On Chuck Hagel, New taxes on Everyone and Obamacare

President Obama is nominating former senator Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense. Hagel is a man who has said the Iraq war is a war for oil and gone against other senators such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry who said it was not and supported the war before they were against it. In a blog by journalist Bill Kristol he says : “What’s more, isn’t Hagel’s statement a direct attack on the motives and honesty of those senators who supported the war—including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry? Indeed, what does it say about Chuck Hagel, who voted to authorize the war in October 2002? He knew it was a war for oil, didn’t say so at the time, but voted for it anyway? And then, a few years later, at the height of the fighting by American soldiers in Iraq, he proclaims with false braggadocio the alleged truth that it’s all just a war for oil?

Is President Obama really going to nominate this man as secretary of defense? “

Hagel also was against gay marriage, but flipped on it and supported it when it became politically expedient just like Obama did. Hagel also refuses to classify Hamas,Hezbollah and the Iraq Republican Guard as terrorist groups, he voted against sanctions on Iran and the Washington Post has said that his views have always been on the fringe side of the senate.

Talk show host Michael Savage came up with an interesting and very plausible theory saying that Obama, intentionally nominated Hagel knowing the republicans would object to them so he can point the finger at them and label them obstructionists thus continuing with his warfare of division.

On April 11th,2012 Obama said if you make less than $250,00 your taxes shouldn’t go up.” Once Again proving that what he says and what he does are two different things. He now has raised taxes on77% of the people after saying only the top1% would have them raised. He ended the Bush tax cuts for the middle class and increased social security taxes so you will see your paychecks get smaller as your social security taxes go up in it.

The tax hikes, scheduled to take effect on January 1, will take their toll on families at all economic levels, at an average of $3,500 per household, according to the Tax Policy Center (TPC), a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. The after-tax purchasing power of low- and middle-income Americans will be diminished, along with the capital available for investment from high-end earners. Some economists are warning that the combination of tax increases and spending cuts required by the sequestration provision of the Budget Control Act of 2011 could knock an already weak economy into another recession, adding to the ranks of the 12 million Americans officially counted as unemployed and the millions more who can find only part-time work, or have given up looking altogether.

The tax hikes, affecting some seven out of eight households, went into effect on January 1. Household incomes of between $108,226 to $143,000 will be taxed an additional $6,359, according to the Tax Policy Center. At the lower end of the scale, those with incomes of less than $20,113 a year will endure a tax hike of $412. The “marriage penalty,” resulting from narrower tax brackets for married couples, will return on January 1, while the child tax credit will be cut in half, from $1,000 to $500 per child. The two-percent payroll tax cuts, the earned income tax credit, and the childcare tax credit are among the tax breaks scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Education tax credits, a number of business deductions and credits, and deductions for state and local sales taxes are all scheduled to fall by the wayside.

And still people like Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean say this isn’t enough. Even with the tax rate of 39% on the high end of the scale isn’t enough according to Pelosi and Howard Dean said taxing the rich won’t be enough. Lower dividend yields and higher taxes on dividends would also hurt economic security for taxpayers at every income level — particularly seniors, who rely heavily on investment income to make ends meet.

The Obamcare tax increases will hurt people the most. According to the Tax Policy Center there will be the tax increases that will be mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obama­Care). While the 3.9-percent surtax will apply only to incomes above the $200,000/$250,000 threshold, other new taxes will be imposed regardless of income level. They include:
• Flexible Spending Accounts Cap — Currently there is no limit on how much you may deduct from your taxable income for money set aside for medical expenses. Next year the cap will be $2,500.

• Deductions for Medical Expenses — Under existing law, taxpayers may deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income. On January 1, the deduction will only apply to expenses exceeding 10 percent of AGI.

• The Tax Penalty for Non-medical Withdrawals from Healthcare Savings Accounts — This will double, from 10 to 20 percent.

• A Tax on Medical Devices — Starting in 2013, manufacturers of medical equipment will pay a 2.3-percent excise tax on the sale of medical devices costing more than $100. That will likely raise the costs of medical procedures.

Those are in addition to “ObamaCare” taxes already in effect. The “tanning tax” — a 10-percent levy on indoor tanning services — has been in place since 2010. The “Medicine Cabinet Tax,” eliminating the ability to buy over-the-counter medicines from a pre-tax Flexible Savings Account, took effect last year. Still ahead is the penalty (ruled a tax by the Supreme Court) for not buying health insurance. That starts in 2014. And there will be a new tax on “Cadillac” healthcare plans, where employees will be required to pay a 40-percent tax on what their employer pays for healthcare plans that cost over $10,200 a year for individuals and $27,500 for families. That won’t take effect until 2018, perhaps as a concession to unions that have the “Cadillac” plans as part of their collective bargaining agreements.
The big lie is that the Democrats want to protect the middle class taxpayers. Fact is, ALL TAXES ARE INCREASED even the middle class due to the socialist health care. Raising other taxes on companies and the so called rich harm the middle class as well with LESS JOBS, HIGHER PRICES, etc etc.

Democrats are bubbling over with ideas for raking in additional federal revenue even as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Sunday that “the tax issue is behind us.”

But clearly it’s not over for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, who on Sunday described the revenue increase negotiated in last week’s deal on the “fiscal cliff” as “significant” but “not enough.”

People mocked Sarah Palin when she talked about death panels in the Obamcare health care plan, but they are in there. A 15 person panel will be instituted that describes who gets what care and who doesn’t.

A section of Obamacare makes clear the secretary of health and human services may not use research data from the new institute in a manner that treats the life of an elderly, disabled or terminally ill individual as lower in value than that of an individual who is younger, non-disabled or not terminally ill.

However, the dictate comes with a qualifier some many find concerning.

Obamacare contains largely unreported text that allows the health secretary to limit any “alternative treatments” of the elderly, disabled or terminally ill if such treatments are not recommended by the new research institute.

Reads that qualifier:

Paragraph (1) shall not be construed as preventing the Secretary from using evidence or findings from such comparative clinical effectiveness research in determining coverage, reimbursement, or incentive programs under title XVIII based upon a comparison of the difference in the effectiveness of alternative treatments in extending an individual’s life due to the individual’s age, disability, or terminal illness.

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Jim Clayton

I am a retired former newspaper reporter and retail sales person. I'm a politically conservative easy going person from New Jersey. I am married to a wonderful wife and like talking and writing about movies,, concerts I attend and current events all which I write about here. I would enjoy hearing from anyone on my articles and they can write to me here.

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