Liars And Tyrants And Bureaucrats – And The MEDIA

Obama Teleprompter Liberal Media SC 300x236 Liars and Tyrants and Bureaucrats – And the MEDIA

Who’s in charge here, anyway? The Obama administration is responsible for everything, but knows nothing. America is in ruins, scandal, and no one’s to blame. Evidently, the buck permanently stopped with George W. Bush.

The ever so smug White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, has had a tough go of it lately creatively answering questions saying he doesn’t know anything and the president had absolutely no knowledge or involvement – in anything. Apparently, ‘at no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing.’ 

It’s funny, infuriating, and sad all at the same time. The most corrupt government in American history has not, is not, and will not be held accountable for their actions.

I hope I’m wrong; nothing will come from any of this.

With Americans as uninformed and disinterested as we’ve ever seen, consider the mounting information that continues to be brushed under the rug. If President Obama were a Republican, he never would have been reelected in 2012 and he’d be impeached in 2013.

But the media refuses to report the truth – unless they are practically forced to – about anything remotely negative on Obama, and four years of this has not only led to a well- insulated president, but also citizens who are not hearing many facts.

A CNN poll last week revealed 53% of Americans still approve of the job Obama is doing as president! Since it’s nearly impossible to estimate how many of these are die-hard liberals, progressives, Democrats, and college students, we should assume a majority of them have little interest or knowledge of Obama’s actual record. Gallup also has Obama’s approval right around 51%. So – what gives? His approval should be in the 30’s.

It’s been suggested that the media can tilt an election by approximately 8 points. I’d also say they can influence polls and approval ratings by making a devil seem like an angel.

America has reached a tipping point. While people are getting more frustrated, government is becoming more arrogant and evasive. Here are some stories that come to mind.

Who can forget the Obamacare monstrosity that was rushed through Congress and then crammed, forced, and stuffed down the American people’s throats? Nancy Pelosi infamously told us we’d have to pass the bill to find out what was in it, and now it’s old news. The lies have been told, the people have been deceived, and more than $1 trillion in new taxes and more than $2 trillion in new spending later, the Democrats have gotten away with their abuse of power Scott-free.

Even HHS Secretary Sebelius admitted insurance premiums will increase and approximately 24 million Americans will lose their current coverage once Obamacare kicks into gear. Because of this, some employers are already cutting full-time workers hours so they won’t be forced to pay for as many employees’ insurance plans.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, for one, has proposed a 25% rate increase for many of their plans.

Insurance rates have gone up, people have lost health care coverage, employers have been forced to drop certain plans, and countless medical costs have gone up because of the upcoming changes in the law – forced upon the majority of Americans.

A few years ago, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was begging our own government for help protecting the U.S./Mexico border. Citizens were having property damaged or stolen, deaths were reported, and Mexican gun cartel activity was traced nearly 100 miles into Arizona. What happened? The Obama administration sued the state of Arizona for enforcing their immigration laws.

Next, when it came to the deaths of American and Mexican citizens, the reckless Fast and Furious gun-running operation was forgotten shortly after Obama protected Erik Holder and the (In)Justice Department by exercising his executive privilege – after it was confirmed Holder lied and was held in contempt of Congress.  

One scandal I thought would stick was Benghazi. The evasive runaround, the administration’s laughable talking points, and the complicit media silence kept people uninformed. The scandal didn’t stick, but it does stink. The spin and media puppet show shielded Obama and leading up to the 2012 Presidential Election, the Obama administration received extremely little scrutiny for the Benghazi incident and how it was mishandled back in D.C.

Remember the stimulus debacle? We’re talking about massive spending of taxpayer money on green energy scams; I mean “investments.” Jobs were promised and immediate economic growth was predicted and yet, one after the other, these companies failed miserably.

Solar Trust for America, declared bankruptcy after receiving $2.1 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy.  First Solar blew through $1.46 billion, Solyndra wasted $535 million, Fisker Automotive received $529 million, Evergreen Solar spent $527 million, and the list goes on.

Now, we see the current, growing AP scandal involving information leaks as well as the DOJ seizing records of several Fox News employees while they targeted reporter James Rosen.

It’s also been confirmed the IRS has targeted the Tea Party, Christians, and many conservative groups including Republican business executives that simply donated to the Romney campaign.

Naturally, no one in the Obama administration knows anything.

To end with a ‘you just can’t make this stuff up’ storyline twist, the crony slated to take over Obamacare for the IRS, Lois Lerner, will apparently take the 5th in the ongoing investigation of IRS corruption.

I also faintly recall ongoing investigations regarding voter fraud in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Geez, I hope the media or Obama justice Department find some answers they’re not seeking.

It’s all “ongoing.” Most of us are not holding our breath.

“What Difference At This Point Does It Make?”

Hillary Clinton on the Hill What Difference At This Point Does It Make?

These chilling words were spoken by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while testifying in front of a Congressional Committee, seeking answers on the Benghazi terrorist attacks and murders of four American citizens.  Unfortunately, this vile woman has aspirations of running for President of the United States in 2016; and to some Americans, the prospect looks good.

This seems to be the tag line adopted by the Liberal Communists in our government. For instance, while Bill Clinton was having his fling in the oval office with Monica Lewinsky, America was told just about the same thing. We were told that whatever Bill did in private did not affect his performance as President.

Now please allow me to list some other examples of different things that have fallen off of the wire. First, the Fast and Furious scandal, of which we hardly hear a peep about any more. Second, the Solyndra scandal, where millions of American taxpayer dollars were dumped into Obama’s green energy fantasy and ended up in the hands of Democrat donors (not even a peep anymore.) Third, the two million dollar BP oil extortion fund that was designed by the Obama regime (nope, nothing to see here.) Fourth, the Obama stimulus package that was supposed to create shovel-ready jobs (in Obama’s own words while snickering, “I guess they weren’t so shovel ready”. ) Fifth, but not not last I’m sure, Obamacare with it’s many lies, fees, and other outrageous costs. Of course, according to Nancy Pelosi, the bill had to be passed in order to see what was in it.

My point here is this: because of this regime adopting this stance and the mainstream media becoming their propaganda arm (led by the chief propaganda minister, Jay Carney), America is dying a slow death at their hands. When guns, Freedom, and Liberty are gone, never to return, then all we as Americans will have left to say is: “What Difference At This Point WILL It Make?” As always fellow Patriots, stay safe and be aware of your surroundings.

Five Most Wanted Economic Villains

Obama Geithner Credit Downgrade Deal SC Five Most Wanted Economic Villains

Everyone knows that the American financial system has been through a rough few years. Record public deficits, high unemployment, stagnant economic growth, yada, yada, yada. No surprise there. Americans can’t decide exactly who is to blame: Republicans or Democrats? Let’s just split the difference; we’ve decided and have a Republican House and Democratic Senate and Presidency. Maybe when government is closely divided, they’ll end up doing less damage that way. Or maybe not. It seems like the closely divided Congress has done little to ease our economic woes. Both parties bear some of the blame. Who, though, are the individuals who bear the most guilt for what has transpired? Who are the five most wanted economic villains in the modern day USA?

The fifth most guilty individual is Nancy Pelosi, the former majority leader of the House and current minority leader. Why Ms. Pelosi? After all, Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein stated that the House presided over by Pelosi was “on a path to become one of the most productive since the Great Society.” Isn’t that a good thing? Halt. The word “productive” when applied to the free enterprise system and about everything else besides government equals a good thing. When the word is applied to government, it is often a bad thing. The Great Society, as you know, was a massive increase in the size of the federal government. Nancy Pelosi’s “productivity” threatens to have much of the same result: expansion, expansion, expansion. She helped expand the federal government by passing a massive and ineffective stimulus bill, boosted the minimum wage (I thought we wanted less unemployment), and passed Obamacare, an unpopular program that threatens to wreak financial havoc on an already-troubled country. Such are some of Pelosi’s worst deeds.

Hate to hit on a guy who’s out of office, but he deserves it. Mr. Timothy Geithner stood behind some of the worst shenanigans in modern American economic history. Geithner was both head of the New York Federal Reserve and then the Secretary of the Treasury during Obama’s first term. In both positions, he strongly advocated for more financial assistance for big banks, from the budget in the form of TARP and the Federal Reserve in the form of cheap loans. These are probably his worst acts. Other than that, he failed to arrest the economic decline of the country during his time as Treasury Secretary.

Paul Krugman comes next. Mr. Krugman is a Nobel Laureate, professor, and New York Times columnist. His personal motto seems to be “never enough government.” No matter how many billions of dollars in stimulus Barack Obama and the Congress applied to the economy, it was never enough for Dr. Krugman. Whatever happens, he is sure to reply that the problem is insufficient government. No matter that the consensus seems to have emerged around free market, neoclassical economics instead of Dr. Krugman’s Keynesianism. Despite the unrivaled success of the free market, expect him to continue espousing his noxious form of economic interventionism to his death bed.

Now for the man you knew would have to be on the list. President Barack Obama shares the same liberal philosophy as Dr. Krugman, professions of being a moderate aside. He promised hope and has only brought disillusionment to a generation in desperate need of hope. Exploding food stamp use, massive government spending, and even an increased racial divide in terms of wealth have occurred under Obama . According to a recent article in the New York Times, Blacks and Hispanics have suffered far more than whites during his Presidency in economic terms. Of course, there is also Obamacare, which threatens to complete the morphing of the U.S. from one of the best places for medical care on the planet to a laughingstock in the international community.

At the top of the list of economic bunglers comes Ben Bernanke. Dr. Bernanke has failed to fix the economy despite the unprecedented amounts of money he has poured into the economy through his various QE programs. For those of you behind on the lingo, QE programs essentially increase the money supply by using the various tools of the Federal Reserve to do so. If QE 1, QE 2, QE3, and QE4 have failed to work, don’t hold your breath expecting it to work in the future. The unemployment rate is still bad despite Bernanke’s QEs and Obama’s stimulus plans. Economic growth is anemic. One bright spot has been the bubble Bernanke has helped create in the US stock market. But this bubble will come to an end; and when it does, it won’t be pretty.

Thankfully, Americans aren’t stupid like the central planners like to think, and they will wake up at some point to the fruitless attempts Bernanke, Obama, and company have made to stimulate the economy. The only question is: will they do it soon enough, or will America have to reach a place so ugly that we won’t recognize the America of our youth? Let us hope and pray that someone out there will have the gumption to take on the economic failures of the establishment before it is too late.

 

F. Peter Brown is Editor at the Sound Money Institute and Associate Editor at the Western Center for Journalism. He tweets  @FPBLibertarian.

 

The Left Continues To Push For Government Childcare

Nancy Pelosi SC The left continues to push for government childcare

Leaving aside the glaring problem of fiscal sustainability, the prospect of government-run childcare should send shivers down the spine of any traditional parent.

Admittedly, this is not a new idea on the left. To be sure, virtually the entire progressive platform in modern America consists of rehashed policies embraced by ideological forebears.

When describing the leftist pipe dream in a recent appearance in Ohio, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained her view that childcare should fall squarely under the control of the federal government.

Among the radical left, there is virtually no aspect of human life that does not warrant government intervention. When Washington gets involved, as we have witnessed countless times before, circumstances deteriorate rapidly.

Alas, providing solutions is not the intended result of increased government intrusion. Instead, such action is viewed as yet another opportunity to encourage dependence and compliance.

It is painfully evident throughout America’s corrupt public school system that government-controlled education results in students without a firm grasp of basic skills and with a mind full of leftist propaganda.

Following the Communist playbook, Pelosi simply disregards facts and explains why children should be turned over to government surrogates at the earliest age possible.

Praising Barack Obama’s budgetary inclusion of “preschool for all,” Pelosi said he “comes close” to the overarching federal childcare system she envisions.

Going back five decades, she portrayed conservatives and Richard Nixon as villains in the utopian quest to provide everything to everyone.

After a bill proposing government childcare landed on Nixon’s desk, Pelosi said “the conservative movement … came in and said that would undermine families or something,” which led to a presidential veto.

Calling the initiative “long overdue,” she supports yet another unfunded liability because “we have a situation of children learning, parents earning.”

With 90 million Americans currently unemployed and a woefully under-educated generation of students, Pelosi’s talking points are particularly unconvincing.

Nevertheless, she is sure to get plenty of support among her fellow big government lefties who view any and all wasteful government spending as sacred. Indeed, Pelosi falsely identified Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ObamaCare as “pillar[s] of economic stability,” arguing that childcare should be added to the list.

One could critique the federal government ad infinitum, though certain issues are far more egregious than other. Among the most reprehensible policies in recent years are the irresponsible mismanagement of revenue and shameful indoctrination of our youth through government-run schools.

Pelosi and her cohorts on the fringe left want to double down on both of those tactics by conditioning the populace to think of childcare as yet another entitlement.

The heartbreaking tragedy of it all is that our Constitution promises only three rights – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The left has to constantly trash and attack these beautiful ideas, though, to build up the false impression the government exists to babysit and spoon-feed its citizenry.
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Does Obama Really Care?

Obama Presidential Seal Podium Speech SC 780x1024 Does Obama Really Care?

Following an expose by Fox News, President Obama is going to write a $20,000 check to the U.S. Treasury this year, according to his press secretary, in a sign of solidarity with federal workers who face furloughs due to the sequester. However, he will keep going on family vacations, including his annual trip to Hawaii that costs taxpayers approximately $4 million per trip (according to estimates by the Hawaiian Reporter.) And that is supposing that Michelle goes to the same place this time. For the last several vacations, they have gone to separate locations, costing taxpayers double or triple what it should cost for one.

There is so much going on in Washington that it is really getting disturbing. The “Sequester” amounts to a 2% cut in the INCREASE in SPENDING, not the actual spending; and yet Obama is cutting the heart out of the public’s access to the White House or the ability to control illegal border crossings or reducing drug smuggling operations. For some reason, our president is forcing the average person to fear that the government is going to take something away from them. The latest is Medicare and cancer patients. All of the cuts are designed to inflict as much pain as possible on the average American; that is the only way Obama feels that he can get his way. He reminds me of a 6-year old who wants a certain toy and drives his parents crazy so they will give in and get him the toy.

Do you think he really feels your pain, or is he a very shrewd politician given his background in Chicago’s South Side?

President Obama has said on many occasions: “I am not a dictator; I am president.” What he really means is that he wants to be a dictator president. He is using everything at his disposal to inflict as much pain as possible to make the American people demand that Congress give him what he wants. When Congress resists his intimidating or tricky posturing and Harry Reid’s shenanigans, he uses his executive power to circumvent what Congress has put in place. For the life of me, I don’t know why Congress is letting him get away with slapping them in the face. They are becoming irrelevant. Congress could stop him, but they choose not to. Instead of thinking about what’s best for the country, they concentrate on what’s best for them and their continued stay in Washington. If we had term limits on Senators especially, it would do a lot to make them more compliant with their constituents and not their careers.

Since his drum-beating and scare tactics relating to the sequester is falling short, he is now traveling around the country as Campaigner in Chief, raising money and positioning his supporters to help make sure the Democrats take back the House in 2014. That way, he can push his programs through, just like he did with Obamacare. I think we all know what a disaster Obamacare is turning out to be. If he has his way, America will follow Europe into oblivion so that he and his supporters can install a Socialist system.

Remember when Nancy Pelosi said “you have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it”. Well, I think we know what is in it; and it is not good for anyone except Obama’s elite Liberal supporters who favor socialized medicine for you, but not for them. Under their system, the average American will have to buy health insurance from exchanges they control at an inflated cost; and  you will have no choice but to purchase or pay a hefty fine.

President Obama wants his legacy to be that he brought about a fundamental change in America. He wants to be able to say that in 8 years, he was able to undo more than 300 years of tradition and render the Constitution irrelevant in the world theater. If he can neutralize the First and Second Amendments, he will have succeeded in fundamentally changing the American system of government to closely resemble the European model.

That is what he wants. But I think he will get a fundamental change in the Senate in 2014. Harry Reid will retire under a cloud of suspicion about his activities in Nevada. The remainder of President Obama’s second term will be spent defending his stances on issues with a steady erosion of his influence around the world.

The next president will have his work cut out for him. He will have to undo most of the regulatory morass Obama leaves him so he can get the country back to work. Once America becomes energy independent, it will regain its rightful place as the strong influence for good in the world.

Obama: Pelosi Will Regain Speakership

Nancy Pelosi SC Obama: Pelosi Will Regain Speakership

President Barack Obama attended two fundraisers on Wednesday on San Francisco’s “Billionaires’ Row” and said it would be a “whole lot easier” to govern if House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became House Speaker after 2014.

Obama even said he expected Pelosi “is going to be once again the Speaker of the House.”

The President attended fundraisers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) at the homes of Tom Steyer, who is pushing Obama to more aggressively back “climate change” bills, and Ann and Gordon Getty.

Democrats need to win 17 seats to take back the House in 2014, and Obama is prioritizing that goal, since the Republican-controlled House remains his primary legislative obstacle. While Democrats accomplished little while they held control of the House and a Senate supermajority from 2009-2010, the President may pursue a more aggressive legislative agenda with control of both houses now that he does not have to face his own reelection in 2016.

“My intention here is to try to get as much done with the Republican Party over the next two years as I can, because we can’t have perpetual campaigns,” Obama said, according toThe Hill. “But I would be dishonest if I didn’t say that it would be a whole lot easier to govern if I had Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.”

Read more at Breitbart. By Tony Lee.

As North Korea Crisis Deepens, Obama Raises Campaign Cash

Barack Obama Change sign SC As North Korea Crisis Deepens, Obama Raises Campaign Cash

(CNSNews.com) – As North Korea announced it has approved a nuclear strike on the United States, President Barack Obama was back on the campaign trail, raising money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in San Francisco, California.

The first two DCCC fundraising events for the 2014 election cycle had Obama appearing with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.).

According to the official White House schedule, Obama delivered remarks at a private residence in San Francisco at 9:15 p.m. ET, followed by a second event at 10:55 p.m.

The first event was a cocktail reception hosted by Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and environmentalist. According to the Associated Press, about 100 donors paid a minimum of $5,000 to attend.

The guest list was smaller for a dinner later Tuesday at the home of billionaires Ann and Gordon Getty, but the price was higher — $32,400, the maximum individuals may give to a national party committee each year.

Read More at CNS News . By Elizabeth Harrington.

Photo Credit: Dustin C. Oliver Creative Commons

Myths And Realities Of Obamacare

Barack Obama 6 SC Myths And Realities Of Obamacare

Three years ago on March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act (Obamacare) was signed into law. With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28, 2012 that the individual mandate is constitutional under Congress’ power to tax and the November 6 election results, the law is in effect. It is noteworthy that 52 percent of Americans would still like to see the law repealed and replaced. There is no question that affordable, accessible, quality care is the key goal for everyone.

Eleven days before the bill was passed, then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made her famous statement “We have to pass this bill so we can find out what’s in it.” The American people are now finding out what is in it. Between now and 2014, many Americans and employers are going to be shocked by what this law means for their future health care. The question is: what can be done to reduce the impact of Obamacare between now and January 2017? I decided that it would be useful to present the myths and realities of the law in a format that all Americans could understand.

MYTHS AND REALITIES

Universal Coverage
Myth 1: Obamacare will achieve universal coverage.

Reality: According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), there will still be 30 million uninsured in 2016. This is even after adding 12 million people to the Medicaid program and 18 million who will receive subsidies from the federal government.

Read More pacificresearch.org . By Sally Pipes.

Obamacare: Hatched By Mostly ‘Tea Party Activists’

Tea Party SZ Obamacare: Hatched by mostly ‘Tea Party Activists’

Once again, the Tea Party has become the favorite “whipping boy” of the left — this time with the ridiculously laughable and delusional assertion by Douglas Zeigler in the Roofers and Waterproofers Local 81 newsletter from Oakland, California, that Obamacare was “hatched in congress by mostly ‘Tea Party activists’ along with their insurance company lobbyists.”

Just when you thought you’d heard it all. Blame it on us!

In Mr. Zeigler’s alternate reality, Obamacare is somehow the fault of the Tea Party.

Zeigler does acknowledge that the Affordable Health Care Act is anything but “affordable,” lamenting rising health insurance costs to the detriment of those it was supposed to help.

One wonders, though, where this man and others who think like him have been for the last 3-4 years? Living under a rock completely unexposed to the Obamacare banter?

I find that hard to believe. Even “low information voters” understand that the Pelosi-Reid-Obama troika was 100% responsible for Obamacare.

On March 9, 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the Affordable Care Act:

“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.”

That infamous quote along with all the political jockying in 2010 went viral. Mr. Zeigler must have had his head in the sand during Obama’s first two years in office not to notice.

He might find it enlightening to know that 219 Democrats voted “Yes” for Obamacare whereas ZERO Republicans (null, zip, nada, zilch) voted “Yes.” Ouch!

In fact, all Republicans—including the handful who, at that time, associated with the Tea Party movement—voted AGAINST Obamacare along with 34 Democrats.

It strains credulity to believe anyone could be that oblivious but then again — in man-on-the-street interviews, people actually thought that Sarah Palin was Obama’s running mate.

No, I don’t imagine he was unexposed or even ignorant of the process. It’s more likely that he was just another “useful idiot” blindly trusting his union leaders, dutifully attending rallies and town halls with his union’s imprimatur and fully equipped with pre-made, pro-Obamacare signs supplied by his union.

He was probably misled into believing that his people would be taken care of if there were any messy glitches with Obamacare.

Remember all of the waivers granted to big unions and companies that supported Obama?

Now that “working families” and the middle class are feeling the pinch, they have to blame someone and they cannot point fingers at the very man they re-elected. That might suggest that they were, um, wrong.

So, they might as well do what they always do when backed into a political corner and change the narrative. This time, in addition to casting tea partiers as racist, sexist, homophobic, radicals, they have planted the seed that we are “birthers”—having given
“birth” to Obamacare.

But here’s the truth:  The Tea Party movement was a direct, grassroots response to the mammoth, out-of-control spending of the Obama Administration and the 111th Democrat –controlled congress in the months after they first took power. The Tea Party coalesced around Obamacare in the summer and fall of 2009 trying to prevent it, read it, defeat it, and expose it.

It was the passage of Obamacare on March 21, 2010 (much to the chagrin of over 60% of the country that opposed it) that ushered in a wave during the 2010 mid-term elections of the first “official” Tea Party candidates. No one—not even Democrats and their cronies in the press—denies that this was a clear referendum on Obamacare by Democrat and Republican voters who had it with government spending and overreach.

Tea Party activists who got elected couldn’t have hatched Obamacare prior to the 2010 mid-term elections, because they weren’t in office at that time.

The handful of Republicans in the 111th Congress who sympathized with the neophyte movement could not have hatched Obamacare because the entire concept of it—the expense, the regulations, the taxes and the government overreach—go against everything any tea partier ever stood for.

And, even if it were a Tea Party “baby”, conservatives didn’t have any voice in Nancy Pelosi’s Congress.

In any case, Pelosi and Obama have consistently and proudly touted Obamacare as his singular achievement in the first term. There is nothing in the record to suggest we owned this one. Quite the contrary.

As further evidence that Tea Party activists did not hatch Obamacare, Mr. Zeigler might take note that the 2010 and 2012 Republican Congresses have actually voted to repeal ObamaCare 33 times—yes, 33 times!

So, they had to pass the bill in order to kill the bill? That makes sense.

So, Mr. Zeigler and members of the Roofers and Waterproofers Local 81, you have been either been duped or have allowed yourselves to be used.

Your union and Democrat leaders did not enact Obamacare because it is what’s best for youand your family. They did it because it was what’s best for them. They did it for your vote.

For unsuspecting union activists like Mr. Zeigler, Pelosi was correct: you had to pass the bill, to see what’s in it.

Tea Partiers were reviled for being outraged at rallies and town halls because they were paying attention. It seems Mr. Zeigler is outraged because he wasn’t paying attention.

Photo Credit: Sally Zelikovsky addresses Bay Area patriots in San Francisco.

 

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Don’t Know What Chained CPI Is?

Dollar Bills SC Don’t know what Chained CPI is?

If you’re not sure what “chained CPI” is, you’re not alone. That’s a feature, not a bug. In fact, its wonky and innocuous-sounding name might just be the reason chained CPI could be included if some sort of grand bargain to reduce the deficit ever materializes.

A quick explainer: Right now, Social Security and other benefits are adjusted annually in order to keep pace with inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index). Switching to chained CPI would mean using a different (probably more accurate) formula, which assumes lower cost of living increases. The obvious result of switching would be that the government would have to pay out less in benefits.

The reason this idea is so appealing to green eyeshade numbers-crunchers and political strategists, alike, is simple: Most people don’t like to have their benefits cut, but since so few Americans understand what “chained CPI” is, it’s more politically feasible than other options.

Democrats who might take heat for raising the retirement age, would probably elicit a collective yawn from their constituents if they voted to change how government calculates inflation.

As TPM’s Brien Beutler reported, Nancy Pelosi has even voiced support. “No, I don’t,” consider it a benefit cut, she said. “I consider it a strengthening of Social Security.” And the Wall Street Journal has also noted that, “President Barack Obama has expressed interest in the chained-CPI idea in the past.”

Read More at dailycaller.com . Matt K. Lewis.