Stealing From the Kids

     Karl Marx and the Obama campaign believe that personal economic benefit drives the politics of the huddled masses; the proletariat just need to be educated by the Party about how the State can eliminate their exploitation by the 1%. Let's consider how this "economic self interest" narrative applies to today's kids. (Anybody under 30 is a kid in my world.)

     1. Jobs. As bad as the headline 8.2% national unemployment rate is, for those age 20 to 24 the Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs the number at about 40%. For minorities it is approaching 50%. Advantage Romney.    

     2. Healthcare. Obamacare cuts both ways. For kids who haven't broken out of the nest, insurers must offer coverage under their parents policies up to age 26; on the other hand, the individual mandate is aimed at young workers who choose to prioritize other expenses. Politically a draw.  

     3. Housing. Inflation adjusted prices continue to fall from their 2006 peak and are now about where they were in 1990. The second component of affordability is well in hand, with 30 year mortgages under 4%. For those with a job these are the best of times. Advantage Obama.   

     4. Debt. There's the killer. A baby born today has $50,000 of direct federal debt. Unfunded federal liabilities - including Social Security and Medicare - exceed $60 trillion, $520,000 per household, and that doesn't include state and local government pensions. My head is spinning. Advantage Romney.

     More on the minds of kids is the increasing cost of college and student loans. Tuitions have gone up as a result of decreased government subsidies and lower returns on endowements (among other things) at a time where the lousy job market is keeping more students in school. Obama has seized the political high ground by advocating reduced interest rates while the Republicans have predictably demanded that spending be contained.  Advantage Obama.   

    And for you Baby Boomers who hope that you can run out the clock to a comfortable retirement before the check comes due, today's kids will have a choice about how to respond to this generational larceny:

       -  Door Number 1. Suck it up for grandma. Index Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and government worker pensions to inflation, and pay the interest on the debt. Its OK if there's nothing left for defense, education, or social services. We owe it to the Boomers to honor our obligations; after all, we'll be there some day.

       -  Door Number 2. Look to the future. Let inflation balance the books of the past by wiping out the value of bonds and pensions as Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt. Focus spending instead on education, research and development, and infrastructure. If we owe grandma a $50,000 pension, let's pay it in drachmas. 

   While Romney supporters would like to think that the jobs and national debt arguments would sway young voters, Obama maintains a 20% lead - down from the 30% margin he enjoyed over John McCain, but substantial never-the-less. Contrary to the common perception, the 18 to 29 vote represents about 18% of the total, down from the low 20s three decades ago. Apparently Door Number 2 looks pretty good if you are under 30 years old, if you care.

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     This week's video is an astounding Huffington Post video rebuttal of recent absurd Obama campaign claims. Perhaps they are trying to become legitimate reporters. 

    And a bonus Weekly Standard article and video of Mitt Romney's response to the Supreme Court Obamacare decision as well as Erick Erickson's thoughtful perspective on the decision.  It will take me a week to get up off of the floor.  

 

bill bowen - 6/29/12  

Comments

[Bill McCormick]

SMALL BUSINESS ---

Once again small business in the US provided some hope for economic activity. Large companies added a minimal 11,000 jobs while the remaining 160,000 new hires came from small and medium sized firms most of which were service jobs. Manufacturing barely held even. There are 9,000,000 small businesses in the US. They are ignored by the administration and punished with regulations,healthcare mandates, higher tax rates and a lack of banking funding and yet they offer Americans the only way out for increased jobs. The 20,000 or so large companies hold on to their money, invest overseas and lobby for special treatment. (Look who got the healthcare exemptions.) With 20,000,000 Americans looking for work 9,000,000 small businesses offer hope. A little help from the Congress to reduce regulation, settle our uncertainties over taxes and push banks to reduce the pressure on LOCs and Credit card limits and perhaps America would grow a little faster. Small business reserves are dangerously thin while large companies sit on Trillions. I beleive Romney understands this.

[DickG]

STRATEGIZE 'OUTSIDE THE BOX';Romney has 56 talking points to articulate. He will need 56 speeches; or, 14 PRE-SELECTED 'Cabinet Members', beginning with Dave Petraeus as a Chief of Staff. Now we multiply his efforts by that factor. Let's face it ; this won't work with what's steering the ship now.

[Bill McCormick]

HAPPY 4th AMERICA:

First, Bill has pointed out that IF the mandate is a tax it is not subject to the 60 vote rule in the Senate so there is perhaps hope that a Republican White House win and a Senate with 50 plus the VP could make some headway in repealing parts of the bill. However, Romney is still insisting the mandate is not a "tax". Note that he calls it an UNCONSTITUTIONAL PENALTY setting the stage for his argument that the high court got it wrong and it is not valid under the Commerce Clause. Thus, his seemingly strange agreement with the President.

CHRISTIE: The NJ Governor delivered his 3rd balanced budget for NJ with a surplus. When asked if he would join Texas,Florida,Wisconsin and Louisiana in boycotting the Federal Exchanges this unusally skilled manager simply stated we will study both options and do what is best for the people of NJ. By the way when NJ voted on his balanced budget rather than vote the Democrats all walked out. Is this the new America? You are asked to represent your constituents and vote and instead you walk out? How'd it work out in Wisconsin?

Happy 4th of July to all of you and your families. Let us all hope our politicians can come together and solve just one or two of our problems. I congratulate them on stepping up in their binksmanlike fashion and ending the student loan interest crisis with another compromise that spends billions more than we have by funding a construction bill. What a team we have elected!

[DickG]

REALITIES; See Klein's book, 'The Amateur in the White House'. Don't give up the 'ship' quite yet. According to Klein,an ex NYTimes writer and associate to JFK & Jacqueline Kennedy, insider 'Lefties' have and are fleeing this Marxist Administration.
Many real leaders in this country will have to stand and expose this.

[Bill McCormick]

REALITY---

It's not pretty but it would do Republicans, especially Romney, a lot of good to realize that last week's Supreme Court ruling has given President Obama, Senator Reid and Representative Pelosi their legacy: National Healthcare and nothing will ever undo it. The reality is that this now is embedded in America just as Federal Income tax, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are. So, rather than focus on the campaign to repeal it Romeny and others should be focused on how to reform it to make it work. As it is currently configured it will simply over the next decade or two transform into a single payer system. And, to no one's real surprise that was the intent all along. Afterall, all three of these authors are on record as having preferred a single payer national system from the start. Unable to get that through they instead set up a system that looks different but is really a wolf in sheep skin. Over time with many of the conservative states opting out the liberal big states of California, New York and Illionis will require so much federal money to fund their states that eventually the other states will have to join in just to get in on the payout much like they are now blackmailed in Federal education and highway funds. Join or lose. The other reality is that once the system begins to reveal itself small businesses and larger businesses who rely on cheaper labor will simply dump their employees on the system and pay the "tax". This dumping will accelerate the road to a single payer system as businesses who provide healthcare will be seen as taking part in class warfare and their healthcare benefits will be targeted for taxes that will erode the benefit.

So, Romney would be better to simply "say it now". It is extremetly unlikely that the elections will result in a White House win and a Senate majority with 60 votes to repeal the healthcare system. So, the call for repeal is in reality now a call for repair. And, that will be as bloody as the future fights to come over Social Security, Medicare and the deficits. On the strategy side perhaps Romney is better to use repeal as it will perhaps bring out the "evil" Tea Party that devastated Obama in 2010. So, stay tuned to see what happens. For me, I'm a reality guy--I'd rather see a discussion of the changes that make sense now that the high court rightly saw through the mandate and properly labeled it a "tax".

[DickG]

ERICKSON'S PERSPECTIVE; re. Robert's 'Chess Game'. The final 'end game' may yet produce positive results; however, I think he's created a MOMENTUM SHIFT. a. Massive media burst and the big 'OK' Rubber Stamp on the 'OBAMA' brand. b. Justice Dept swaggers & rejects a Congressional order. c.Congressional Caucus 'Walk Out'. d.Likelyhood of 'Leak Investigation' being handled independently, remote.

[DickG]

DOOR #2; Here's hoping Public/Private Education escape Public Indoctrination. 'Indoctrination' ,with the under 30 crowd @ 40-50% unemployment, seems to have the edge. With the 'piling on' of Government Entitlements and the FED substituting 60% of Treasury purchases for INFLATIONARY 'play dough'; can we blame the '20 somethings'? In an economic situation which could go 'HYPER' under this Administration; Government largess appears to be the only thing assured.