Soooooo...When Will the Republican Controlled House Start Working on Job, Jobs, Jobs

The whole tax cut compromise thing was it. We don't have to worry about jobs any more. That did it. Problem solved. Time to set the cruise control.

 

BO did not specify which poll he used. Ask him.
I answered those specifics in post #13.
Your CBO is using false data and has admitted to that.

 

Funny I didn't even ask which provisions you were against until post #16. So far, that's two for two dodges but I am unsurprised.

The CBO always uses false data when Republicans disagree with their non-partisan estimates but for some strange reason they do use valid data when the Republicans do agree with their estimates. Funny how that works.

The Republican war on the CBO
By Ezra Klein

It's the age of civility in American politics, but there's one institution that's been civil all along: the Congressional Budget Office (sorry, but sometimes civility is boring). The nonpartisan agency, which calculates the official cost of legislation for Congress, speaks in the polite language of actuarial tables, refuses to reliably please or disappoint either party and is the closest thing American politics has to an umpire. And the Republicans are getting sick and tired of it.

The reason is the health-reform law. The CBO trashed the Democrats' first few attempts at a fiscally responsible bill, refusing to agree that various technological improvements Democrats were making to the health-care system - like electronic health records - would save the money Democrats said they would. That sent the disappointed Democrats back to the drawing board - and more than once. But they eventually came up with a blunter, surer financing strategy: About $500 billion in cuts and reforms to Medicare, and a similar amount in new taxes. It was proof that the system had worked: Democrats, despite knowing that the taxes and Medicare cuts would cause them great political pain, were so intent on getting the Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the CBO that they made their bill far more fiscally responsible.

This left the Republicans in a bind. If the Democrats' legislation fulfilled its goal of covering almost every American and also managed to pay for itself, it was suddenly much harder to oppose. So last week, as the Republicans sought to make their case that the health-care bill should be repealed, a lot of their arguments were aimed at undercutting the numbers coming out of the CBO.

The agency's product is nothing more than "budget gimmicks, deceptive accounting, and implausible assumptions used to create the false impression of fiscal discipline," wrote conservative wonks Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Joseph Antos and James C. Capretta in the Wall Street Journal. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says the CBO's numbers are based on "smoke and mirrors." Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), angry that the CBO thinks tax cuts reduce tax revenue - no doubt the agency has also been known to say that the sun rises in the east - has called for the CBO to be abolished.

The sad reality is that it's not hard to discredit budget estimates in 30-second soundbites: You just say whatever you want and trust that your opponent doesn't have anywhere near enough time to explain the issue. Take Republican criticisms that the "doc fix" isn't included in the CBO's scores, and that if it were, the health-care bill would increase the deficit. It's absurd. In 1997, congressional Republicans capped the rate at which Medicare could increase payments to physicians. But their cap was too low. Now they want Democrats to fix it for them and pile the costs onto the bill. It's a little like saying that the cost of the war in Iraq should be added to health-care reform.

But you'll notice it took a moment to explain that. It's easier to just say that the score is full of "smoke and mirrors" and then make some authoritative-sounding point about Medicare payments. Who's got the time to check it out?

You can play whack-a-mole with this stuff all day. But beneath it is something more insidious: an effort to discredit the last truly neutral, truly respected scorekeeper in Washington. The facts don't support the particular case the Republicans want to make, so they're trying to take down the people who supply the facts. But once that's done, it can't easily be undone. And the true loser will be the very thing Republicans claim to care most about: the deficit.

If getting the CBO's seal of approval ceases to matter, then political parties will cease to try. That's when the "smoke and mirrors" will really begin: when bills just have to sound good rather than pencil out. When there are no skeptical budget experts sending legislation back to the authors with a note that says, "Sorry, not there yet." When policy debates are decided by who can yell the loudest rather than who can write the best bill.

The bargain that both parties have struck with the CBO is that they'll accept the short-term setbacks the agency imposes on them because, in the long run, it's better for the system to have someone keeping score. Right now, Republicans are breaking that bargain. They're not merely saying that the CBO's guess is bad, or that the CBO is right but the bill is bad for other reasons, but that the CBO's whole system is, in the words of Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), "Garbage in, garbage out." Civil? Maybe. Wise? Definitely not.

 

I am going to say that they made empty promises. If they had jobs to create, I am sure we would have seen them by now. But that is just my opinion.

 

Govn't doesn't create permanent jobs (unless they add to the beaurocracy).

 

Or at least brought something to the floor to debate. They have nothing and I'm 100% sure their intent is to continue to ship jobs overseas and keep the unemployment rate as high as possible until 2012. You'd have to have a hole in your head the size of China to believe that they care about getting Americans back to work. Everything they do or don't do proves exactly that. They've killed any jobs ideas the Democrats presented and then labeled anything they do as good for jobs no matter how much of a stretch it would have to be to actually believe such nonsense. They have no plan, no ideas, and no intention of getting Americans back to work. Empty promises is putting it mildly.

 

That really hasn't stopped Republicans from endlessly asking for the last two years where the jobs are. But NOW "Govn't doesn't create permanent jobs". Geeeeesh!

 

While my original response may have seemed flip (naw!), in all seriousness I think that tax cuts and spending cuts were the sole plans they talked about for job creation. They negotiated one before they even took office and the other never gets done anyway so...mission accomplished.

 

Man...and I thought the Tanman said something about jobs.

 

Yeah...they'd have to put down their drinks, and learn how to say something besides "NO", and take awhile to get us back to those pre-Obama, Bush years, where "too big to fail" reigns supreme once again! All the dems need to do is follow the right wing, corporate lead....say No, and then say No, and then just say No. After that, maybe say No. Seems to be the way to achieve political success.

 

And you want to FORCE this on me whether I like it or not? No, thank you. No matter how good you think this bill is, the people shouldn't be forced to comply. That's dictatorial.

 

You mean forced to have more and better coverage? Absolutely not!!! When you get cancer, simply tell your insurance company, "That's OK guys, I'll pay the rest of my medical bills myself. You've paid enough already." That way you haven't been forced to do anything. Or when your insurance coverage changes, tell them that you had back pain for years and they don't have to cover your medical expenses for any treatments related to your back. You'll take care of it. That way you aren't forced to participate. And when your small business has the option of taking those health care credits on your taxes, simply tell your accountant to refuse to take them and pay the additional amount. Once again, you won't be forced to participate. See, nobody is forcing you at all. IDIOT!

 

Here is your quote from another thread: "I don’t see anything wrong with forcing people to buy into a health care system they will eventually use anyway."

So, do you want to force me or not?

 

I was referring to uninsured people that use the health care system in that thread.

Like I said, no one can force you to let insurance companies cover your medical costs. Just tell them, No thanks guys! I'm sure they'll be happy to comply with you not wanting to be forced to take their money. You stick by your principles sir! No matter how dumb they might be at least you'll get to die a painful death knowing that you kept them. More power to you.

 

So, you only want to force the uninsured people into the system? That which we call "communism" by any other name would smell as rank.

 

You know what, your silly labels will die with your "principles" if we are all lucky.

You just can't seem to acknowledge the silliness of your own position. Either that or you run an insurance company and your position makes perfect sense from a really cold-hearted point of view.

 

You're as blind as the rest of the cross-eyed lefties. Once your utopian paradise comes to fruition, I'll bow at the alter of Moen. Until then, I'll keep my freedom, thank you. Unless you want to try to force me to give that up, too. Good luck.

 

The freedom to rape and pilfer, and to be a republican.

 

Yeah, I'm the one who is blind while you blindly equate the loss of freedom to getting more and better insurance coverage for all Americans. You're not just blind, you're deaf, dumb, and stupid too.

 

I'm not saying that Americans shouldn't have health coverage, but I don't agree with the premise that I must have health coverage. Your belief is that it should be forced on people. Well, how about this: Don't force your beliefs on me and I won't force my beliefs on you.