Thursday, January 28, 2010

What the President isn't Mentioning

When listening to or reading President Obama's State of the Union address, please keep the following in mind:


The above figures should considered grossly incomplete and inadequate estimates since the CBO must project costs based on what Congress says it will do in each bill (such as allow the Medicare care pay cut to go into effect) rather than what is most likely to occur (postpone scheduled pay cuts, as has occurred without fail in the past.) The entire healthcare bill was written in order to create the illusion of cost savings, moving the budget-busting, deficit-increasing measures to other bills so they would not be included in cost calculations for the healthcare bill itself.


(And check out this article which connects this to special interest legislation and spending.)


Per Carpe Diem: "The entire burden of job losses during the recession has fallen on the private sector, while the public sector has actuality expanded and added jobs during the economic downturn...to the extent that the stimulus has created or saved any jobs, they've been in the public sector, and have likely come at the expense of crowding out the growth..in the private sector." [Yet another example of What is Seen and Not Seen.]


For an explanation on the insolvency of Medicare, read "Social Security and Medicare:"Trust Funds" at Krazy Economy.

Other revealing facts:
Currently, 19% of federal employees earn over $100,000--up from 14% at the beginning of the recession. From USA Today:

When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000...

The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.

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