Coral Gables Environment, Politics and Government
April 13, 2011 Leave a comment
…the Obama plan relies on budget cuts for two-thirds of its deficit reduction measures, it goes dangerously far in two areas. It calls for $360 billion in cuts in mandatory programs other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The large budget-cut target for this part of the budget risks leading to substantial cuts in core programs for low-income Americans, our most vulnerable people.
April 8, 2011 Leave a comment
Nothing like cutting back on health care spending of the government this way.
…the Congressional Budget Office looked at Ryan’s plan, they said it would make Medicare more expensive for seniors, not less. The reason the deficit goes down is because seniors are paying 70 percent of the cost of their insurance out-of-pocket rather than 30 percent. But that’s not sustainable: We’ve just taken the government’s medical-costs problem and pushed it onto families.
April 6, 2011 Leave a comment
I wonder sometimes if this is not the model for the budget for Coral Gables. But no, the city keeps increasing taxes in the face of falling revenues or rising revenues.
It is timidity of tax cutting in Coral Gables that keeps taxes increasing and terrible past commitments of the city in pensions and salaries, as well as having way too many employees.
Actually, what is not good for the country (keep lowering taxes and spending) is just fine for a small bloated municipality. At the federal level we know where the money is going (health, the military, social security, debt payments, and other small government programs).
Where does the money really go in Coral Gables–it goes for salaries and benefits–for which there have been no good studies of their efficient use.
Ryan is proposing huge (and largely unspecified) spending cuts; but he’s also proposing very large tax cuts, mainly, of course, for those with high incomes. And as you can see, a large part — roughly half — of the spending cuts are going, not to deficit reduction, but to finance those tax cuts.
Actually, it’s even worse, since the revenue figure in the Ryan plan is simply assumed, and is clearly too high given what he’s actually proposing on taxes; so either the fall in revenue will be even larger than shown here, or there will be unspecified tax hikes on the middle class.
April 5, 2011 Leave a comment
And this from hardly what one might call radical news media.
PAUL RYAN’S plan to replace Medicare with a system of vouchers for seniors to buy health care on the private market has only been vaguely described, as of this writing. But there is one thing about it that’s fairly clear, regardless of what’s in the details Mr Ryan will announce today: Mr Ryan’s plan ends the guarantee that all American seniors will have health insurance. The Medicare system we’ve had in place for the past 45 years promises that once you reach 65, you will be covered by a government-financed health-insurance plan. Mr Ryan’s plan promises that once you reach 65, you will receive a voucher for an amount that he thinks ought to be enough for individuals to purchase a private health-insurance plan. (Mr Ryan insists that his plan doesn’t entail a “voucher”, but there is no meaningful distinction between getting a voucher with which to pay for insurance, and having the government send a payment to the insurer you choose.) If that voucher isn’t worth enough for some particular senior to buy insurance, and that particular senior isn’t wealthy enough to top off the coverage, or is a bit forgetful and neglects to purchase insurance, there’s no guarantee that that person will be insured. It’s up to you; you carry the risk.
via Medicare reform: You put the load right on me | The Economist.
Coral Gables Watch 