Mark Mayberry
Truth About Bills

“Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, But the Grinch who lived just North of Whoville did not.” – Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

This classic tale of Christmas theft is well loved by children and adults around the world. Who knew that today it would ring true in life.

Now the story reads, Every American down in Americaville liked jobs a lot but the Democrats who lived in Washington, D.C. did not.

This tale is far from classic but not far from truth. A series of policies from the current administration and congress have ruined jobs and successfully pulled off a heist of Christmas that even the Grinch could be proud of.

The Democrats and various Liberals from around America have stolen the world’s favorite holiday from children everywhere by putting their parents out of work.

Various legislation and policies like Obamacare, repealing of tax cuts and the mismanagement of federal dollars like the stimulus has ground American prosperity to a sudden halt.

The American people have noticed but unfortunately for Christmas we have noticed too little too late. The national average of unemployment in this country is at almost nine percent according to Google statistics with the highest state unemployment up over thirteen percent in Nevada. Isn’t that Harry Reid’s home state? I guess his heart is two sizes too small as well.

A recent report from the House Ways and Means Committee reveals that American’s are not holding their breath for a solution anytime soon.

Of those polled sixty-five percent believe that the general economic landscape has negatively effect their ability to do business. In the next six months seventy-seven percent of employers plan to maintain current staff levels compared with the seven percent that plan to hire.

What we can make of this is that the largest complaint from small business is they can’t hire due to the uncertainty in the economic arena.

President Obama championed his healthcare plan as the savior of the United States. Unfortunately since it’s creation the economy has plummeted. The month before Obamacare was signed into law there was talk of a “recovery summer”. According to the Heritage Foundation the months before Obamacare was signed, the private sector created 67,000 jobs a month. The very next month after Obamacare was passed it fell to 6,500. Most small business owners cite Obamacare as the number one cause of uncertainty and reluctance to hire.

The “Bush-Era” tax cuts have been a hot topic debate and with the prospect of them not returning or only returning for a limited time, businesses and the evil one percent are faced with having to lose more capital without laying off employees.

Because of this, those in the middle class who do have jobs are in constant fear of more layoffs or down sizing. This keeps them from buying the Christmas presents that they want to for their kids.

On top of the tax cuts being eliminated, the president has seen fit to be extra giving this year and wait until after the election to “decide” on the Keystone Pipeline. Wait, let me clarify, he is being giving to the Chinese. If he ignores this pipeline, the Chinese will get a whole new supply of oil from Canada with a big American bow on it.

The Keystone Pipeline would in fact create many jobs. Recently John Boehner, the House Majority Leader, echoed this statement in a quote. “The Keystone energy project would create tens of thousands of American jobs.” The problem is Obama is stuck between two of his greatest bases, unions and environmentalists, because of the president’s second-term aspirations there are still no jobs for those Americans in Americaville.

Last but not least is the infamous stimulus. The president put unprecedented money into the “economy” in order to save America. Instead for Christmas he saddled us with a ton of debt. The most beautiful thing about the stimulus is that we spent a ton of money and got nothing in return. As a matter of fact the greatest job creation that it fostered was in the clean energy sector. According to the Department of Energy, they have spent almost thirty-six billion dollars to create 64,776 jobs. That means that we spent a little more than $554,000 dollars per job created in the green jobs sector.

Truth be told this is but a snippet of the horrific financial management that is happening under Liberal control. So for the time being I guess all we can do is hope that the Democrat’s hearts grow three sizes some day soon. So they will bring back Christmas and every family will get to carve their own Roast Beast.

For more conservative news and thoughts aimed at informing the greater public, visit Truth About Bills.

Like GCN Live on Facebook and follow on Twitter for more great news, opinions, and announcements from GCN Live’s hosts and staff.

“What does $40 mean to you?” President Obama and the White House are asking for Americans to let Congress know.

The White House claims it is looking out “for many families who are already working hard to make ends meet” by attempting to pass the payroll tax cut. GCN Live would like to know if they feel the same about Americans who will be directly impacted by Obamacare tax increases, and indirectly through fewer jobs due to rising healthcare coverage costs on employers.

Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said, “This new law [Obamacare] is a fiscal house of cards, and it is a healthcare house of cards. It does not make our healthcare system better; I would argue, it makes it weaker.”

Tell GCN Live what the Obamacare tax increases in 2014 would mean for you, your family, and your business. What would you have to give up? Give us your answer in the comments section below OR on Twitter using the hashtag #ObamacareAndMe

Below, find the list of the 10 taxes that will be affected by ObamaCare starting in January 2014.

1. A 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services (a boon to beach towns everywhere).

2. Elimination of the tax deduction for employers providing Medicare prescription drug coverage. (This is a big part of why companies like 3M are dropping health coverage for their retirees.)

3. Doubling the penalty for spending money from your tax-free health savings account for non-health-related purposes (as defined by PPACA), to 20 percent.

4. Capping the amount that employers can contribute to your tax-free flexible spending accounts (employer-sponsored HSAs), at $2,500 a year (it was previously limited by your employer’s generosity).

5. Banning the use of funds from HSAs and related accounts for the purchase of over-the-counter medications (now you will have to go to your doctor and get a prescription, a waste of precious health-care resources and doctors’ time).

6. A 0.9 percent Medicare surtax to wages over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples, along with a 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income of these individuals. (The 3.8 percent tax will actually apply to the lesser of unearned income or any excess income above $200,000/$250,000.) Because this tax is applied to pre-tax income, these taxes are equivalent to income tax rate increases of 2 percent and 8 percent respectively.

7. The ability to deduct itemized medical expenses will begin after you spend 10 percent of your income on medical expenses, instead of 7.5 percent.

8. The employer mandate, which requires that all business with more than 50 employees offer PPACA-approved health plans to all of their employees, or pay a tax of $2,000 per employee, excluding the first 30 employees.

9. The “Cadillac tax” on high-value health plans: beginning in 2018, plans costing more than $10,200 for individuals, or $27,500 for families, will be assessed a 40 percent excise tax. Insofar as this tax mimics the elimination of the employer tax exclusion, it is the least offensive of Obamacare’s tax increases, but unfortunately that policy goal—harmonizing the tax treatment of individually-purchased and employer-sponsored health insurance—is neutered by the employer mandate described above.

10. And last, but not least: the individual mandate, which requires everyone to purchase health insurance, or pay a tax: it starts in 2014 at $95 or 1 percent of gross income, whichever is greater; and maxes out in 2016 at the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income.

Here are some of the responses the White House has received:

“Our cable internet bill is $49 per month. If we lose this payroll tax cut then we will have to give up either (our) internet access or possibly our ‘Friday Family Pizza’ night. Either way, we will lose something that brings us together as a family,” wrote “K.Z” from Frederick, Maryland.

Another person wrote that $40 will “buy lunch from the cafeteria for almost a whole month for my twins.”

Someone else who “can barely get by now” said taking $40 out of his paycheck “would just about put me under.”

A person from New Mexico said “$40 less a paycheck means I will have to pick between my insulin and the water bill. It means never being able to see my doctor — even though I have insurance.”

Once again, please leave your response to “What Does the 2014 Obamacare Tax Increases Mean to You?” in the comments section below OR on Twitter using the hashtag #ObamacareAndMe

Like GCN Live on Facebook and follow on Twitter for more great news, opinions, and announcements from GCN Live’s hosts and staff.