Washington's Miracle Drug: Spenditol

But watch out for those side effects...
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A very clever ad from the Concerned Women for America's Legislative Action Committee:


h/t: Jim Geraghty

- JP

John Hayward: Palin And The Ryan Roadmap

"People like Palin, Ryan, and Pence are the adults in the room"
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In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece today, Gov. Palin endorses the fiscal “road map” drawn up by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Human Events' John Hayward opines that the backing of Ryan's carefully-constructed plan by one of the most popular figures in the conservative movement is an important development:

Palin judges the deficit commission’s report inadequate because it leaves three major financial tumors largely untreated: Social Security, ObamaCare, and our incredibly convoluted tax system. The commission would address Social Security by raising the retirement age, long after the point where the system would have become insolvent – and even at that, it would be making an already rotten deal for future retirees even worse. Ryan’s “Roadmap For America’s Future,” on the other hand, offers a program for younger workers to opt into a private retirement account, while preserving existing benefits for those 55 and older. There is, quite frankly, no other approach that will save the system.

[...]

On taxes, the Ryan plan would “replace our high and anticompetitive corporate income tax with a business consumption tax of just 8.5%. The overall tax burden would be limited to 19% of GDP (compared to 21% under the deficit commission's proposals).” From World War II to the 1970s, the government spent less than 20% of GDP. Our fiscal health went terminal when that limit was exceeded. There is a school of economic thought that suggests it’s essentially impossible for any government to indefinitely sustain spending beyond the 20% threshold, as the recessive effects of excessive taxation and spending cause the economy to begin deflating. I think we’ve gotten close enough to proving this theory to suspend the experiment.

Ryan’s plan also simplifies the tax system to two rates, 10% for single filers up to $50,000 or joint filers up to $100,000, and 25 percent for higher amounts, with a generous standard deduction. It eliminates double taxation on savings, investments, and estates, taxing only income. Aside from the health care credit, the rest of the complex maze of deductions, subsidies, and penalties that turn our current tax code into an instrument of social control are eliminated.


[...]

It’s important to see one of the most popular figures in the conservative movement throwing her weight behind a carefully thought-out set of proposals like Ryan’s. As Palin concedes, the Roadmap for America’s Future isn’t perfect, but it’s clearly not a bunch of cockamamie ideas Ryan tossed out in a beer-fueled rant after realizing he couldn’t handle Speaker Nancy Pelosi for one more instant. Ryan’s ideas are also consonant with a lot of interesting things Mike Pence has been saying lately.

The common liberal knock on the Tea Party movement in general, and Sarah Palin in particular, is that they have no ideas, only complaints and sound bites. Palin expresses her own concrete proposals on a regular basis, and now she’s signing on to the reinforced concrete of Paul Ryan’s comprehensive plan. As Americans watch the Democrats dissolve in a petulant meltdown over their own childish demands, economic fantasies, and utter irresponsibility, they would do well to learn that people like Palin, Ryan, and Pence are the adults in the room.

[More]

- JP

Sarah Palin: Why I Support the Ryan Roadmap

An op-ed by Gov. Palin which will appear in Saturday's Wall Street Journal
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The publication of the findings of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was indeed, as the report was titled, "A Moment of Truth." The report shows we're much closer to the budgetary breaking point than previously assumed. The Medicare Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2017. As early as 2025, federal revenue will barely be enough to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on our national debt. With spending structurally outpacing revenue, something clearly needs to be done to avert national bankruptcy.

The commission itself calculates that, even if all of its recommendations are implemented, the federal budget will continue to balloon—to an estimated $5 trillion in 2020, from an already unprecedented $3.5 trillion today. The commission makes only a limited effort to cut spending below the current trend set by the Obama administration.

Among the few areas of spending it does single out for cuts is defense—the one area where we shouldn't be cutting corners at a time of war. Worst of all, the commission's proposals institutionalize the current administration's new big spending commitments, including ObamaCare. Not only does it leave ObamaCare intact, but its proposals would lead to a public option being introduced by the backdoor, with the chairmen's report suggesting a second look at a government-run health-care program if costs continue to soar.

It also implicitly endorses the use of "death panel"-like rationing by way of the new Independent Payments Advisory Board—making bureaucrats, not medical professionals, the ultimate arbiters of what types of treatment will (and especially will not) be reimbursed under Medicare.

The commission's recommendations are a disappointment. That doesn't mean, though, that the commission's work was a wasted effort. For one thing, it has exposed the large and unsustainable deficits that the Obama administration has created through its reckless "spend now, tax later" policies. It also establishes a clear bipartisan consensus on the need to fundamentally reform our entitlement programs. We need a better plan to build on these conclusions with common-sense reforms to tackle our long-term funding crisis in a sustainable way.

In my view, a better plan is the Roadmap for America's Future produced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.). The Roadmap offers a reliable path to long-term solvency for our entitlement programs, and it does so by encouraging personal responsibility and independence.

[More]

Congressman Ryan's Roadmap website is here.

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 1, 2009)

John Kauffman:

"Concerning Sarah as governor, look how she screwed up Alaska: She balanced the budget, lowered taxes and even gave Alaskans back some of their own money. Now what kind of example is that to set for the rest of our country?"

- JP

Entitlement Syndrome: Why Sarah Palin Matters

Entitlement Syndrome, on why Sarah Palin matters:

Palin — a force of Republican nature since her selection to be John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate during that fateful 2008 election — is a refreshing breeze in a sometimes-stuffy atmosphere of “elite conservative” thought in the Republican Party. It’s obvious, also, that old-line conservatives like David Brooks and Peggy Noonan despise the ground she walks on.

Bully for her, we say. The Party of Lincoln, which once stood for fiscal responsibility, limited government and the complete and unobstructed chance (notice that we didn’t say “right”) at gaining wealth seems in need of a wakeup call. Fortunately, people like Palin exist, and they’re only going to multiply in greater numbers as more and more Americans realize just how awry their current government has gone.

What is equally as fortunate is that Palin and others – growing stronger and more vocal with each passing day — don’t seem willing to go into that good, good night, as so many in the mainstream — and predominantly progressive — media thinks they should.

Well said. 

- JP

Will AK legislature override Gov's stimulus veto?

This McCalatchy report by the ADN's Sean Cockerham says they do:

Legislative leaders say they appear to have enough votes to override Gov. Sarah Palin's veto of $28.6 million in federal stimulus money for energy cost relief. Alaska is the only state to have rejected these funds, and that's not sitting well.

"I would be surprised if we didn't override her," North Pole Republican Rep. John Coghill said Thursday.

Rep. Mike Hawker, another member of the legislative leadership, said that's his count too.

"This is just one of those cases where there is such a profound difference of opinion between the legislative branch of government and the executive branch," the Anchorage Republican said. "We could have one of those rare and difficult instances where we are actually able to override a governor's veto of an appropriation item."

What Hawker means by "rare and difficult" means that Alaska state law it requires a 75 percent vote of the Legislature in joint session.

Fiscally responsible governors have had a hard time trying to persuade their states to reject even just a portion of the federal stimulus money. State lawmakers see it as "free money," while a few governors are worried about the additional debt the porkulust will burden future generations with.

In South Carolina, Gov. Mark Sanford's battle with his legislature over "free money" went all the way to the state's supreme court, which ruled against the governor. Thursday, the high court ordered Sanford to request $700 million in federal stimulus money earmarked primarily for education, ending a months-long battle with SC legislators.

Gov. Sanford said Thursday that he will not appeal the ruling and will sign the forms to request the funds Monday.

- JP