Obama Administration Proposed Sequester Cuts Do Not Include GAO's Duplicative and Wateful Programs

The New York Times list of "damaging cuts" to federal programs seems not to include any of the GAO's proposals for cutting wasteful and duplicative programs. It seems they could only find cuts of programs that people would like to preserve. Strange.

Here is the GAO's summary table from its March 2011 report on waste and publication in government:

Sorry New York Times, Tax Flight of the Rich Is Not a Myth

James B. Stewart writes “Common Sense” for the Business Day section of The New York Times. A Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and a professor of journalism at Columbia, Stewart’s The Myth of the Rich Who Flee From Taxes is either amateurish economics or deliberate distortion to pursue a political agenda.

Stewart writes to dispel, as a myth not worth thinking about, the notion that high marginal tax rates in one municipality, state, or a country push the wealthy to move to lower-tax locations. He assures his readers that although the notion “on its face seems to make sense…it is not the case. It turns out that a large majority of people move for far more compelling reasons, like jobs, the cost of housing, family ties or a warmer climate.”  (Stewart: Stop the “Strawmanism.” No one claims tax rates are the primary determinant of where we live).


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Obama Care's Assault on Dr. Carson's Health Savings Accounts (and My Tax Bill)

President Obama tried to hide his irritation when Dr. Benjamin Carson touted private savings accounts for health care spending at the recent national prayer breakfast. Such private  accounts for medical expenses are anathema to Obama insofar as they go against the grain of state-controlled health care. In a world of medicine dominated by Big Government and Big Insurance, health-care  savings accounts represent of small  ray of sunshine of personal freedom and choice.

Currently eleven million families are covered by health-care  savings accounts, whereby pre-tax dollars are accumulated in accounts to pay for medical expenditures.

Health-care savings programs  exist in two forms: The Health Saving Account (HSA) and the Flexible Saving Account (FSA). The HSA is limited to employees with high deductible coverage. It is owned by you regardless of where you work, and it need not be expended by the end of the year. The FSA is owned by your employer. If unexpended at the end of the year, you must forfeit your funds.  The FSA participant is issued a flex credit card to be used at doctor’s offices, pharmacies, etc.

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If Republicans Bend on the Sequester, They Don't Deserve Our Support

I was frustrated by William Kristol’s Don’t Be Seduced by the Sequester. Kristol argues Republicans must be the grown-up party. The sequester cuts will delay the deployment of two battle ships at a crucial time. Per Kristol: Republicans should negotiate a more measured (and smaller) reduction with the President even if means delays in spending cuts. Bad advice! Believe me: The sequestered funds will be the only cuts in discretionary spending we will get over the next four years. Any Republican who walks away from the sequester for a future “compromise” with Obama does not deserve our votes, contributions, or volunteer efforts.

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