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The American Medical Association leadership is spineless when it comes to the health reforms now before Congress. The organization has focused almost entirely on a single issue -- the repeal of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which penalizes doctors a percentage every year if the total amount we're reimbursed exceeds government projections. The formula calls for a 21 percent across-the-board cut in our Medicare payments this year. The formula is absurd -- if it ever went into effect, doctors would flee Medicare, patients would revolt and Congress would have to reverse itself. All it does is force the AMA...

Everyone knows that if you don't pay to maintain and repair your car, you limit its life. The same is true as human beings age. We need medical care to avoid becoming clunkers -- disabled, worn out, parked in wheelchairs or nursing homes. For nearly a half century, Medicare has enabled seniors to get that care. But ObamaCare is about to change that, by limiting what doctors can provide their aging patients. The Senate Finance Committee health bill released last week controls doctors by cutting their pay if they give older patients more care than the government deems appropriate. Section...

Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in the government’s financial rescue, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives, an official involved in the decision said on Wednesday.

President Bush has signed into law three tax bills in the past three years; these tax cuts amounted to $1.3 trillion in 2001, $96 billion in 2002, and $330 billion in 2003. Democratic opponents criticized the tax cuts (particularly the first one in 2001) as fiscally irresponsible and weighted primarily toward the wealthy, while Republican supporters claimed that the tax cuts would stimulate economic growth and return money to taxpayers across the board. Major Provisions of the Tax Cuts The 2001 Economic Growth and Recovery Tax Act, by far the largest of the three tax cuts, was intended to provide...

SO the Congressional Budget Office has produced the product that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and President Obama needed: a contorted acknowledgement that -- if taxes are hiked, Medicaid expanded and Medicare reimbursements slashed permanently by 25 percent -- Baucus' $829 billion bill will insure 29 million more people and produce a slight surplus over 10 years. Keep the champagne on ice: The CBO's "preliminary analysis" is a work of fantasy. First off, CBO makes clear that it's not dealing with the actual bill (there isn't one) but a summary. And it assumes Congress will actually make Baucus' unlikely...

AS the health-reform bills move through Congress, the prognosis for Medicare pa tients gets worse and worse. The Senate Finance Committee bill (generally called the Baucus bill, after Chairman Max Baucus) robs the elderly to cover the uninsured -- like snatching purses from little old ladies. The House bills already cut future funding for Medicare by $500 billion over the next decade. The Baucus bill would slash a similar amount, just when 30 percent more people enter the program as baby boomers turn 65. The Baucus bill also puts new limits on what doctors can do for patients in Medicare:

TWO-thirds of doctors "oppose the proposed health-care plan," reports an Investors Busi ness Daily/TIPP poll. Almost half would "consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if "Congress passes its health-care plan." Many of my colleagues feel like we're already struggling -- nor are we prepared to take care of tens of millions more patients. An Association of American Medical Colleges survey predicts a doctor shortage of 150,000 (at current rates of population growth) by 2025 if universal health insurance is adopted. The doctors we do have would be overwhelmed with far more patients than we could realistically take...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday formally cut off $11 million in aid to Honduras in response to the June 28 military coup that ousted the elected president of the poor Central American nation. The decision was taken by the board of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which aids countries with a track record of sound governance and economic policy and is headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The State Department announced last week that it was terminating more than $30 million in non-humanitarian aid to Honduras, including the $11 million from the MCC, to pressure...

WASHINGTON is all atwit ter about "death panels": President Obama derides the idea that his health-care reform calls for them; the Senate is stripping "end of life" counseling language from its bill -- and last Friday the voice of the liberal establishment, The New York Times, ran a Page One story "rebutting" the rumor that ObamaCare would create such boards to decide when to pull the plug on elderly patients. But all those protests miss the fundamental truth of the "death panel" charge. Even without a federal board voting on whom to kill, ObamaCare will ration care extensively, leading to...

Urging members of his own party to be just as fiscally tough as the most conservative Republicans, Obama said the $700 billion economic bailout plan proposed by the Bush administration and congressional leaders is forcing a renewed look at federal spending. As president, Obama said he would create a White House team headed by a chief performance officer to monitor the efficiency of government spending. "I am not a Democrat who believes that we can or should defend every government program just because it's there," Obama said at a rally. "We will fire government managers who aren't getting results, we...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University announced 275 job cuts on Tuesday, the latest cost-cutting measure at the world's richest university after the financial crisis triggered big losses in its multibillion-dollar endowment. The Ivy League school took the action to meet budget constraints caused by an estimated 30 percent fall in its endowment for its 2009 fiscal year, ending June 30.

The Lower Mainland's health authorities will have to dig more than $4 million a year out of their already stretched budgets to pay B.C.'s carbon tax and offset their carbon footprints. Critics say the payments mean the government's strategy to fight climate change will further exacerbate a crisis in health funding. "You have public hospitals cutting services to pay a tax that goes to another 100 per cent government-owned agency," NDP health critic Adrian Dix said. "That just doesn't make sense." The Fraser Health Authority will pay $616,000 in carbon tax this year, rising to $821,000 next year, officials there...

.... Misty Navarro, Thomas’ mother, makes $18 an hour as an office supervisor in a pediatric clinic. In Healthy Families, her premium is $12 a month. Without the program, she could cover her kids through her employer but it would cost $300 a month. She doesn’t have the money. She will barely make the $750 a month rent for the Santa Paula town home the family is moving into thanks to a government housing program. Essentially, she’d be uninsured, scrambling to find ways to continue the treatment Thomas gets to control his weight and minimize his risk of diabetes. If...

House Republicans offer up a $23 billion list of spending cuts By: Andrew Taylor Associated Press Writer 06/04/09 8:14 PM EDT Responding to a challenge from President Barack Obama, House GOP leaders are offering up a roster of more than $23 billion in specific spending cuts over the next five years. The proposed cuts, which were to be sent to the White House on Thursday, bear little resemblance to the dramatic proposals Republicans unfurled when they took over Congress 14 years ago. Rather than proposing, for example, the elimination of the Education Department, as they have in the past, Republicans...

The battle is no longer just about using the funds to decrease the state’s debt but the debate now argues the balance of power.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The day of reckoning that California has been warned about for years has arrived. The longest recession in generations and the defeat this week of a package of budget-balancing ballot measures are expected to lead to state spending cuts so deep and so painful that they could rewrite the social contract between California and its citizens. They could also force a fundamental rethinking of the proper role of government in the Golden State. "The voters are getting what they asked for, but I'm not sure at the end of the day they're going to like what...

President Barack Obama recently released a list of 121 proposed program terminations and reductions, that he claims would save taxpayers $17 billion. Obama has described these program terminations as spending “cuts”. This is simply not true. Every dollar that Obama “cuts” he has immediately turned into new spending elsewhere in the budget. At least his request last month for a total of $100 million in cuts from this year’s budget were real spending cuts (all be it pitifully small ones). So this is what Obama’s fiscal responsibility record really looks like:

President Obama is distancing himself from the National Day of Prayer by nixing a formal early morning service and not attending a large Catholic prayer breakfast the following morning.

Obama’s Spending vs Obama’s Spending Cuts — in PicturesPosted April 20th, 2009 at 10.34am According to reports, President Barack Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, where he will order members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90 days. Just how laughable is Obama’s latest stunt to try to maintain his “fiscal responsibility” credentials? This graphic from Heritage’s John Fleming might help:

Obama's laughable press conference after his cabinet meeting yesterday featured Obama basically telling agency heads to look for loose change under the couch cushions and use it to cut the federal budget. It was so patently ridiculous that after calling for trillions in new spending Obama says he can save taxpayers a hundred million dollars by having the Department of Homeland Security buy office products in bulk. Costco was reported to be psyched at the news.

Did President Obama leave off a few zeroes when he ordered federal agencies to trim $100 million from their budgets? No, that's not a typo: Obama actually asked for spending "efficiencies" in department budgets totaling $100 million. That's "million" -- with an "m." No wonder there's a "confidence gap," as Obama himself put it yesterday, in terms of the public's view of his team's handling of budget issues. That kind of sum, after all, is less than a rounding error in most federal funding lines. Indeed, it amounts to 0.0027 percent of the $3.6 trillion budget. Make no mistake: Obama's...

President Barack Obama on Monday ordered his Cabinet to find ways to slice spending by $100 million, but acknowledged it's a "drop in the bucket" and said there's a "confidence gap" that he needs to overcome. Just back from a Latin America summit, Obama told the first formal Cabinet meeting of his administration that vast spending to combat the economic crisis was "the right thing to do." But he also said taxpayers still need to know that every dollar they give the government is being spent wisely. "We also have a deficit _ a confidence gap _ when it comes...

Obama announced the appointment of Jeffrey Zients, a founder and managing partner of the investment firm Portfolio Logic, as chief performance officer. Zients, who also will serve as deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget, will work to streamline processes and cut costs. "In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," he said. "In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same." Homeland...

Urging members of his own party to be just as fiscally tough as the most conservative Republicans, Obama said the $700 billion economic bailout plan proposed by the Bush administration and congressional leaders is forcing a renewed look at federal spending. `We are here because an ethic of irresponsibility has swept through our government, leaving politicians with the belief they can waste billions and billions of your money on no-bid contracts for friends and contributors, slip pork projects into bills during the dead of night and spend billions on corporate tax breaks we can't afford and old programs we don't...

Honda offering local workers incentives to quit Other cost-cutting measures planned; 13 days of production to be cut Tuesday, March 31, 2009 5:19 PM By Dan Gearino THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH For the first time, Honda is offering Ohio employees incentives to resign. The move, which continues the company's tradition of avoiding layoffs, is part of a wide-ranging set of cost-saving measures announced today. "Regardless of job title or level within our organization, each Honda associate will share the responsibility of doing what we must to remain competitive," said spokesman Ron Lietzke. Among the other moves: • Honda will cut 13...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate defense committee chairman says Pentagon budget will include large, painful cuts. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Tuesday that major program cuts will not be pushed off until the 2011 budget, but will be included when Defense Secretary Robert Gates sends his spending plan to the president later this month.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two of the most respected U.S. newspaper publishers, The Washington Post Co and The New York Times Co, are embarking on new cost cuts in the face of dramatic declines in advertising revenue. The Times said it laid off 100 workers and is cutting non-union salaries. It is also asking unionized employees to accept similar concessions to avoid layoffs in the newsroom. The Post is offering a new round of buyouts to newsroom, production and circulation employees, and said it could not rule out laying off staff. "This was a very difficult decision to make," said...

As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, felt compelled to warn his successor of a crisis closer to home.

WASHINGTON - As the Bush administration was drawing to a close, Robert M. Gates, whose two years as defense secretary had been devoted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, felt compelled to warn his successor of a crisis closer to home.

SACRAMENTO – Graciela Barrios, an undocumented immigrant, has long relied on her Sacramento County health clinic for the advice, medication and tests that keep her diabetes under control. But next month, Barrios and thousands like her will be on their own as communities cut nonemergency health services to illegal immigrants and more local governments are forced to make similar decisions. Nearby Contra Costa County will vote tomorrow on whether to cut services to the 5,000 illegal immigrants they serve each year. “The general situation there is being faced by nearly every health department across the country, and if not right...

California state government's full-time work force continues to grow despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to freeze hiring amid a historic budget shortfall. From June 2008 to February 2009, most state agencies either increased or kept the same number of full-time employees, according to a Bee analysis of personnel data. The state also failed to lay off as many part-time employees during the crisis as promised by the governor. While legislators and Schwarzenegger debated how to close a $40 billion budget deficit, 66 state agencies saw a net gain of full-time employees, 35 kept the same number of employees and 55...

Leftist Obama’s threat to military retirees, VA disabled, AND active duty. Got to pay for his welfare daddy programs somehow. Why not start by screwing with the military. After reading this, if you have any doubts go to the link Budget, Options, Volume 1: Health Care (http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=9925 Either search for TFL, “Tricare for Life” or go to page 175 and read the next 8 pages. Gotta find some way to provide free health care for all the “victims” of the great society of change. Ken Here is something that all veterans and active duty military should know about. Pass it...

The company is preparing a plan that would include thousands of firings. GM is trying to cut enough costs by a March 31 deadline. If they do not hit the government's benchmark, the company will loss the $13.4 billion in aid.

The Obama administration asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2010 by $55 billion, more than 10 percent of last year's $512 billion defense budget. The announcement came late Friday, following a meeting at the White House between President Obama and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. Jim Jones, chairman of the National Security Council, according to a Fox News report. The White House website

The Obama administration has asked the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon's budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent -- about $55 billion -- a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff Wednesday released his most detailed plan yet to tackle the state's staggering budget deficit, calling for deep cuts to state services, hefty tax increases and a large new round of borrowing to close a projected $41.6 billion shortfall through mid-2010. While little of the proposal was new, it included some striking elements, such as cutting billions of dollars from public school funding and slashing the deduction state taxpayers can claim for their dependents. The plan also arrived a day after the state controller warned tax refunds might have to be paid with IOUs in...

Legislative Republicans unveiled their budget plan Monday and crossed their fingers that majority Democrats wouldn't immediately toss the $22 billion proposal in the waste bin. Republicans proposed $15.6 billion in cuts (more than two-thirds of which target education) and $6 billion in revenues. Those revenues, however, are from pots of money approved by voters specifically for health care for children and the mentally ill. It included no new taxes. Taxes "will only cause (the state) more harm at the end of the day," declared Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines. "We would hope they wouldn't dismiss this proposal out of hand,"...

Gov. Sarah Palin, faced with shrinking state revenue because of oil prices, is proposing a small boost in spending on state agencies next year but less money for construction projects. Palin said her plan for the fiscal year that begins next July totals less state spending than in the current year, when a big surplus allowed lawmakers to spend freely while also putting money into savings.

As the Legislature’s lame-duck session sputters to a close this week without much action expected, California budget watchers remain in limbo, hoping federal assistance will help alleviate the state’s financial burden. The state is preparing a new round of mid-year budget cuts to close an $11 billion shortfall. But even as budget stakeholders play defense, some are quietly talking about new proposals that could re-channel pots of existing money into new programs, such as an expansion of health care coverage for uninsured children. Part of the lethargy of the lame-duck session, according to Capitol leadership sources, is the remaining uncertainty...

SUN readers will be saddled with crippling debt by Gordon Brown’s “borrowing bombshell”, George Osborne warned last night. The shadow chancellor forecast millions will be paying off the nation’s credit card for GENERATIONS to come. The Premier has vowed to borrow billions for tax cuts to kick-start the economy. But Mr Osborne said the plan was a “con” — and branded the PM “Mr Three Card Trick”. He calculated a £15billion giveaway would cost an extra 4p on income tax or £599-a-year on the average tax bill. It would mean £1.65 on a pint of beer or VAT at 20.5...

"In 52 Secs Why Barack Obama Cannot Win A General Election" Appeared on You Tube. How any American could want this man as CIC,is just inconceivable. " I am the only major candidate to oppose the war from the beginning,as President,I will end it! Second: I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending! I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems! I will not weaponize Space! I will slow our development of future combat systems! I will institute an independent Defense Priority Board,to ensure that the Quadrennial Defense Revue is not used to justify unnecessary spending!...

DALLAS (January 21, 2008) – As Congress debates whether to renew tax cuts enacted early in the George W. Bush presidency, as well as various economic stimulus plans, critics often label the measures as "tax cuts for the rich." Yet a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) says the Bush tax cuts made the tax code more progressive, no matter how progressivity is measured. In fact, the report concludes that every major tax change (Republican or Democrat) over the past two decades has increased the share of taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans. The top 1...

NEW YORK (AP) — The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., will reduce its newsroom staff by nearly half through voluntary buyouts as New Jersey's largest newspaper seeks to return to profitability. Jim Willse, the Star-Ledger's editor, said Friday that the newspaper accepted 151 buyout offers from its news staff, or about 45 percent of its 334 editorial employees. He said 17 buyout applications were rejected. Some staffers already have left, and others are leaving by year's end, many after the elections. "We've got from now to the end of the year to figure out what adjustments we have to make," Willse...

You know something is afoot whenever you hear any tax-and-spend liberal talking about tax cuts. While Obama has proposed a tax cut for 95% of Americans, the Republicans have not him at all for the obvious. It's an illusion. You cannot raise spending by $1 trillion over 4 years and not raise taxes. He's proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the 5% of Americans, but demagoguery seems to always go unanswered in politics. The other catch is that 40% of Americans do not pay taxes. That means they will be getting government handouts, which cannot be coined...

The Golden State, which recently scrambled to fill a $15 billion budget gap, still may not be able to meet its payroll without help. California is going to Washington, D.C., to ask for $7 billion to cover its budget shortfall. Otherwise it won't be able to pay for its teachers, cops, firemen, and other essential services. Unfortunately, California won't be alone. A number of other states are experiencing a huge dive in tax revenue and could be going cap in hand to Uncle Sam alarmingly soon. How bad could it get? The potential cost for all the 31 states facing...

WASHINGTON — The federal government may need hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue the financial services industry — but it shouldn't come from raising taxes, Rep. John M. McHugh said Saturday. Mr. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, said he is still firmly behind extending the Bush administration's tax cuts even as Washington faces a heavy price tag for the Wall Street bailout. Some congressional Democrats have seized on the bailout as one more reason to criticize the tax cuts and to call for ending some of them as the federal government looks for ways to pay for the bailout, which could...

The OPEC oil group has agreed to cut its real output by 520,000 barrels per day in the next 40 days, OPEC's President and Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said Wednesday. When asked about the size of a proposed cut to OPEC's current production, Khelil replied: "I think if you do your own calculations, it is a cut of 520,000 barrels per day."

    Please Join Us For Jim Gilmore's Working Families Tour III On August 20th and 21st, 2008   Day 1......August 20   City Location and Time Colonial Heights Meet & Greet - 9:30 am Swift Creek Mill Theatre / 17401 Jeff Davis Hwy Richmond Meet & Greet - 12:30 pm Rare Olde Times /10602 Patterson Ave Spotsylvania Meet & Greet - 5:30 pm Bailey’s Pub & Grille / 1861 Carl D. Silver Pkwy   Day 2......August 21   City Location and Time Tappahannock Meet & Greet - 12:00 pm Lowery’s / 528 Church Lane Gloucester Reception - 6:00...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - With California's cash dwindling and legislators still debating a new budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated 22,000 part-time and temporary state positions Thursday and ordered that 200,000 state workers receive the federal minimum wage. His signing of the executive order had been expected since last week but stood as a stark illustration of the cash problem facing the nation's most populous state. Schwarzenegger apologized to state workers but said he had no choice. "Today I am exercising my executive authority to avoid a full-blown crisis and keep our state moving forward," Schwarzenegger said. "This is not an action...

Charlotte bracing for Wachovia job cuts06:29 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 By MARK BOONE / WCNC E-mail Mark: MBoone@WCNC.com CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mecklenburg County’s second-largest employer said Tuesday it would cut nearly 11,000 jobs as Wachovia announced a second quarter loss of $8.9 billion. The bank employs more than 20,000 people, ranking just under Carolinas Healthcare System in number of workers, according to data from the Charlotte Chamber. Many of Wachovia’s positions are expected to be trimmed from the company’s Charlotte offices, said Dr. Tony Plath, an associate professor of finance at UNC-Charlotte. “Any way you look at...