for 3 years?

[Ardbeg... innit]

You think that will matter?

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Well, it matters to *me* ... (yeah, I know, I don't count because I'm a 47%-er)

[New Mama]

Dec 11, 2012 13:29:50 GMT -6 ♥ COVID-19♥ said:

Did anyone bother to notice that it only lasts for 3 years?

Yea right. I read that is the 'plan' but it will depend on how much it costs to cover the previous uninsured. When was the last time you saw a tax eliminated?

[Chicago Jake]

"There is nothing more permanent than a temporary emergency." - Lazarus Long

[Merlot Joe]

It will last longer than 3 years and it will be a hell of a lot more than $63.00.

[New Mama]

While this administration tries unsuccessfully to pass it's first budget in 4 years, it has no time to rescue one of our own.

www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-dimond/jon-hammar-marine-mexico-jail_b_2337215.html?utm_hp_ref=world

I'm appalled by the lack of attention by Hillary and Obama in exacting pressure on Mexico to release Marine Corporal Jon Hammar who has been locked up in one of Mexico's worst prisons since August.

This kid served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had permission to take his grandfathers antique rife across the boarder but was imprisoned anyway. His family has received calls by the Mexican authorities extorting money to keep him alive. What do we do but send hundreds of millions of dollars to Mexico while they imprison an American hero for no cause and Obama is mute.
Disgusting.

[Tex]

There are still some safe areas in Mexico, but the border is rough. Chihuahua (Juarez) is a war zone. Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas (where the Marine is imprisioned) are almost as bad. These areas are the Mexican equivalent of states. When I was in high school, my friends and I thought nothing of driving to Monterrey, Tampico, Veracruz, or even down to Mexico City. The Pemex gasoline sucked and you had to filter it, add upper cylinder lube, and retard your timing a bit. Other than than, it was a great place to party.

The war zone in Mexico has changed the type of immigrants we are getting from Mexico. It used to be the rural poor primarily that came here with the thought of working hard to send back a few bucks for their folks. Now we see engineers, architects, and medium sized business owners trying to escape the violence and ply their trades in Texas. Different world.

[New Mama]

Obama refuses to take on our out of control spending in spite of the facts. He is all about big government regardless of the cost. As I understand it the Republican Plan B raises tax rates and cuts spending, but Obama and Reid vow to kill the plan if Plan B is approved in the House.

As I understand the stalemate Obama has taken all spending cuts off the table. Does that make any sense?

Federal government revenue rose from $1.7 trillion to $2.4 trillion from fiscal 1998 to 2012, slightly exceeding inflation. Revenue growth averaged 2.9% annually, despite two recessions, bear markets — and tax cuts.

But federal spending rose nearly twice as fast — 5.7% per year — surging from $1.6 trillion to $3.5 trillion over that same span.

The spending spike also exceeds growth in the population.

Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, says the U.S. government needs a spending cap.

"It's an issue of trendlines and that's everything in fiscal policy," Mitchell said. "If you are on a path where government spending grows faster than the private sector of the economy, which is your tax base, then in theory there is no level of taxation that will be enough to stabilize the system. ... If we had kept government spending down to just increases for inflation and population growth, we wouldn't be in the trouble we're in now."

Limiting spending to increases in inflation and population growth over 1998-2012 (an annual average of about 3.3%) would have given dramatically different results. The U.S. would have spent $2.6 trillion in FY 12, about $900 billion less than what it actually did. The latest deficit would be $157 billion, a fraction of the actual $1.089 trillion.

While a spending cap would help, some analysts contend that it would need to be coupled with entitlement reform.

"If you don't reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, you'll have a hard time staying within the cap," said Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the libertarian Mercatus Center.

Read More At IBD: news.investors.com/121912-637656-real-federal-outlays-up-78-since-98-spending-cap-key.aspx#ixzz2FcvfgBBM

[Chicago Jake]

God bless all of you folks who can still follow the news out of Washington and take the doings of Congress and the POTUS seriously. I wish that I had that kind of dedication. But with the reelection of Obama, I can only shake my head and assume that my native land is destined to go to hell in a handbasket, and that we deserve it for our collective stupidity. As a consequence, I have no energy left to fuss over trivia like the federal budget.

[Ardbeg... innit]

Anita, what is the point if the Republicans wont even back Plan B?

[New Mama]

Dec 21, 2012 7:01:07 GMT -6 Ardbeg... innit said:

Anita, what is the point if the Republicans wont even back Plan B?

I think it’s because they are much closer to a deal. Obama has backed off the $200,000 cut off for taxes increasing the offer to $400,000. Boehner's Plan b is $1,000,000. Likewise, for the first time Obama has offered some spending cuts of $8billion not far from Boehner's $1trillion.

DC is shut down until the 27th and I don't think the GOP wants to pass a bill now that has no chance in the Senate. Obama and Boehner will make a deal before the 27th.

Whatever the deal it won't help us much but the markets will take heart that a deal was made and we will simply continue to slowly slide into bankruptcy.

[Merlot Joe]

Here is a head line from Yahoo news. The market is dropping due to the fact that there will be no deal prior to Dec 31. I agree.

As many have said we have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, I think it will be the middle of January. Another recession is on the horizon and this will be the one the broke the camels back.


When the 2% tax break on Social Security taxes end people will stop spending money. It will be felt by the public.

..Wall Street drops 1 percent, fiscal deal unlikely before 2013
By Ryan Vlastelica | Reuters – 50 mins ago..

Stocks

[Ardbeg... innit]

As I said elsewhere before. It wont be that big of a deal. They wont get anything done between now and the New Year. The tax rates will go up for a short time. Everyone comes back after the first and they get the masturbatory glee of voting for a tax cut, and everything will be retroactive to January 1

[New Mama]

More big government dysfunction...

The federal government’s system of tracking immigrants’ status is so broken that it gives a green light to one in eight aliens who have been ordered deported, according to an audit Tuesday that found the government has gone on to approve some of those who slip through for work in sensitive areas of airports and granted them benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps

“The failures in our sample include individuals who applied for unemployment and disability insurance, food stamps, driver’s licenses and other benefits,” the auditors said. “Several individuals had criminal records, including assault with a deadly weapon, extortion, drug convictions and other convictions such as burglary, stalking and child abuse.”

Read more: times247.com/articles/feds-immigration-check-system-failing-audit-finds#ixzz2FiWCMeZ8

So one in eight illegals ordered for deportation are getting tax funded benefits. This must be costing us millions.

[New Mama]

Obama is winning the war on coal, but at what cost? This is something we can't buy cheaper or import from overseas.

Obama also said in 2008 that "if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it'll bankrupt them." He seems to be making this come true.

Georgia Power, that state's largest power company, announced this week that it is asking state regulators for permission to shut down 15 electrical generating units -- the closure of four power plants in all.

The 15 units that Georgia Power wants to shutter -- all but two of which are fired by coal or oil -- have a combined capacity of 2,061 megawatts, or enough to provide power for roughly 1.5 million homes.

The company plans to close 11 of them on April 16, 2015, the exact day the EPA's new mercury regulations are scheduled to take effect. Georgia Power will seek waivers from the EPA to keep four of the others open for an extra year, and then it will shut those down on April 16, 2016. It is unclear how Georgia's energy sector will make up the 2 gigawatts of capacity it is losing.

480 power plant workers in Georgia who now stand to lose their jobs. Then there are the millions of Georgia energy consumers who will soon see higher rates and higher bills. More broadly, the National Association of Manufacturers estimates that this single rule will kill 1.65 million jobs nationwide through 2020.

washingtonexaminer.com/examiner-editorial-in-georgia-obama-is-winning-the-war-on-coal/article/2517941

[Merlot Joe]

The give it to you with one hand and take it away with the other. Sure you build that but you have 450 regulations to clear first.

[New Mama]

The cost of ObamaCare is coming.

Although President Obama repeatedly claimed that health-insurance premiums for a family would be $2,500 lower by the end of his first term, they are actually about $3,000 higher—a spread of about $5,500 per family.

Health insurers have been understandably reluctant to discuss the coming price hikes that are driven by the Affordable Care Act. Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, the country's third-largest health insurer, broke the silence on Dec. 12. "We're going to see some markets go up by as much as 100%," he told the company's annual investor conference in New York City.

Many actuaries, such as those in the international consulting firm Oliver Wyman, are now predicting an average increase of roughly 50% in premiums for some in the individual market for the same coverage. But that is an average. Large employer groups will be less affected, at least initially, because the law grandfathers in employers that self-insure. Small employers will likely see a significant increase, though not as large as the individual market, which will be the hardest hit.

We compared the average premiums in states that already have ObamaCare-like provisions in their laws and found that consumers in New Jersey, New York and Vermont already pay well over twice what citizens in many other states pay. Consumers in Maine and Massachusetts aren't far behind. Those states will likely see a small increase.

By contrast, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and Virginia will likely see the largest increases—somewhere between 65% and 100%. Another 18 states, including Texas and Michigan, could see their rates rise between 35% and 65%.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323936804578227890968100984.html