Debt ceilings & runaway spending

 

Betsy McCaughey often updates her readers on healthcare matters.  Yesterday, at Townhall, she analyzed the consequences of Congress members who want to keep raising the debt ceiling.  Her premise:

"If America wants to spend like Europe, it must tax like Europe -- and that means large payroll and value-added taxes on the middle class," says [Manhattan Institute economist Brian] Riedl.

Ms. McCaughey concludes:

Over the last 25 years, Congress has hammered out eight laws to control spending. All eight were tied to debt ceiling hikes.

At stake in this current debt ceiling struggle is preserving what sets the United States apart from Europe.

In the United States, working people get to keep most of what they earn and decide how to spend it.

Don't let the Washington pols treat your paycheck as if it belongs to them.

The full column is here.  This might be one issue that might get better results in any upcoming vote --  with a call to your House representative; click here. 

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Cigarette Nazi's at it AGAIN!

The nanny-state nitwits have convinced the Goose-Stepping Secretary of Health & Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to force cigarette companies into printing color photos of tobacco related diseases and corpses of lung cancer victims on cigarette packs....

From Legacy for Health --

Legacy applauds HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the

leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its bold new effort announced today to dramatically reduce the number of American lives lost annually to tobacco-related disease. Still the number one preventable cause of death, tobacco continues to claim more than 400,000 lives each year in the United States.

Today’s announcement included a proposed rule, Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and Advertisements, requiring more prominent warnings to better communicate the deadly effects of tobacco. As Secretary Sebelius shared with us today, anyone who picks up a pack of cigarettes will soon clearly understand the risk that comes with smoking. Placing prominent color photos and warning statements will hopefully help young smokers make more informed decisions about lighting up, and give current smokers a renewed commitment to quit their addiction for good.

The proposed graphic warnings would significantly cover the front of cigarette packs, replacing the current warnings on the narrow side of cigarette packs, and would be required as part of the new proposed rule. The proposed warnings include images of tobacco-related cancers and even the corpse of an individual who has passed away from lung cancer. More....

So you hate smoking and don't care that the governement Brown Shirts are stepping on someone's rights?  That's great fast-food Sparky -- because besides other things, the HHS Hamburgler's are already attacking  Happy Meals, salt intake, banning of trans fats, drinking of Coke/Pepsi, etc...

I wonder if this means they will put a picture of Nancy Pelosi's face on the door of all plastic surgeon offices?